The Mystery of Joe Miller and the Vanishing Emails.
Sounds like an awesome new Hardy Boys book, but alas… it’s just the latest chapter in the fiasco of Alaska politics.
The nation is still keenly aware that Joe Miller has not conceded the senate race to Lisa Murkowski. It’s like Coleman vs. Franken in the 2008 Minnesota senate race – only it’s more like Coleman vs. Coleman. And while moderates and progressives are no fans of Joe Miller, a full hand count reconciliation of a state-wide election is a result many completely support. We’ve needed it for a long time.
That said, Joe Miller has other problems than people yelling at him to “give it up” and asking him if he knows how to spell L-O-S-E-R. It’s the matter of those pesky vanishing emails from his account at the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Miller had until today to fork over any emails in his possession regarding Fairbanks Northstar Borough business that seem to have gone >poof< when he left. It’s not clear if he even has any of them, but it seems clear that the Fairbanks North Star Borough doesn’t back up their emails adequately.
If he doesn’t turn anything over?
…an Assistant Borough Attorney Jill Dolan told The Associated Press the borough will make a decision on how to proceed with the information it has. She said that could include going to the “appropriate investigating agency” or the bar.
I assume she means the legal organization bar, and not the other kind… although you never know. Wintertime in Fairbanks, dealing with Joe Miller every day? Who could blame her.
Do politicians from one political party seem to have no clues about any relevant stuff. Conservatives seem to have a hard time keeping track of e-mails,especially when they might harbor embarassing stuff?
Well, I am GLAD he is pushing the honest vote talley anyway…someone HAD to challenge what many have considered WRONG in elections from the get go,( questionable voting results), for many years now…this is where I am keeping my attention, and for that am grateful. And it does seem like the state is protesting too much, for a straightforward request…(doesn’t want to disillusion the masses?) prove it….all he is asking for.
As I understand it, Rose Mary Woods accidently hit the “record” button while taking a phone call from someone else, thereby erasing 5 crucial minutes of the tape . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_tapes
Joe, see if Rose Mary can vouch for you, okay?
I may have missed some of the info discussed on the ‘flats when this story first broke, but I came across some additional tidbits a couple of days ago (new for me, at least) when I was doing the googles about him to link on HuffPo. To whit:
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[ snip ] According to the notes of a conversation made by Ms. Dolan, who spoke by telephone with Mr. Miller at the time, he said that his actions had been “beyond stupid,” that he had been under stress and that he was having marital problems in part because he was “too flippin’ busy.”
Mr. Miller also ran a private law practice while working 20 hours a week for the borough. Although Mr. Miller has said he drew the bulk of his income from his private practice, the borough job provided health care benefits for his family. He and his wife, Kathleen, have eight children. Records of the disciplinary action show that Mr. Miller was concerned how the handling of the matter could affect his health coverage. It was unclear whether it had any impact. […]
But his supervisor and colleagues were clearly concerned about other aspects of his conduct in the weeks before his resignation. In one instance they questioned whether a case he was working on in his private practice might represent a conflict with his work for the borough. They also appeared to question the legitimacy of an apparent medical excuse he gave for taking leave shortly before he resigned. [ /snip ]
Full article, “Alaska Senate Candidate Once Disciplined for Computer Misuse” — 27 October 2010: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/alaska-senate-candidate-once-disciplined-for-computer-misuse/
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I know we’d made comment on how his wife seemed to act / react around him, but I don’t recall any definitive information/proof that they’d been “having marital problems”. According to Ms Dolan, they apparently were. Watching video of Kathleen and him and seeing pictures of the two of them, even these 2-years later, it seems as if there is still some (to put it mildly) ummm, tension there…
And the “health care” thing. Aside from his stance that it should not be controlled by /be part of “overreachng” gov’t rules, regs, etc. (even though, working for the Borough, his was) and therefore, his bashing of “Obamacare” in his campaigning, didn’t he (and $arah) also tout that he is a “disabled veteran”?
I may very well be terribly mistaken, but doesn’t a veteran who is disabled as a result of military service, get medical care for all their ailments/illnesses? IOW, is he a veteran who coincidentally happens to be disabled or is he truly a disabled veteran (with the connotation those two words used in tandem imply)? I can see where he’d be concerned with provisions for health care for his wife and kids (duh!, Joe, welcome to the reality of rill Amuricuns having to pay for health care!), but for himself? Or was his concern expressed to Ms Dolon solely for his family’s health care, and not his own? Something just isn’t quite kosher here… or I’m quite confused. One…
I’m also, then, and too assuming the mention of the “conflict of interest” case is the one y’all have been discussing above (the adoption / fire one)?
Gadzooks, but I bet those lost emails are full of all sorts of juicy stuff! beth.
I have been so hoping that they would go to the Ak Bar. And I don’t think it’s too late for them to complain about the debacle with the unauthorized use of co-worker computers, either. Just because they didn’t fire him for it (because they needed him, which is sort of sad), doesn’t mean they can’t file an ethics complaint over it. At the very least, it could be evidence of his lack of ethics to support a complaint on the email dump.
It also seems like the long conversation Joe had with one of the Bor. attorneys about the doc retention policy will be relevant. If he learned they lack a retention program, then the dump on the way out was intentional destruction. Go Bar!!!
I hate to barge in,but, you have probably seen barges before. On another blog where I fight to save America from all political parties,there is a recurring theme that comes up. Why did Bill C lose his license to practice law and Scooter Libby,who actually commited a crime, didn’t lose his. RWNJ want to think adultery is a worse offense than outing a covert CIA agent.
I’ve seen it said somewhere, “I won a U.S. Senate Primary and all I got was disbarred.”
We can only hope.
OT:
My nephew just tweeted “Still trapped in Alaska for a 2nd night, hotel party part dos!”
(He’s on his way back from Afghanistan. I’m surprised he’s sober enough to type at all.)
That is all. As you were.
Too funny..I fully understand..big grin..and welcome back to he and his crew.
Joe Miller didn’t get fired over his lying and misuse of borough computers because he was considered “…he was part of a legal team that was in the middle of a case over how much to tax the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.”
http://www.adn.com/2010/10/18/1507733/miller-admits-borough-disciplined.html#ixzz17OEkl8c9
However, dumb dumb Joe – the North Star Borough is going to need those emails since they are filing an appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court. What saved your butt once is going to come back to bite it now.
A greasy haired, slick talking used car salesman is your true calling! You’re a little too sleazy even for Alaskan politicians.
yuppers…
Chicago Mom makes a great point.
Joe Miller and Sarah Palin were both publicly calling for a change in the Republican Party leadership.
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/030908/sta_255333530.shtml
It seems quite likely that they did communicate about this. The question is, did Sarah discuss with Joe any possible ways to unseat Randy Ruedrich? Such as creating the impression that “there is overwhelming support for his resignation, and if that doesn’t happen, then his forced removal” – as Joe Miller was quoted in the above article.
Of course, one way Joe Miller is now known to have created that impression, was to use 4 of his coworkers’ computers to pad the votes in an online poll. We don’t know if there were other steps also taken, other votes cast…
So it is a reasonable question to ask if Sarah was aware of or involved in this clearly unethical and illegal maneuver.
Of course she was. She was probably the instigator of the whole thing. If it’s illegal or immoral, she’s there.
Too funny AKM!
You mean that the FNSB is willing to go to the Bar now but weren’t willing to do so after he used unauthorized computers for his personal purposes? Verrrry interesting. As I have noted on the ADN site, when I worked for an Anchorage bank, anything of this nature would have been cause for dismissal and secure removal from the premises!
Funny that!
Slipstream——wait until I get my hat and coat and I’ll go with ya.
can we car pool?
it’s Alaska…..you have to MUSH together……( ben skips merrily down to the beach cabana and applies another layer of suntan oil….dodging thrown snowballs and and halibut guts..)
creep
🙂
Maybe Jill should head to this ice bar located in Chena Hotsprints outside of Fairbanks: http://www.chenahotsprings.com/photo-gallery/aurora-ice-museum/ .
How cool is that? 😉
Whoops, I posted a link to the whole ice museum gallery. Here’s a shot of the bar:
http://www.chenahotsprings.com/picture/2keori%20pouring%20appletinis.jpg?pictureId=2774016
Uh oh, the previous link I posted was another link fail. Apparently it doesn’t work if clicked from this site. So ok, if you want to see that pic just copy and paste that link directly into your browser’s address bar at the top of your screen. I gauruntee it will work if you do that. And yes it’s still an awesome picture. (Those martini glasses are also made of ice). 🙂
Interesting how ol’ “Joe” is so concerned about following the law (write-in votes must spell the candidates name exactly) when he loses, but had no regard for the law when he used his employers computers, failed to pay taxes on his property, hired his wife to assist him him as a judge then let her collect unemployment benefits, etc., etc., Wonder why he didn’t sue over the results of the primary election? Why would anyone really want to represent a community where the majority said “we don’t want you, Joe”, regardless the spelling issue. Not only were there 10,000 more votes for his opponent than for him, all those who voted for Adams were also saying “we don’t want you, Joe”. I guess in his mind something like Merkowski looks like it says Miller. To me it looks an awful lot like Murkowski.
I’m going to the bar.
I’ll buy the first round of Miller ~ on the rocks, please.
A good forensics tech could find the emails, and the website visits (since we know Joe learned – if poorly – how to cover his tracks)… thus answering the question of what he sought to hide. The child porn he warned about? Affairs? Violating confidentiality? Bribes?
Is it too over the top to think that maybe, possibly, the govt comps initially used by Miller were scrubbed by the same secret service crew (and at the same time) that srubbed all the other Palin-associated comps during the 2008 campaign?
If someone said to Sarah “make a list of everyone you’ve talked political-shop with or given family pics to” so they could scrub anything that could be used against McCain… I mean really, if they could purge the Alaska governor’s website of any photos which might be evidence of Sarah’s faked pregnancy, including Mercede’s comp and all those teen friends myspace sites – stands to reason they could’ve scrubbed away any evidence of Joe Miller’s having deleted govt emails – especially if Joe and Sarah rmembered having exchanged fanciful email conversations.
I know, I know – out there.
Out there? Maybe, maybe not. We’ve all lived through stranger events than that possibility. Just saying, I don’t know but like so much of life, it may be be possible. I will pull up a comfy chair, pop some corn, and wait to see what develops. Truth eventually comes to the surface. Whatever happened has got to be interesting and have interesting counter-spin. Real life is stranger than most of the fictional mysteries I love, and some of them are really “out there.”
not “out there”…logical conclusion when dots are connected…only thing “out there” is why someone hasn’t busted it all wide open…
Trouble with that theory is that it’s off by a year. He didn’t quit (and the email issue didn’t arise) until early Sept. 2009.
It sounds like a fun conspiracy theory, but there’s no way that McCain staffers would be in Fairbanks and be able to access the Borough offices and network without raising multiple alarms and eyebrows to say the least.
Joe should have been assigned a North Star Borough domain email address and would have been directed to use it for borough business if they follow standard protocols. Not to say that he wasn’t an idiot and as unprofessional as Palin in possibly using his own email account, but that should have been noted at some point. You don’t just go around breaking into local government email accounts on behalf of a campaign. Secure networks would be archiving as well.
A forensics examination of Joe’s PC hard drive may not reveal any emails whatsoever if he was using an enterprise email server and client on a private network.
What is missing is archived data backups from the borough network. They may have been backing up data but not archiving. Whatever they were doing, it wasn’t up to municipal / corporate network security par if Joe’s email is truly gone from the network. I’m speaking from experience.
Correction: “What seems to be missing…” not “What is missing…”. I get bugged when people make blanket assumptions so it bugs me when I do it, too, also.
I’m wondering if any of these missing emails were from Palin, since this is the time period when the two were plotting against the head of the Alaska Republican Party. Would be interesting if the borough can find a way to retrieve these emails. And since he himself brought up the issue of child porn possibly being on his computer, I can’t help but wonder about that too.
I agree and can’t help but wonder if he was involved in an adoption which all papers went up in smoke in a church fire, also, too.
Aha, good one. I’d forgotten about that convenient church fire. Hmm, interesting.
Shew!
@ChicagoMom….BINGO! Re: the emails to and from Palin while she was Guv. BINGO twice.
He won’t turn over anything, just cuz he wants everyone else to be upfront, surely you don’t think he has to do the same?
Oy, bring on the popcorn and adult beverages!
I’m hoping it’s the Alaska Bar, ya know, the legal kind, that gets the nod. On the other hand, the local prosecutor shouldn’t be far behind either, given that it is Joe Miller, and he’s up to his eyeballs in dicey legal matters. Deleting the borough’s emails, definitely a big no-no, and JM would certainly have known that, being one of those elitist, Ivy League lawyer types.
I think we all need a shot, a beer, a Chardonnay, a libation of any kind when this drama is over…