Hey, Alaska! Palin Thinks You’re Stoopid!
It’s interesting to seethe spin coming from the Palin camp regarding the newly discovered illegality of Palin’s legal defense fund, The Alaska Fund Trust. Trustee Kristan Cole is spinning so hard in her panicky 3-page press release, you might as well just give her a funny hat and call her a whirling dervish. Part of the basis for the ethics complaint filed by local resident Kim Chatman, regards the provision of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act that talks about “the prohibition against a public officer accepting gifts that are intended to influence the performance of official duties.” This has ruffled the feathers…
Alaska Fund Trust – Who Knew?
Well, the dust-storm kicked up yesterday by the leaking of the investigator’s findings regarding the Alaska Fund Trust is still raging. Presumably taken off-guard, the Palin administration and the Alaska Fund Trust have been scrambling. A three-page, single-spaced, 10 pt. type press release just came from Kristan Cole, the Trustee of the Alaska Fund Trust. This is serious stuff. The usual Palin melodrama is present in the first sentence of the release, citing “the unusual letter that was leaked yesterday, the contents of which are unprecedented in the history of our country.” This unusual letter is an investigator’s report regarding…
Alaska Fund BUST. The Governor’s (Il)Legal Defense Fund.
[Read this story at The Huffington Post and Buzz it Up!] The Alaska Fund Trust, the most hubristically-named piece of legal defense fundraising in the state of Alaska, has felt the sunshine of scrutiny, and it isn’t holding up too well. It seems as though the Associated Press got its mits on some interesting information involving an ethics complaint against the governor’s office that was dismissed as frivolous by the administration. After the investigation into the legality of the fund itself was completed, appearances seem to indicate that it was, indeed, a valid complaint that uncovered some unsavory legal fund…
Hey, Lady! Get a Blog, Already.
Is there such a thing as too much blog material? Back in the old days before Sarah Palin was on the national scene, I’d cruise around the internet to see what was happening, and when I was stricken with inspiration, I’d create a post. Sometimes they were long, sometimes short. Sometimes inspiration came right away, and sometimes I had to look around a while. I’d hit the Anchorage Daily News, and then maybe Daily Kos or Huffington Post, I’d look at what the other Alaskan Bloggers were doing… I’d zip down my blogroll, I’d check my email to see what…
Ethics Complaint #18 Filed Against Sarah Palin
Anchorage resident and registered Republican Andrée McLeod has filed an ethics complaint today with the Attorney General’s Office charging that Governor Palin violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act and knowingly, intentionally and willfully abused her official position and state resources for partisan political purposes and withheld official action for personal and political interests. “We’ve been had,” says Andrée McLeod. “Sarah Palin failed to preserve, protect and safeguard the office of the governor for selfish reasons and the State of Alaska and Alaskans were left vulnerable and exposed.” Signed and completed official travel documents show that upon being summoned by…
New Ethics Complaint Filed Against Gov. Palin – Per Diem for Personal Gain
Wasilla resident Zane Henning will be filing an ethics complaint today against soon-to-be-ex-governor Sarah Palin for continuing to collect per diem expenses from the State of Alaska while still living in, and commuting from her own home. One of the things that will still be getting some attention from government watchdogs, and legislators are possible changes that need to be addressed in the Ethics Act and/or State Law. Sarah Palin may be heading for the exit doors, but Alaska residents will have many governors to come. Like George Bush, who left the door wide open for potential abuses by his…
Palin Won’t Release Amount of Gifts Because It’s a Secret! Shhhhh…..
It an amazing display of a different kind of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the Palins when asked to disclose how much the gifts Todd Palin receives from Arctic Cat (his sponsor for the Iron Dog snowmachine race) are worth, and they replied with silence. They “can’t” tell us. (looking around furtively and whispering in your ear) It’s a secret. That’s right, gifts which could, according to sources, be worth in excess of $20,000 for the year 2008 alone are a “trade secret” according to the governor’s personal attorney, Thomas Van Flein. These gifts include snowmachine(s) and “any discounts offered on wear.” …
Palin Ethics Complaint Dismissed.
Regarding this latest ethics complaint against Gov. Sarah Palin to be dismissed, filer Andree McLeod says that “her publicly funded partisan and publicly funded state staff and resources for personal partisan political purposes that have nothing to do with the state’s interests and everything to do with her personal, extremely partisan political Washington, D.C., beltway interests.” The Personnel Board disagrees. Here’s part of the latest press release from the governor’s office. Please note the naming of a private citizen in the title of the release, and the disclosure of the employment history of that private citizen as it relates to state…
Monday Morning Cleavage!
Here’s an interesting little story. There is cleavage in the story, but the point of the story isn’t really about cleavage. I figured I’d just get that out of the way right off the bat and come back to it later to illustrate a point. The players in this little story are Mike Nizich, Governor Palin’s Chief of Staff; Annette Kreitzer, Commissioner of the Department of Administration, and citizen watchdog Andree MacLeod. Andree McLeod has filed several ethics complaints against the Governor in the past few months. She’s also filed a public records request that asks the state to turn over a…
Snidely Whiplash Does the Happy Dance!
(Imagine a hilariously funny graphic that sadly doesn’t exist, of Snidely Whiplash doing a happy dance here) This just in…. Ethics complaint #12 (that we know of) against Sarah Palin which alleged that SarahPAC, the governor’s political action committee was itself a violation of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act was dismissed today. The .pdf of the Personnel Board’s decision, via Independent Counsel Tom Daniel is HERE ethicscomplaintdismissal The board stated that there was no basis to conclude that the Governor used her office to create the PAC. So, this ethics complaint that was filed on April 22 has been…