A review of Palin's public statements

A review of her public statements, signed and vetoed bills, and interviews with people in state government provide insight into Ms. Palin’s positions on other statewide issues:

HEALTH CARE Ms. Palin proposed eliminating a requirement that new medical facilities receive a “certificate of need” from the state before opening. She argued that the certificate program had the effect of driving health care costs up by not allowing more competition and potentially better health care in newer facilities.

In an op-ed piece in The Anchorage Daily News in February, Ms. Palin wrote that eliminating the certificate program, “with certain exceptions, will allow free-market competition and reduce onerous government regulation.” The bill, strongly opposed by hospitals, did not make it out of the Legislature.

TRADE Ms. Palin does not appear to have made any trade missions since taking office, and former state officials said the state’s trade staff had been reduced under her watch.

Alaska has also sharply reduced its role in the Northern Forum, an association of state and regional governments from countries including Canada, Russia, Japan and China that works on common issues in northern regions like economic development, flooding and global warming.

Under Governor Murkowski, Palin’s predecessor, the state sent senior administration officials to the forum’s meetings and contributed $60,000 to $100,000 to the forum each year, according to the forum’s executive director, Priscilla Wohl.

Under Palin, the state has reduced its spending to the base-level membership dues, $15,000, and the administration has not attended any forum meetings, including one last fall in Russia.

“Had she participated, in the last 18 months she would have met ambassadors, governors, heads of the European Union’s programs, of United Nations programs,” Ms. Wohl said.

EDUCATION In March, Ms. Palin approved a widely praised legislative effort that would increase education spending by about $200 million over five years, an increase made possible by revenue surpluses from the rising price of oil.

She largely took her education spending proposal from the recommendations of a special task force created by lawmakers to address an issue that had long divided the capital.

The final product increased money for rural schools but also nearly tripled the per-student allocation for students with intensive special needs, in districts like Anchorage, where enrollment has increased from students moving in from rural Alaska for services.

Palin’s son Trig, born in April, has Down syndrome. The special-needs population served by the increase in spending includes students with Down syndrome, said Carol Comeau, superintendent of the Anchorage School District.

Ms. Comeau was among several education experts who gave much of the credit for the increase in financing to the legislative task force but also praised Ms. Palin for approving the bill. She noted that Ms. Palin initially sought a larger per-student increase for the general student population than the Legislature approved.

Some people close to the legislation noted that if Palin had opposed the increases she would have risked alienating Democratic lawmakers whose support she needed for the pipeline legislation.

ENVIRONMENT Ms. Palin has taken positions that reflect her support for developing Alaska’s natural resources. Her views are largely in line with those of voters in her state, but not with environmentalists.

Like most other Alaskans, Ms. Palin supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while her running mate, Senator John McCain, is opposed. She has been ambiguous about whether she believes humans are causing climate change, while Mr. McCain has embraced science linking climate change to human activities.

In August, Ms. Palin sued the federal government for listing the polar bear as a threatened species, saying climate models that showed that the bears would be affected by melting Arctic ice are unreliable. (Documents later revealed that state biologists disagreed with members of the Palin administration.) The governor and other state lawmakers opposed the listing because it could limit drilling for oil off Alaska’s coast.

The most contentious environmental issue within Alaska recently has been the fight over the proposed Pebble Mine, one of the world’s largest discoveries of gold and copper. The proposed mine would be at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, home to one of the world’s largest runs of wild salmon.

In response to a candidate questionnaire two years ago, Ms. Palin told The Anchorage Daily News, “As part of a Bristol Bay fishing family, I would not support any development that would endanger the most sensitive and productive fishery in the world.”

This year, in August, a ballot initiative before state voters would have made it more difficult to open mines that could damage salmon streams. Ms. Palin came out against the measure just days before it was defeated.

Supporters of the measure believe the governor’s public opposition may have broken ethics laws prohibiting state officials from advocating for ballot initiatives. State ethics officials are reviewing the matter.

THE ELDERLY For many years, Alaska had a so-called longevity bonus, which paid up to $250 a month to elderly people who had lived in Alaska before statehood in 1959. The program was not based on financial need, however, and Mr. Murkowski ended it in 2003, when the state budget was tight.

Ms. Palin promised in her 2006 campaign to restore the bonus. In 2007, however, lawmakers rejected her proposal and instead passed a bill that helped low-income elderly Alaskans. Ms. Palin signed the bill, which pays up to $250 a month to qualifying people over 65.

BUDGET Even with the state enjoying a multibillion-dollar surplus because of high oil prices, Ms. Palin has vetoed about $500 million in capital spending projects requested by state lawmakers in two consecutive budgets. She also supported putting about $7 billion of surplus revenue into state savings over two years.

A chunk of that surplus, about $2 billion, came from the governor’s effort to increase taxes on the oil industry. Ms. Palin’s initial proposal would have brought in about $600 million more in oil taxes, but when lawmakers raised oil taxes higher, Ms. Palin continued to support the measure. That angered many conservative Republicans, as did the governor’s plan to use about $740 million of the surplus to give each Alaskan a $1,200 “rebate” to help pay for high energy costs.

Opponents of the oil tax increase, most of them conservative Republicans, say it ultimately may reduce exploration in the North Slope at a time when oil production is declining. Some also say the rebate money would have been better off saved or spent on long-term efforts to reduce energy costs.

“Throwing money at people is what politicians do when they don’t have a policy,” said Representative Mike Hawker, Republican of Anchorage.

SOCIAL ISSUES Ms. Palin has been open about her conservative views, which include opposition to same-sex marriage and the use of embryonic stem cells for research.

Even so, she has passed over chances as governor to take bold legislative stands on conservative social issues. She declined calls by abortion opponents this year to hold a special session to pass a measure requiring minors to get parental consent before having abortions. The governor chose instead to focus on passing the pipeline legislation. Mr. Hawker, the Republican lawmaker, said the decision reflected Ms. Palin’s political pragmatism.

“She did not take on the Democrats whose support she needed,” he said.

The Power to Arrest

The AG’s action will likely stoke the partisan fervor further. Almost certainly, this will wind up being handled by the judiciary, which will have to determine whether the AG can actually block the legislative subpoenas, and whether the probe has run off the rails. Since that is a political rather than legal question (unless I missed something in the state constitution), the judiciary will probably throw it all back to the Legislature.
The Legislative Council needs to meet to take back control of this issue from Hollis French and Kim Elton. Either they need to appoint less-partisan special masters from among their own ranks, or they need to end the probe altogether. They could also shift the probe to the State Personnel Board, as Palin’s team has suggested, although that has its own issues; it would have the executive branch investigating the head of the branch, and while they could do that with little problem, it may not satisfy concerns over the potential lack of independence of the probe.
These are the vital safeguards, the core democratic functions, which the Bush administration and now the McCain/Palin campaign are flagrantly subverting.

Anyone with doubts about the seriousness of this abuse of power investigation should just listen to the audio recording of Gov. Palin's top aide, Frank Bailey, calling the Police Commissioner's office and badgering them about firing Palin's ex-brother-in-law, repeatedly suggesting he was doing so on behalf of Palin. The sleaze and impropriety oozes off the audio. That was but one of dozens of similar communications made by close Palin associates, including her husband, prior to the time Palin fired the Police Commissioner. Palin quite implausibly denies that they did so at her behest, and has offered an endless series of shifting explanations for the firing. That's what the Legislature is trying to investigate by questioning her husband and top aides -- and that is what the Palins are now overtly impeding by breaking the law: i.e., refusing to comply with legislative subpoenas.
Wonder what would happen if the Legislative Council began asserting itself? Does the Alaska constitution give them the power to reconvene the legislature?

Section 2.9 - Special Sessions.

Special sessions may be called by the governor or by vote of two-thirds of the legislators. The vote may be conducted by the legislative council or as prescribed by law. At special sessions called by the governor, legislation shall be limited to subjects designated in his proclamation calling the session, to subjects presented by him, and the reconsideration of bills vetoed by him after adjournment of the last regular session. Special sessions are limited to thirty days.

Or what if they held a contempt vote anyway? And issued their own arrest warrants under their inherent authority to enforce their own subpoenas? A subpoena isn't a subpoena if there's no independent power to enforce it. It's inherent in the authority to issue them, which the Legislative Council has by law. Gosh, wouldn't that be interesting for the Alaska State Troopers? (h/t to bmaz at emptywheel's corner of Firedoglake for the tip on the statutes.)

Sure it would end up in court. But it will anyway, since the Palins are already testing a novel legal theory. So why not join them? Let's make it a he said/she said story. Make full use of the Republican-developed "some say" framing. "Some say" the governor and her coterie are absolutely immune from all legislative oversight.

And "some say" Todd Palin is a fugitive from justice.

Alaska state business done on the Yahoo mail server.

IF THE QUESTION is whether personal e-mail accounts should be used for state business by Gov. Sarah Palin and her staff the answer is obvious.

And that answer is no. Such a practice does not ensure that public information will be saved and appears to be a neat way around Alaska’s public records law.

Her spokesman, Bill McAllister says, according to the Daily News’s front-page story by Lisa Demer this morning, that he does not hear any “public clamor for access to internal communications of the governor’s office.” Unfortuntely, who cares what he has heard or not heard?

Those communications, unless properly classified as protected by executive privilege, if sent on state equipment, on state time, by a state employee, belong not to the governor’s office or McAllister, but to the people of Alaska.

The idea of the law is to make as much information as possible available about government to average person, not to make such information unavailable.

Unfortunately, it appears this administration for some time has been trying to keep the public in the dark by mixing public and private e-mail accounts to cover its tracks, and there is no telling how long, or if, those messages are being saved. So much for any pretense of “clear and transparent.”

“And I don’t think the public expects us to inundate them, flood them, with all kinds of communications that they don’t need, when in fact, the final decisions will be public, will be documented, will be substantiated, and they always have been.”

Trust us, he seems to say, we’re from the government and we know what you need to see.”

Alaskans deserve better.

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Someone tell Sarah...What exactly a VP does!

Questions for Palin

This week, she'll finally emerge from her protective shell

Published: September 8th, 2008 10:04 PM
Last Modified: September 8th, 2008 11:37 AM

There's no polite way to say it: Sarah Palin has been hiding out from hard questions. It took 10 days from when John McCain announced his pick until the McCain campaign agreed to schedule Palin an unscripted interview with a serious journalist.

ABC landed the big "get" with Palin. She'll talk to Charlie Gibson of "Good Morning America" later this week.

McCain's camp has handled their vice-presidential pick like some celebrity who will only deign to give an interview if conditions are favorable. McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told Fox News Sunday, Palin would take questions "when we think it's time and when she feels comfortable doing it."

Palin has accused Barack Obama of being a me-first celebrity candidate for president. At least he has been facing media questions for the past 18 months.

Here are some of the questions Palin should be answering, for Alaskans and the rest of the country:

• You present yourself as a Republican maverick who took on your own party's corrupt political establishment. In November's election, your party is running an indicted U.S. Senator, Ted Stevens, who is awaiting trial on charges he accepted more than $250,000 of unreported gifts from the state's most powerful lobbyist. Will you vote for his opponent? Will you urge Alaskans to help you change Washington and vote him out of office? If not, why not?


• Sen. Ted Stevens' trial is still pending; he has declined to say whether he would accept a pardon from President Bush before Bush leaves office in January. Do Alaska voters deserve an answer to that question before they cast their vote for or against Stevens in November? What is your position on a president pardoning a public official before a jury has ruled on guilt or innocence?

• Alaska Congressman Don Young appears to have won his Republican primary, even though you endorsed his opponent. Will you vote for your fellow Republican Don Young, who has spent over $1 million on legal fees without telling his constituents what sort of legal trouble he is in?

• Why have you reneged on your earlier pledge to cooperate with the Alaska Legislature's investigation into Troopergate? Are you going to be accounable as you told the Alaskan people you would?

• In spring of 2004, the Daily News reported that you cited family considerations in deciding not to try for the U.S. Senate: "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. senator?" What was different this time as you decided to run for vice president?

• As governor of Alaska, you have not pushed for laws or regulations that put your personal views on abortion, same-sex marriage and creationism into public policy. As vice president, will you push to outlaw abortion, restrict same-sex marriage and require the teaching of creationism?

• If you were a fully qualified vice-presidential candidate from the get-go, why did you wait more than 10 days to face reporters?

• McCain spokesman Rick Davis told Fox News the media didn't show you enough "deference." How much deference do you expect to get from Vladimir Putin or Hugo Chavez?

• You have said victory is in sight in Iraq. In July 2007, when you visited Kuwait, you said, "I'm not going to judge the surge." In the March 2007 issue of Alaska Business Monthly, you were asked about the surge and quoted saying:

"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. . . . While I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place."

Define "victory" in Iraq? What is the exit plan?

BOTTOM LINE: The nation deserves to hear Palin's unfiltered answers to serious questions. She wants to be your VP. It's not really what she is going to say that should really matter- It's what she has done and the incompetence behind it.

Palin is stonewalling the Investigation

Palin's stall
Governor is stonewalling the Troopergate investigation



(09/05/08 00:11:45)
Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she's on the national stage.

Instead, Gov. Palin has begun stonewalling the Legislature's attempt to get the bottom of allegations that she, her family or staff violated ethical or state personnel rules.

As a result, the Troopergate allegations hang over Palin's future and cloud her candidacy for vice president.

The allegations are that she, her family or administration improperly pressured then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Gov. Palin's ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten, who had been in the middle of a custody dispute with Palin's sister.

In July, when legislators started talking about conducting an investigation, Palin denied any wrongdoing and said she welcomed an investigation.

"Hold me accountable," she said.

The Legislature took her up on that offer. But this week, she basically told the Legislature, "Never mind."

Palin's lawyer has asked the Legislature to drop its investigation. He had the governor file an ethics complaint against herself, in a bid to turn the entire matter over to the state Personnel Board, which would hire an independent investigator.

This is not an open and transparent attempt to establish Gov. Palin's accountability. It is an attempt to drag out the investigation until after voters decide the fate of her vice-presidential bid.

Instead, Gov. Palin should honor her pledge to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation, conducted by former state prosecutor Steve Branchflower.

She could start by telling aide Frank Bailey he has to talk to the legislative investigator. She should fire him if he doesn't.

Bailey was caught on an audio recording of a phone conversation with a Public Safety Department official, in which Bailey pushed to get Wooten fired.

Bailey was put on paid leave, not fired. A spokeswoman for Palin said that while Bailey is on the state payroll, Palin can direct him to cooperate with the legislative investigation.

So why is Bailey still on the payroll, after he bailed on a scheduled interview with the legislative investigator Wednesday?

The Legislature hasn't given its investigator the power to subpoena, or compel, testimony of witnesses. Subpoenas appeared unnecessary, since it appeared the governor and administration would be cooperating.

That's over. It's time for the subpoenas.

The Legislature's investigation is supposed to be wrapped up by Oct. 31. That's obviously poor timing from the standpoint of the McCain-Palin presidential campaign, coming just a few days before the national election.

Instead of trying to delay the whole thing, Palin should take a cue from U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who asked that his corruption trial be moved up so it would be completed well ahead of the November general election. Voters deserve to know the outcome of Sen. Stevens trial and the investigation into Palin.

When this investigation into Troopergate started, Gov. Palin's response was refreshingly open. Since she became the Republican candidate for vice president, her approach has changed for the worse. America deserves the same openness and ethics from vice-presidential candidate Palin that she promised to Alaska voters in 2006.

BOTTOM LINE: Gov. Palin is stonewalling on Troopergate; the Legislature should issue subpoenas.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Threat'?

Palin's lawyer tries to play Secret Service card

Gov. Sarah Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, made an absurd threat in his battle to get the Legislature to back off its ethics investigation of the governor and her staff.

Van Flein said legislative investigator Steve Branchflower tried to call First Gentleman Todd Palin directly on "a secure and confidential line. This represents a serious security breach that we may be obligated to report to the Secret Service."

Hello? Branchflower is acting on behalf of the Legislature. That's a security breach?

Lawyers are supposed to vigorously represent their clients, but claiming that a legislative investigator's phone call may be a security matter worthy of Secret Service attention is ridiculous.

Gov. Palin should keep her legal attack dog on a shorter leash.

BOTTOM LINE: More obstruction from Palin in Troopergate.

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Sarah Palin is a Liar

Pregnancy
Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: September 1, 2008 - 8:49 am

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

A little background on the Bristol pregnancy. We asked the question throughout the weekend, and as recently as Saturday Palin spokesman Bill McAllister said he didn't know if it was true.
"I don't know. I have no evidence that Bristol's pregnant," he said.
Palin's campaign spokeswoman, as well as Palin aide Kris Perry, didn't respond to e-mails and phone messages asking about the rumor Saturday and Sunday.

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The worst mother the world has ever seen

She's transparent alright, but not too open or honest.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - E-mails from the Palin administration are being withheld from the public and the governor is citing executive privilege.

With subject lines like "Fagan," "Andrew Halcro" and even "Alaska Ear," it makes some wonder how those topics could possibly be policy related; especially since those same e-mails were copied to the governor's husband.

The administration says public employees need to know they can debate openly amongst themselves.

Andree McLeod, who tried repeatedly to get a job with the Palin administration, obtained the e-mails through a public records request.

The Department of Law says the e-mails are privileged. Officials say the private e-mails within the Palin administration won't be released.

"Part of the reason for not releasing e-mail messages is that there is a privileged recognized by the Alaska Supreme Court and courts across the country that is designed to encourage advisers to the governor to be frank and candid," Assistant Attorney General Dave Jones said.

Radio talk show host Dan Fagan is a Palin critic.

He says this isn't about policy. It's about not letting the public see what people in the administration have to say about Palin critics.

"If this is about executive privilege and confidential information then Todd should not be privy to them," Fagan said. "He's a regular citizen he does not get to be co-governor. We did not slash Todd on the ballot box."

Fagan is referring to Todd Palin, the governor's husband who also got copies of many of the e-mails.

Jones says the privilege applies in this case.

"That privilege applies to internal memoranda within state government but also to communications that are solicited from people outside state government," he said. "Sometimes the governor will want to solicit advice from people who are not state employees or federal Of course one of the closest advisers to a governor is likely to be that governor's spouse."

The governor says it's a non-issue.

"I feel like this is kind of a sport right now and that the haters and critics are really jumping," Gov. Palin said. "It's much ado about nothing in my opinion."

Palin says her husband is copied on the e-mails simply to make sure she gets a message.

She says her husband has no interest in being a politician.


"That's my job and that's respected by Todd," Palin said. "He's a great Alaskan whom I can bounce ideas off and he's wonderful. But, no Todd's not running the state."

Palin says that previous governor's spouses were much more involved in politics than her husband has been. Former Gov. Frank Murkowski's spouse, Nancy, was considered a senior adviser and attended all meetings.

WATCH THE LOCAL NEWS CAST

Contact Rebecca Palsha at rpalsha@ktuu.com

Branchflower to investigate Gov. Sarah Palin’s abuses.

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL has picked former Alaska Assistant District Attorney Steve Branchflower to investigate Gov. Sarah Palin’s dismissal of former Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

Branchflower, who is to begin immediately, is a good choice for the job. He’s been a prosecutor, a police instructor and an advocate in his role as the head of the Alaska Office Of Victims’ Rights. Lawmakers approved up to $100,000 dollars for the investigation.

At issue is whether Palin abused her office in trying to get a trooper fired who once was married to her sister, and then firing Monegan for refusing to do so.

Branchflower has his work cut out for him, but his credentials indicate he is more than up to task.

McCain-Palin ticket hits a massive iceberg

Among the names mentioned as potential vice presidential picks for Sen. John McCain has been Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the telegenic, but showing signs of stress 44-year old mother of five.

Paiin, who earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her intensity as a high-school basketball player, a sobriquet some political opponents have kept alive, won election in 2006 as a reformer and was quickly seen as a rising star in Republican political circles. There was even a "Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President" movement or, at the very least, just a website. Some Alaskans are saying, Draft Sarah, get her out of Alaska.

Palin has some awesome popularity ratings with Alaskan voters, something above 80 percent.

But now Palin is also caught up in a probe of her official conduct that probably nixes whatever long-shot chance she had to be on the McCain ticket. After all, she's only been a governor for two years.

Questions have arisen over whether Palin used her office to try and fire her ex brother-in-law from a state trooper's position. Palin asserts the charge is untrue but the Alaska Senate this week approved the hiring of an independent investigator to look into the charges.

Palin can take comfort in not having been implicated in the federal corruption investigation that has led to the indictment and conviction of some Alaskan politicians, like Sen. Ted Stevens who was indicted earlier this week.

Indeed, Palin made her reputation in Alaska by combating ethically challenged colleagues which didn't make her popular with her colleagues but did lead to the resignation of an Alaskan attorney general whose conflict-of-interest problems she helped to spotlight.


But having an Alaskan on the ticket would likely bring constant attention to the state's corruption problems which, since the state is Republican run, don't help the GOP brand.

Palin has another problem, abuse of power is a serious charge. After Alaska's public-safety commissioner Walt Monegan was fired (Monegan has said he felt pressure to dropkick the trooper) Palin replaced him with the former police chief of the city of Kenai. But he quit after it became known that he received a reprimand after sexual harassment allegations were filed against him in his former post.


At the very least, that incident raises some questions about Palin as a chief executive and might take some of the thrill away for some women who might otherwise be excited about seeing her on the ticket.

Thus, a McCain-Palin ticket doesn't appear to be in the cards.
Chicago Tribune- The Swamp

Alaska Governor To Be Investigated ...WSJ

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- When Sarah Palin was elected governor as a Republican outsider in 2006, she didn't just take on an incumbent from her own party. She took on Alaska's Republican establishment.

Ms. Palin vowed to clean up a long-cozy political system that had been sullied by an FBI corruption investigation. She endeared herself to Alaskans by making good on her reform promises and showing homey touches, like driving herself to work. Palin get into an accident, not paying attention is my call.
Now, one of the bright new stars in the Republican Party has suddenly become tarnished. The state legislature this week voted to hire an independent investigator to see whether Ms. Palin abused her office by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper.

"This is a governor who was almost impervious to error," says Hollis French, a Democratic state senator. "Now she could face impeachment/recall, in a worst-case scenario."

WARNING: This original article has been changed, the statement by Senator french and much more have been removed. The request came to the author by way of a Palinbot, lil' Jimmy Lottsfeldt. Request was granted to change the whole scope of the article. Shameful, Deceptive, Bad Journalism...

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