Sarah Palin is receiving legal help from the state of Alaska

State to provide legal help for Palin's lawsuit defense
DEFENSE: Assistant attorney general will be paid for, but not personal lawyer of ex-governor.

By BECKY BOHRER
The Associated Press

Sarah Palin is receiving legal help from the state in a civil lawsuit.

Assistant Attorney General Dale House said Palin asked the state to help defend her against the lawsuit by activist Chip Thoma.

The claims made against Palin date to when she was governor, and House said Wednesday that it's typical for the state to get involved if the person is being sued largely because of the title they held or because of something they did in the course of their official duties. He said there are exceptions, including for criminal cases.

House said the state will pay for his participation but not for Palin's personal lawyer, John Tiemessen, who will be co-counsel.

Thoma is suing Palin for at least $100,000, claiming that she undertook a campaign to "punish, embarrass, discredit and silence" him while governor after he complained about tour bus traffic on the windy, narrow streets around the governor's mansion.

Traffic increased after Palin returned to Juneau after her failed 2008 GOP vice presidential campaign. According to Thoma's lawsuit, which was amended in May, he complained about the traffic to a state agency and made signs and fliers about the traffic situation that he posted and handed out.

The lawsuit alleges Palin and unidentified conspirators retaliated, in some cases "twisting" his words and in others, "concocting complete fabrications" to silence him and others whom Palin perceived as speaking out against her.

The initial lawsuit was based in part on a leaked draft manuscript of an aide of Palin's at that time, Frank Bailey. Bailey's book, which has since been published, claims Palin aides "went into discrediting Chip overdrive," after Palin expressed frustration with complaints that she took as an attack on her family being in Juneau. Palin had taken heat during her tenure for not staying in Juneau, the state capital, full-time.

Tiemessen has called the lawsuit frivolous and said it was filed "merely for the purpose of harassment." House said he is not aware of any evidence of defamation by Palin or others at her request.

The case is pending in federal court. No trial date has been set.



Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/08/10/2008767/palin-seeks-state-help-in-defense.html#ixzz1VhIokSG2

McLeod says the Law is Clear

Activist Andrée McLeod is charging the administration of Sean Parnell with an ethics violation for improper disclosure of information. She is alleging former Sarah Palin aide Frank Bailey has had unfettered access to Palin’s e-mails for an insider book he’s putting together with two co-writers.

McLeod points out that while Bailey, et al., may have had access to the emails, they have been withheld from the public and the media, for as long as two years.

She’s basing the allegation on an Anchorage Daily News blurb in the Alaska Ear: “Bailey hasn’t been giving interviews, but earwigs say he and two co-writers are about 70 percent done with a manuscript based heavily on thousands of e-mails sent and received by people in the gov’s office during that period.”

McLeod says the law is clear: A current or former public officer may not disclose or use information gained in the course of, or by reason of, the officer’s official duties that could in any way result in the receipt of any benefit for the officer or an immediate family member, if the information has not also been disseminated to the public. Also, a current or former public officer may not disclose or use, without authorization information acquired in the course of official duties that is confidential by law.

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McLeod files ethics complaint against former Palin aide Bailey

Activist Andrée McLeod is charging the administration of Sean Parnell with an ethics violation for improper disclosure of information. She is alleging former Sarah Palin aide Frank Bailey has had unfettered access to Palin’s e-mails for an insider book he’s putting together with two co-writers.

McLeod points out that while Bailey, et al., may have had access to the emails, they have been withheld from the public and the media, for as long as two years.
McLeod files ethics complaint against former Palin aide Bailey

Anchorage activist Andrée McLeod has filed an ethics complaint with the state Attorney General’s office, this time against former Palin aide Frank Bailey, who is reportedly writing a book about her time as governor.

The complaint is based on an item in Sunday’s Alaska Ear column:

“Bailey hasn’t been giving interviews, but earwigs say he and two co-writers are about 70 percent done with a manuscript based heavily on thousands of e-emails sent and received by people in the gov’s office during that period.”

The essence of McLeod’s complaint is that it’s unethical for Bailey to use government e-mails for personal gain if the e-mails haven’t been made public. McLeod, along with the Associated Press, Mother Jones and MSNBC, asked for a variety of Palin administration e-mails in 2008 and have yet to see the release of many of them.

McLeod files ethics complaint against former Palin aide Bailey

Read more: http://community.adn.com/node/153052#ixzz0z3Dtx0X1

Another Abuse of Power Finding

By Geoffrey Dunn

Sarah Palin's erstwhile attorney Thomas Van Flein issued another of his bizarre missives on Palin's Facebook page yesterday in what appeared to be a strange portent of a forthcoming legal ruling ready to crash down on Palin.

In a commentary posted on a judge's recent ruling in Alaska dismissing a suit filed by Alaska political watchdog Andree McLeod regarding Todd Palin's emails, Van Flein--who has the expository grace of an Arctic muskrat--noted that "some claims and suits are pending and are getting resolved in time." It hardly has the sound of justice triumphant, does it?
Van Flein concluded:

"There are, of course, some remaining issues to address....There will be times when Sarah Palin will have to take one for the team in order to continue on with her message to the country and simply resolve matters without having to incur crushing personal debt. That is the cost, unfortunately, of public life today. When that happens, read the details closely--like the details in this court opinion. Every time you do you will see that Sarah Palin has always acted with honest intent. You will see that again soon."

It doesn't sound like good news for the Thrilla from Wasilla to me. Van Flein and Palin have obviously been warned that another legal storm is on the horizon.


And what might that be? Sources of mine in both Anchorage and Juneau involved with Alaska's Department of Law and the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) are speculating that an ethics act complaint filed last year against Palin and the establishment of her Alaska Fund Trust is about to be settled--against Palin.

Nearly a year ago, on July 14, 2009, shortly after Palin resigned her governorship, Alaska Personnel Board attorney Tom Daniel issued a preliminary finding which found that:


"In light of the evidence that the governor expressly authorized the creation of the trust and the fact the trust website quite openly uses the governor's position to solicit donations, there is probable cause to believe that Governor Palin used, or attempted to use, her official position for personal gain in violation of Alaska statute."

Daniel's finding did not sit well with the Palin camp. There have been rumors of hard-core legal pushback for the past year by Palin and Van Flein, who were reportedly furious over the finding and have proved unsuccessful in getting it reversed.

And what might that be? Sources of mine in both Anchorage and Juneau involved with Alaska's Department of Law and the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) are speculating that an ethics act complaint filed last year against Palin and the establishment of her Alaska Fund Trust is about to be settled--against Palin.


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View More Proof of "Abuse of Power"

Visit Crivella West

Check out who went through the state sytem all the way to Todd? Peek Here


Background

Background In September of 2008 Aram Roston, then at NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, made several public records requests to the governor of the State of Alaska. Roston sought e-mails dated from January 2007 to September 24, 2008 that were copied to, directed to, or from Todd Palin and seven members of then Governor Sarah Palin's staff, including Governor Palin. The records provided by the governor's office consist of 2,544 pages and were subsequently provided to Bill Dedman, an msnbc.com investigative reporter. In collaboration with msnbc.com, Crivella West Incorporated, a knowledge discovery company, digitized, analyzed and arranged this Palin e-mail collection. Further, Crivella West categorized these documents into Special Collections for easy review. Bill Dedman detailed his findings from this production in an article published on February 5, 2010 which you can find at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35238034/ns/politics/
The State of Alaska's Response to Roston's requests, as well as a listing of records the governor's office withheld or redacted, can be accessed on the links below.


Further Information on the request

State of Alaska Response
Privilege Log

How to search the Palin E-mail 01/25/2010
1. Click on Search link located under Public Access Collections.
2. Enter desired search term(s) into search bar and click the "Search" button.
3. Select desired document and click on document link - example, "Subject: RE: schedule".
4. Search term(s) can include single terms or phrases.
5. When searching for a phrase, surround with double quotes - example "Anchorage office".
6. Advanced operators that can be used while searching include AND, OR, and NOT.

Crivella West

Another Ethics Complaint Filed Against Palin

Sarah Palin Still Unethical - Another Ethics Complaint Filed
From the Associated Press --

A longtime critic of Sarah Palin has filed an ethics complaint alleging past aides of the former Alaska governor misused state resources during her run as the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Andree McLeod filed her complaint Friday with the state attorney general's office. Five other ethics complaints filed by McLeod against Palin or her staff have been dismissed and another is pending.

In the latest grievance, McLeod maintains eight staffers in the former governor's office violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act by using state time, property and resources to benefit the campaign of presidential hopeful John McCain and running mate Palin.

Judy Bockmon, an assistant attorney general and the state's ethics attorney, says ethics complaints being investigated are confidential and she cannot comment on their status or whether they even exist. (Read the complaint, with attached e-mails here)


Read More

What are they hiding?

No matter what you think about Andrée McLeod - and she has stirred up her share of enemies with public records requests of the Palin administration - it is becoming increasingly clear something is grossly amiss.


She submitted her public records request more than a year ago, and the law requires the request be answered in 10 days.

Yet here we are, waiting and waiting and waiting. Instead of providing the information requested, the Palin, and now the Parnell, administrations have requested and received time extension after time extension to respond.

We join those who are asking after the ninth such extension: What are they hiding?

Ms. McLeod says the continued government stalling is “unacceptable and outrageous!” She is being kind. It is government at its worst.

List of Ethics Complaint Filed Against Sarah Palin

A listing of known ethics complaints filed against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin:
By The Associated Press

1. July 28, 2008: Alaska lawmakers launched an investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan over his refusal to let go a state trooper involved in a contentious divorce with Palin's sister. Stephen Branchflower, a special counsel leading the investigation, concluded Oct. 10 that Palin violated a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain. The firing itself was deemed lawful since Monegan was an at-will employee.

2. Aug. 6, 2008: Complaint filed by outspoken Palin critic Andree McLeod of Anchorage contended Palin and some staff members used their influence to get a Palin supporter a job in state government. Complaint alleged Palin staffers helped Tom Lamal, who once co-hosted a Palin fundraiser, to get a job as a surveyor. Dismissed by state personnel board, although the board's investigator recommended ethics training for one staffer who made questionable comments in e-mails.

3. Aug. 20, 2008: Complaint accused Palin of breaking election law by taking a public position on a mining ballot initiative days before the vote. Filed by Brian Kraft, founder of the Bristol Bay Alliance, a group that opposed the Pebble Mine prospect. Rejected May 8 by the Alaska Public Offices Commission.
Aug. 29, 2008: Palin named as John McCain's running mate.

4. Sept. 2, 2008: Palin filed a "self disclosure" with the state personnel board over the Troopergate affair, saying a state legislative probe had become too political. On Nov. 3 -- the day before the election -- Timothy Petumenos, a lawyer hired by the board, said that Palin violated no ethics laws when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

5. Sept. 3, 2008: Complaint by the Public Safety Employees Association alleged Palin or her staff had unauthorized access to and improperly disclosed information from personnel records of Trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's ex-brother-in-law. Complaint was later amended to include an allegation of harassment. The PSEA's allegations were investigated alongside Palin's filing and also dismissed.

6. Oct. 13, 2008: Monegan asked the board for a hearing to clear his name. Petumenos, in his Nov. 3 Troopergate report to the panel, said there was no legal basis or jurisdiction for such a hearing.

7. Oct. 23, 2008: Complaint with the Federal Election Commission by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics alleged the $150,000-plus designer wardrobe the Republican Party bought to outfit Palin in her vice presidential quest violated Federal Election Campaign Act. The Washington watchdog group argued that candidates aren't supposed to use donor money for personal expenses. The FEC ruled May 19 that party money is not covered by the ban.

8. Oct. 24, 2008: Complaint contended Palin abused her power by charging the state when her children traveled with her. The personnel board found no wrongdoing, but in a Feb. 23 settlement Palin agreed to reimburse the state about $10,000 for costs associated with 10 trips found to be of questionable state interest among 72 travel authorizations studied. The money is due to the state on Tuesday.

9. Nov. 14, 2008: Accused Palin of partisan "post-election damage control" for talking to reporters about the campaign in her state office. Filed by Zane Henning, a North Slope worker from Wasilla, Palin's hometown. Dismissed by state personnel board March 23.

10. Dec. 2, 2008: Alleged Palin violated ethics law by campaigning for Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. Filed by Anthony Martin of Talkeetna. Dismissed by state personnel board March 23.

11. Dec. 18, 2008: Complaint contended Palin misused funds of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, a quasi-government entity, to promote her political ambitions with advertisements featuring her, violating ethics law. The ads promoting Alaska seafood ran in the National Fisherman last year through November. Dismissed Jan. 12 after a personnel board investigation determined Palin's only involvement was to give permission to use her image long before she was named McCain's running mate.

12. Jan. 12: Complaint alleging interference in a job hiring was filed under the name of Edna Birch, a busybody character on the British soap opera Emmerdale. Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said no one by that name could be found living in Alaska and the filer refused to use a real name, so the complaint was dismissed Feb. 20.

13. and 14. Jan. 26: Two complaints filed by McLeod alleged two of Palin's top aides misused their official positions for Palin's personal and political gain. The complaints said then-press secretary Bill McAllister and Kris Perry -- director of the governor's Anchorage office -- worked on state time to benefit Palin's interests during and after her vice presidential quest. Pending.

15. March 18: Contended Palin improperly used state staff, property, time and equipment for partisan political purposes. One of the grievances cited was Palin's posting of her veep candidacy on the official state governor's Web site -- http://gov.state.ak.us/archive.php?id=1439&type=1 Complaint filed by McLeod. Dismissed May 27 as lacking merit by personnel board May 27.

16. March 24: Contended conflict of interest by Palin because she wore Arctic Cat logo gear during the Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race. Palin's husband, Todd, is sponsored by Arctic Cat in the race. Filed by Linda Kellen Biegel, a Democratic blogger. Dismissed June 2.

17. April 22: Alleged that work with Palin's political action committee violated two provisions of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act by misusing her official position and accepting outside employment. Filed by Anchorage resident Sondra Tompkins. Dismissed as lacking merit by state personnel board May 8.

18. April 27: Contends Palin is misusing the governor's office for personal gain by securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust. The fund was recently established by supporters to help Palin pay off more than $500,000 in legal debts stemming from other ethics complaints, including troopergate. Complaint filed by Eagle River resident, Kim Chatman. Pending.

19. Zane henning
Wasilla resident Zane Henning will be filing an ethics complaint today against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for continuing to collect per diem from the State of Alaska for living in her own home. "I am charging that the Governor has given herself a raise for personal gain by using the per diem process, which is in direct conflict with Section 39.52.120. (a) of the Alaska Executive Ethics Act,” Henning said. “The State of Alaska provides housing in the state's capital of Juneau for our Governor, so there should be no extra expense if she desires to stay in her own home. More than a thousand state employees commute from the Mat-Su Valley daily and none of them get to pocket free money.”
The reasons why I am filing this complaint are as follows:· State travel regulations specify per diem can’t be claimed when travel is less than 50 miles from a state employee’s workplace. Palin works out of her Anchorage office in the Atwood Building which is a scant 45- mile commute from her Wasilla home. · Palin is exempt from personnel and travel rules which means she does NOT HAVE to collect any per diem ever when working out of her Anchorage office. · And most importantly, State Statute 39.20.010 distinctly stipulates that the governor’s salary is $125,000. Period. By pocketing this free money, Palin violates Alaska law by giving herself a raise that totals to thousands of dollars. Attached documents provide proof that Governor Sarah Palin continues to collect per diem as of May 2009.
"The Governor is quitting her job and now more than ever the State of Alaska along with its residents need to be reimbursed for the per diem charges including interest and a fine. Governor Palin is setting precedent for future governors. My hope was that one of our lemming legislators would take a stand and hold Palin accountable for this act, but since that has not happened, it is up to private citizens, like myself, to hold our Governor accountable”, stated Henning.

20. Alaska — Another ethics complaint was filed against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – less than a week before her resignation – alleging she failed to submit complete gift disclosure forms in a timely manner.
The complaint filed with the attorney general is the 19th ethics grievance against Palin, who responded via Twitter postings that the filings came from a "serial complainer" intent on abusing the political process.
"In violation of Ethics Act more allegations were filed today by serial complainer; gave to press be4 we could respond; ridiculous, wasteful..." Palin wrote in the first of a string of postings on the social networking site Twitter.
"it costs political critics NOTHING to file/play their wasteful game; They should debate policy in political arena,not hide w/process abuse..." she said in another tweet.
In announcing her July 26 resignation, Palin has cited the cost and strain of the multiple complaints on her personally and on her administration. Palin, who leaves with 17 months left on her first term, says she is more than $500,000 in legal debt from fighting them.
Most of the complaints, including a case filed by the governor herself, were filed after Palin was named the GOP vice presidential candidate last year. Most have been dismissed.
The latest is the sixth filed by fellow Republican Andree McLeod, an outspoken critic of the governor. She is asking Attorney General Daniel Sullivan to forward her claim to the state Personnel Board for investigation.
Items are listed in the complaint as unclaimed gifts, including "boxes of unopened mail" to Palin and her family from supporters dating back to the governor's national campaign.
"We deserve to know who plied their governor with gifts," McLeod wrote in her complaint.
Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said the multiple filings by one person raise the prospect that the ethics process "is being abused and is simply being used to harass and annoy." Three of McLeod's cases have been dismissed and two others, including one filed last week, remain active.
The 19 complaints include a "self disclosure" Palin filed with the Alaska Personnel Board just days after she was named John McCain's running mate. It was in response to an investigation by state lawmakers over Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner, a scandal that became known as Troopergate.
The commissioner, Walt Monegan, believed he was terminated over his refusal to dismiss a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce with Palin's sister. Palin cited budgetary disagreements.
The legislative probe ultimately concluded the governor broke an ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain, although the firing itself was considered lawful since Monegan was an employee who could be dismissed at will.
Palin said the legislative probe had become too political and filed a "self disclosure" with the personnel board, whose three members are appointed by the governor. The day before the presidential election, that investigation concluded that Palin violated no ethics laws.

21. 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 the McCain campaign on August 27th Sarah Palin wrote “Conclusion of state business” for that day and flew off to places unknown. After her failed bid, similar documents state “Return to duty status”. However, payroll documents show Palin continued to receive her $125,000 governor’s salary and benefited by using state funded staff on the campaign for ‘state business’ while knowing she was off duty.
“By signing these documents Sarah Palin knew she temporarily quit as governor to campaign for VP full-time; but by pocketing her salary Palin deceivingly used her official position and state staff for partisan political purposes to garner votes.”
The complaint also touches on the Alaska Constitution’s Article 3, Section 9: Acting Governor ~ In case of the temporary absence of the governor from office, the lieutenant governor shall serve as acting governor.
McLeod asks, “What was Sarah Palin thinking when she went off to the Lower 48 for God knows how long without transferring duties to the lieutenant governor? Alaskans were left fending for themselves while Outside political campaign operatives hijacked our system of governance and rendered it paralyzed. Who was looking out for Alaskans and where was the lieutenant governor? How could Sarah Palin be so thoughtless?”
A copy of the ethics complaint is here: sarah-palin-jul-14-ethics-complaint1

New Ethics Complaint Against Palin

For Immediate Release
Monday, July 6, 2009, Wasilla, Alaska- Wasilla resident Zane Henning will be filing an ethics complaint today against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for continuing to collect per diem from the State of Alaska for living in her own home. "I am charging that the Governor has given herself a raise for personal gain by using the per diem process, which is in direct conflict with Section 39.52.120. (a) of the Alaska Executive Ethics Act,” Henning said. “The State of Alaska provides housing in the state's capital of Juneau for our Governor, so there should be no extra expense if she desires to stay in her own home. More than a thousand state employees commute from the Mat-Su Valley daily and none of them get to pocket free money.”
The reasons why I am filing this complaint are as follows:· State travel regulations specify per diem can’t be claimed when travel is less than 50 miles from a state employee’s workplace. Palin works out of her Anchorage office in the Atwood Building which is a scant 45- mile commute from her Wasilla home. · Palin is exempt from personnel and travel rules which means she does NOT HAVE to collect any per diem ever when working out of her Anchorage office. · And most importantly, State Statute 39.20.010 distinctly stipulates that the governor’s salary is $125,000. Period. By pocketing this free money, Palin violates Alaska law by giving herself a raise that totals to thousands of dollars. Attached documents provide proof that Governor Sarah Palin continues to collect per diem as of May 2009.
"The Governor is quitting her job and now more than ever the State of Alaska along with its residents need to be reimbursed for the per diem charges including interest and a fine. Governor Palin is setting precedent for future governors. My hope was that one of our lemming legislators would take a stand and hold Palin accountable for this act, but since that has not happened, it is up to private citizens, like myself, to hold our Governor accountable”, stated Henning.

Palin RESIGNS- Good For Alaska

"Lucky 13"

Complaint: Palin's legal fund violates ethics rules
Mark Thiessen/The Associated Press

Originally published Monday, April 27, 2009 at 5:04 p.m.
Updated Monday, April 27, 2009 at 8:26 p.m.


Read Kim Chatman's letter outlining the complaint against Gov. Sarah Palin here.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An ethics complaint filed Monday against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin claims the legal defense fund formed last week to challenge such claims is an ethics violation itself.

The complaint filed with the attorney general's office seeks an investigation by the state personnel board for violations of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. The complainant, Kim Chatman of Eagle River, claims Palin is misusing the governor's office for personal gain by securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts.

The governor's office said Monday the new complaint and others filed against Palin or her staff show a disturbing trend in Alaska politics.

"It's obvious the intent with this unprecedented action against the governor is to see her administration paralyzed and for her to declare personal bankruptcy," Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

The new complaint targets the Alaska Fund Trust, which Palin supporter and friend Kristan Cole established last week. Palin has said has said she's accumulated more than $500,000 in legal fees from defending herself against ethics complaints and in Troopergate, the Legislature's probe into the firing of Palin's former public safety commissioner.

Chatman's complaint cites as potential donors the 500,000 supporters signed up for Palin's Facebook account and various political organizations.

"Gov. Palin is perched to improperly receive an enormous amount of money for herself and her family and position a pool of pre-paid defense lawyers organized to deflect consequences of wrongdoings," the complaint says.

Chatman told The Associated Press in a phone interview that she voted for Palin as governor in 2006, but now sees her as unethical. Palin "is not holding up her end of the bargain," she said.

Chatman, 49, says she was never politically active until she started watching Palin more closely. Now, "she makes me pay attention," she said.

At least a dozen other ethics complaints have been filed against Palin, most since she returned from the vice presidential campaign last fall. Most complaints are confidential unless a public accusation is filed or the accused person agrees in writing to make it public.

In Troopergate, Palin originally cooperated with the Legislature's investigation before saying the investigation had become too partisan. She then filed an ethics grievance against herself with the Alaska Personnel Board.

The legislative probe found Palin had abused her office but the commissioner's firing was legal. The separate personnel board investigation found there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official violated ethics laws.

The Dirty Dozen

Spring is springing here on the Last Frontier, and with it pops up a brand new ethics complaint against the governor. For those of you keeping score at home, that makes twelve ethics complaints in all. That number, of course, includes the one Palin filed against herself last fall so the Troopergate investigation could be overseen by the governor-appointed personnel board, instead of leaving it solely to those rogue, mavericky legislators in Juneau.

The complaint will be filed this afternoon asserting that Palin's involvement with SarahPAC constitutes "outside employment" and "misuse of official position."

Anchorage resident Sondra Tompkins, child disability advocate and mother of a special needs child, is filing the complaint after observing Governor Palin repeatedly display "a pattern of unethical behavior." Sondra believes that the tipping point for her was Sarah Palin's most recent abdication of her role as Governor and apparent conflict-of-interest when she spoke at two outside events in Indiana rather than work with the Alaska Legislature during the most critical time, the end of the session.
The complaint alleges:

a) Governor Palin has entered into a contract outside of her official duties with the donors, employees, partners and any or all other participants involved in SarahPAC.

b) The recent partisan trip to Indiana by the Governor was purely to benefit personal interests, had no benefit for the State of Alaska and was in direct conflict with her official duties.

c) The Governor left the State to participate in these events during the most critical end-of-session Legislative activities, at a time where the legislators themselves are not permitted to leave

Where's Sarah?

As we were saying...




(3/16/09) Just one day after posting a blog about the governor's lack of leadership on critical issues, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner published a story today about the progress on one of the governor's priority bills for this year.

According to Rena Delbridge writing in the Fairbanks paper, Golden Valley Electric Association CEO Brian Newton attended meetings last week with the Palin administration in Juneau regarding the governor's proposed legislation to combine railbelt utilities.

The legislation would create a framework for the Railbelt’s six electric utilities to form a corporation to own and manage transmission and generation.

GVEA officials have voiced concerns about the proposal and according to some lawmakers, have said privately that there would be no way they'd ever go along with the proposal.

Newton did said the meetings in the capital, held during the Alaska Power Association meetings, were useful. GVEA and the administration will work together to iron out differences, he said.

The most telling line of the story was the last line of the story:

"The governor didn’t meet with GVEA personally, nor did she speak to the Alaska Power Association gathering.

The railbelt consolidation bill is supposedly a priority piece of legislation for the governor and energy is the most critical issue of the legislative session, but yet she didn't meet with or speak to Alaska energy executives when they were in Juneau?

As we said; lights are on but nobody is home.

Andrew Halcro's blog

"The self-proclaimed queen of ethics has again crossed the line"

Just as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is pushing herself as presidential material for 2012, two of her top aides-- Communications Director and Press Secretary, Bill McAllister, and Palin's Anchorage office director, Kris Perry--are being hit with new ethics charges, to be filed with the state Attorney General on Monday.

Well-known Alaskan political watchdog Andree McLeod--a registered Republican who was once a close political associate of Palin's and who has worked at a variety of jobs in Alaskan government--said that she is filing the complaint because "employees working for Palin conducted partisan political activities while on the clock and on the public's dime."

In August of last year, before Palin was nominated as John McCain's GOP running mate, McLeod filed ethics charges against the Palin administration over the hiring of Palin political crony Tom Lamal. She also has a legal case pending against Palin in which she is trying to make public more than 1,000 state emails that were copied to the governor's husband, Todd. In October, an Anchorage judge ordered Palin and others in her office to "retrieve and preserve" any emails from private accounts that concern state business that were copied to the so-called "First Dude."

In her current complaint against McAllister, McLeod sites a series of activities that she contends violate Alaska's "Executive Branch Code of Ethics," which prohibits public officials from using or authorizing "the use of state funds, facilities, equipment, services, or another government asset or resource for partisan political purposes."

"These campaign activities have absolutely nothing to do with the public's business, and everything to do with promoting Palin's personal endeavors and political aspirations," McLeod declared in an exclusive interview. "This must not go unchallenged."

In her complaint, addressed to Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg, McLeod charges that state documents indicate McAllister traveled with the Palin entourage to Minneapolis for the Republican National Convention and that he was on the Alaska payroll September 1 to 5, 2008, allegedly "to provide staff support to the governor regarding state business."

Yet an email from McAllister to Palin (on her controversial private Yahoo account) indicates that McAllister was clearly coordinating Palin's activities for the RNC.

The convention itself is requesting you to act as a surrogate for McCain for national media. Available blocs of time daily, are 5-9 a.m., 11 a.m. - 9.a.m. Within those, they ask when you might be available for this purpose.

Three other state of Alaska employees--Perry, Janice Mason and Sharon Leighow--were also copied by McAllister on what was clearly Republican Party business.

In a television interview McAllister gave to Anchorage station KTUU while at the convention, he declared:

She's been in long, long briefings working on foreign policy, beginning to work on her speech she'll be delivering here when she accepts the nomination. It's a very intense operation. The McCain folks definitely know what they want. They're working with her all day long on various aspects of how this is going to go.


McAllister also said that Palin was feeling "good and ready" for her Wednesday night speech. "It's going to be a friendly crowd here and the audience will likely embrace the governor"--once again, hardly state business and clearly partisan activity.

The McLeod complaint cites several other similar incidents involving McAllister during the presidential campaign that cross over into partisan activities.

But perhaps the most clear-cut violations of the Ethics Code by McAllister cited by McLeod are a series of interviews that McAllister gave following the announcement that Democrat Bob Poe would be challenging Palin for Governor in 2010. McAllister responded directly to charges that Poe made during the announcement of his candidacy, and not only disputed Poe's charges on behalf of Palin, but took political potshots at Poe:

It is unfortunate that Mr. Poe would claim, counter to the obvious facts, that the governor is putting national political aspirations above her role as chief executive of the state. Since the election, the governor has spent less than a day out of state attending to partisan activities.

Then he changed it to five days:

The governor is here has been gone a mere five days in the past two months. Since the election, she has been in Alaska, is working, is focused, and doesn't need a nudge from Bob Poe to do it.

McAllister then got more aggressive. A January 9, 2009, Anchorage Daily News article again had McAllister weighing in on Poe:


"Palin spokesman Bill McAllister said it was presumptuous of Poe to comment on the internal workings of the administration. 'He doesn't know what he's talking about," McAllister said.' McAllister rejected Poe's criticism that Palin's absences have hurt the state. Other governors, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, ran for national office while running their states. Since the election, Palin has been out of the state for five days and she's devoted less than one day to political activity despite numerous requests, McAllister said. As for the natural gas pipeline process....McAllister wondered if Poe wanted a return to closed negotiations and giveaways. 'I don't see any evidence that that's what the public wants,' McAllister said."


McAllister is a former KTUU news reporter in Anchorage who critics say sucked up to Palin during her early stint as governor in pursuit of his current post. Emails uncovered by McLeod indicate that McAllister was angling for his post with Palin several months before receiving it--and while he was still assigned to cover her for KTUU.

In Kaylene Johnson's hagiography on Palin, McAllister brags about betting on Palin in her primary battle with former Alaska governor Frank Murkowski: "I had a bet with my colleagues at work," McAllister boasts, "a high-end single-malt scotch with one and a fine bottle of wine with the other--that Sarah would win the primary." This came while he was covering the race--clearly a violation of journalistic ethics.

McLeod's charges leveled at Perry--Palin's former campaign manager who headed up the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce while Palin was mayor there--are similar to those directed at McAllister. Apparently, Perry spent six weeks on the campaign trail with Palin. She also traveled to Georgia with Palin when she campaigned for Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss--while she was still on the clock in Alaska.

This is not the first time those around Palin have been hit with ethics charges. In her ill-fated 2002 campaign for lieutenant governor, Palin was caught using City of Wasilla resources for campaign related mailings, phone calls, faxes and printing. She also campaigned on city time. More recently, Zane Henning has charged Palin with violations of the ethics code for using state offices for her interview with Greta Van Susteren.

McLeod finds Palin's hypocrisy troubling. "The self-proclaimed queen of ethics has again crossed the line and violated her own oft- repeated ethics principles," McLeod declared. "This dog won't hunt."

Here are the McLeod’s complaints:
Click here for the McAllister complaint
Click here for the Perry complaint

Half-Baked in Alaska: Palin's 11th Hour "Troopergate" Exoneration Was a Lie

It was surely an odd bit of timing on Monday, November 3--just hours before one of the biggest presidential elections in American history--that the Alaska State Personnel Board issued a finding by its chief investigator, Timothy J. Petumenos, that Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, did not breach state ethics laws when she fired Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan in July of this year.

This last minute finding appeared to exonerate Palin of any legal culpability in the so-called "Troopergate" scandal that dogged her throughout her ill-fated, two-month run on the Republican ticket. Palin boldly claimed it a "vindication," while headlines throughout the world declared that she had been "cleared" of any wrongdoing.

That was hardly the case. Composed entirely of political appointees--and all Republican--the Personnel Board was hell-bent on clearing Palin from the get-go. Its findings were neither final nor impartial. And they leave many questions about her behavior, along with that of her husband's and her staff's, unanswered.

Perhaps the most significant questions that remain are whether or not Governor Palin and her husband, Todd, committed perjury in their sworn affidavits to the personnel board.

There is significant circumstantial evidence that they did.

Less than a month before the Personnel Board's findings, of course, a Republican investigator of the bipartisan Alaska Legislative Council declared that while Palin broke no laws in firing Monegan, she had, in fact, violated the state's Executive Ethics Act by actively pursuing the firing of her former brother-in-law, Alaska state trooper Mike Wooten.

Palin put the lean on Monegan to fire Wooten. He didn't. So he was fired instead.

As Governor, Palin had the executive right to fire Monegan. On that fact, both the Legislative Council and Personnel Board agree.

What they disagree about is whether Palin, her husband, and her staff had the right to hound Monegan about the firing of Wooten. The Personnel Board said that she did have the right; the Legislative Council's reading of the Alaska Ethics Act says she did not.

And hound they did. More than three dozen times in less than two years.

In the aftermath of Monegan's dismissal, Palin gave at least four different reasons for it--all of which seem spurious, at best, and concocted, at worst. And there is strong evidence contradicting every one of her four explanations.

But even more troubling is the absolutely obsessive pattern of strong-arming Monegan about Wooten that began immediately once Palin took office. Within two months of her December 2006 inauguration, Palin and her husband, Todd, contacted Monegan a half-dozen times about firing Wooten. Then Palin's staff members began the assault. Then more contacts from the Palins. Then more from staff.

The pressure was unrelenting and continued right up until the time that Monegan was fired. The record on that--emails, notes, even taped phone conversations--is quite clear.

Perhaps the most troubling piece of evidence is a February 7, 2007, email from Gov. Palin to Monegan. It's a long, rambling missive that concludes with a return to her obsession with Wooten: "Just my opinion -- I know you know I've experienced a lot of frustration with this issue. I know Todd's even expressed to you a lot of concern about our family's safety after this trooper threatened to kill a family member..."

Both Palin and her husband swore under oath that they did not have conversations with Monegan a month earlier (in January 2007) about the Wooten matter. Yet the February 2007 email proves concretely that Palin was aware that her husband had conveyed concerns to Monegan and, by implication ("I know you know") that she had as well. It also clearly establishes the pattern of her trying to use her influence to get Wooten fired from her earliest days in office.

Palin further contradicted her own testimony by saying that her husband complained to her so frequently about the handling of the Wooten matter that she had to tell him to stop, and then shortly thereafter contended that she knew nothing about his activities to get Wooten fired.

Implausible? Absolutely. Perjury? That remains for a legal body to decide.

But will one?

I contacted Monegan's talented attorney in Anchorage, Jeffrey Feldman, of Feldman, Orlansky & Sanders, to ask him about the state of the case and what were the next legal steps in this matter.

"No one knows the answer to that question," he declared. Since the Personnel Board made a finding of "no probable cause" and denied Monegan's request for a hearing, there "is nothing currently pending before the Personnel Board."

Feldman indicated that Monegan's legal options are also limited. He "could file an action in court either challenging his dismissal, asserting defamation claims, or seeking a due process name-clearing hearing," but as of now that's uncertain.

That leaves the Alaska Legislature. When it goes back into session in January, there are a variety of options it could pursue. Although there's a bipartisan majority caucus in the state Senate, Feldman said, it's uncertain whether Senate President-designate, Republican Gary Stevens (not related to the convicted U.S. Senator), will follow up on any matter dealing with Troopergate.

That, to me, would seem to be a dereliction of the Legislature's duty. The Alaska Legislature has the right--and I believe the obligation--to follow-up on the findings of its own investigation and to censure Governor Palin for what was a clear pattern of abusing her power.

Moreover, the Legislature also has the power to seek contempt charges against Palin and other state officials who willingly ignored the Legislative Council's subpoenas during its investigation of Troopergate. And it also has the power to hold hearings on whether or not Palin and her husband committed perjury. There's troubling evidence that they did.

Come January, someone needs to show Alaska's first family that they are not above the law

Politics
Sarah Palin: The e-mail scandal
The Wasilla Project visited Sarah Palin's hometown to find out how she governed as mayor. This video explores Palin's use of a personal Yahoo account for state business and issues of ethics. Visit the Wasilla Project for more information and videos. You can also find them on Salon, here.

The whole country sees Palin's unethical ways and Abuse of Power

Palin and Abuse of Power

New Investigation -Not a Clear and Transparent Government

Gov. Sarah Palin is facing yet another lawsuit accusing her of running an opaque government. This time, her relationship to the mining industry is in question.
Alaskans for Clean Water are suing Palin and various state departments, including the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), for allegedly backing the mining industry - most notably, the controversial Pebble Mine project - by misleading voters about Ballot Measure Four, the so-called Clean Water Initiative which was defeated during

Brian Kraft, a business owner with no ties to Alaskans for Clean Water, is suing the governor's office for access to public records. Wednesday, September 22, 2008. the primary elections. The group is also accusing the governor and her administration of stonewalling public access to public records that could potentially prove whether Palin favored a special interest group.
It all began in August with Brian Kraft, who owns two businesses in Bristol Bay. He supported the ballot measure, which he says DNR helped to defeat with a website just a week before the primaries. Kraft filed a complaint with the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC).

"I thought it was biased, misleading and APOC ruled in our favor," said Kraft, who is not a member of Alaskans for Clean Water. "APOC had an expedited hearing. They viewed the evidence and in that evidence part of it was Gov. Palin's comments of 'I'm taking my hat off and, personally, I'm voting 'no' on ballot measure four."

That evidence - in the form of emails - is what Alaskans for Clean water requested through the public records act. Nearly two months later, they still don't have the records and are now suing for access.

"I'd like to know what those emails were back and forth between the administration, the DNR and the mining industry," said Kraft. "I think as a resident of the state of Alaska, we have a right to those."

The governor's

office says all public records requests have been backlogged
"We're trying to comply with all the public records requests we've gotten," said Bill McAllister, Palin's spokesman. "We've got more than 80 ongoing public records requests right now, not including the ones we've already resolved. What this group has to understand is we're trying to answer inquiries from all over the country that have piled up in a very short time frame."

McAllister says the state is even "pulling lawyers off of other duties to do work they don't normally do to go through and see which of these records can be legally disclosed."

As for the clean water initiative, APOC ordered the state to take down the website but Kraft said the damage had already been done.

"I think it heavily influenced the way people voted, in that people felt secure that the State of Alaska had the rigorous permitting process that the State of Alaska likes to claim," Kraft said.

"I'm not trying to get the governor in trouble," Kraft added. "I'm not trying to make this a political issue. All I want is the truth to be found out."

Second abuse-of-power investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's

Confidential records will be shared in new Palin probe
UNANIMOUS: Panel gives independent counsel access.

A legislative panel agreed Thursday to share confidential personnel records with the lawyer who is leading a second abuse-of-power investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner. The Legislative Council voted unanimously to provide the confidential documents to the Personnel Board's independent counsel, Tim Petumenos, who is investigating Palin's firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan.

Petumenos did not attend the brief session in Anchorage on Thursday and did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Last week, an investigator for the Legislative Council found that Palin was within her right to fire Monegan but had violated ethics laws by trying to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired.

The probe began before Palin became the GOP vice presidential nominee, but it has taken on broader political implications since then.

Palin originally agreed to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation. But after becoming John McCain's running mate, she said the probe had become too partisan and filed a complaint against herself with the Personnel Board, saying it has the proper authority to investigate ethics allegations against the governor.

Democratic state Sen. Kim Elton, chairman of the Legislative Council, said it was important to share the confidential information to ensure that critical data was not segregated. The council published its findings last week but not the confidential matter.

"I can't speak to whether it will speed up Mr. Petumenos' investigation," Elton said. "I do have to believe that the public component of the report contains most of the information that is pertinent, but conclusions that were drawn in volume one -- the public component -- are backed up by some of the material that has to remain confidential by law."

Under the agreement, neither Petumenos nor the Personnel Board are allowed to reveal contents of the confidential documents without approval from the Legislative Council. That last-minute condition bothered Republican state Rep. Bill Stoltze, who participated by teleconference but didn't vote.

"I just thought we shouldn't put another restriction of confidentiality on this thing," Stoltze told The Associated Press after the meeting. "I thought it was unnecessary and it put out the perception that we're trying to create yet another barrier to public access."

A report by Stephen Branchflower, the council's investigator, concluded that Palin unlawfully abused her power by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired, but it was largely toothless. State lawmakers have no authority to sanction Palin for ethical misconduct. That's up to the three-member Personnel Board, which is appointed by the governor.

Two members are holdovers from the previous governor and Palin reappointed the third.

Members of the board can be fired by the governor for cause.

A costly personal, vindictive Palin vendetta? You betcha

Let's ignore all of the emails, phone calls and sworn testimony from current employees of Governor Palin that show a bizarre obsession with getting the governor's ex brother in law fired. Lets for a minute ignore all of the evidence and assume that "Troopergate" is much to do about nothing.

Let's assume that the governor and her husband are being honest in their explanation that they were simply protecting their family and the public from a rogue trooper. Let's assume that the governor's public explanation of the phone calls to former Commissioner Walt Monegan from her, her husband and her staff were about honest outrage at a system that allows a dangerous trooper to continue carrying a badge and gun on Alaska's streets.

However, if the risk presented by Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten was so grave, why didn't Gov. Palin do anything to protect Alaskans by letting them know? After all, if this story hadn't become public as a result of Monegan getting unceremoniously fired, not one Alaskan would have been been the wiser about this supposed rogue trooper.

For the better part of thirteen months Gov. Palin, her husband and a handful of her senior staff tried to get Wooten fired through legally impermissible means. Why didn't the governor or her staff spend that time crafting a beneficial public policy that would have protected the public against this trooper as well as future rogue troopers?

If the governor, her husband and her senior staff were truly concerned about their safety or the publics safety, why didn't they propose legislation to change the way the state troopers investigate themselves?

In hindsight, it's hard to understand that after a year of relentlessly pursuing Wooten, while claiming his punishment was a "slap on the wrist" they never once considered speaking about this situation in public. This past session there were over two dozen pieces of public safety legislation where the governor could have had a public platform to inform the public of her concerns, work with lawmakers to propose solutions and change state laws not just for Wooten but for future cases of accused trooper misconduct.

Rep. Bob Roses introduced House Bill 193 that reformed the Police Standards Council. Sen. Donny Olson introduced Senate Bill 45, dealing with punishment of peace officers. Both were passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Palin without one single public word about any fears or concerns she had about Wooten or the troopers.

The governor failed to propose new legislation, offer any amendments to existing legislation or even try to negotiate changes to the state troopers' new collective bargaining agreement. These facts raise questions about just how much of this pursuit of Trooper Wooten was fear and how much was vendetta.

According to the Branchflower report, Gary Wheeler, a member of the governor's personal security detail since her election, testified under oath that Governor Palin never said she was afraid for her safety concerning Michael Wooten.

With a second investigation now under way which will yield the same evidence, the governor finds herself, her husband, as well as the state, at risk for legal damages. Ironically, it was Commissioner Walt Monegan and his Deputy Commissioner John Glass who both warned the administration early on about the liability with their obsession.

Because Trooper Wooten had already been investigated and disciplined for the conduct raised by the governor and her husband, in the absence of new information or new allegations, re-disciplining him for the same conduct was illegal. Firing him, or in this case trying to get him fired for the conduct for which he had already been disciplined under the Murkowski administration, would almost certainly guarantee that Trooper Wooten would sue the state and that he would likely prevail.

Monegan even warned Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles back in the spring of 2007, "Do you want Trooper Wooten to own your house?"

A misguided and costly personal vendetta? You betcha.

Monegan will have an on going adjustment to his reputation...Palin spokesman said

by Jason Moore and Rebecca Palsha


ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan filed papers with the Personnel Board Tuesday requesting it hold a hearing to address what he calls damage to his reputation.

The request includes Monegan's side of the story and responds to the governor's claims he was insubordinate and had a rogue mentality.

Monegan's attorney wrote: "Governor Palin's public statements accusing Mr. Monegan of serious misconduct were untrue and they have stigmatized his good name, severely damaged -- and continue to damage -- his reputation and impaired his ability to pursue future professional employment."

Monegan said the Legislature's investigation shows the real reason he was fired -- because he wouldn't take action against Trooper Mike Wooten, the governor's former brother in law.

"It's never been my issue ... that she couldn't fire me, because she could for any or no reason at all," Monegan said in a phone interview. "It was the reason why she fired me that I would just like to have known so I could move on with life and figure what to do, or what not to do in the future.

"I think everybody should be entitled to that, and now i have a clear understanding."

But Monegan still wants a finding from the Personnel Board that the governor's claims he had a rogue mentality and displayed outright insubordination were wrong.

Palin's attorney, Tom van Flein, has a different take on it.

"Everything that has come out has come out because of allegations that he has made," van Flein said. "And this is something he should have thought about before he went and accused the governor of wrongdoing."

Van Flein said the governor at first tried to shield Monegan.

"When the governor reassigned him, she made a public statement that was vague -- deliberately vague," van Flein said. "It's often done that way so you don't have to disclose to the world why you were having a problem with an employee.

"He was the one who insisted that those facts come out. The facts came out, he does not like those facts, but that's not defamation."

Meanwhile, the Personnel Board investigator looking into those issues is reportedly expanding the investigation to include other ethics complaints against the governor and other state officials.

That's according to letters from investigator Tim Petumenos to lawyer Meg Simonian, who threatened a lawsuit to make the governor's portion of the investigation public because the governor waived confidentiality.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to go to court and ask a judge to make sure that the investigation related to the governor is separated out from her employees who don't want to waive confidentiality and that any deliberations of the Personnel Board or recommendations made by Mr. Petumenos as they relate to the governor are open," Simonian said.

Van Flein said the governor and her husband will meet with Petumenos next week, likely in the Lower 48 on the campaign trail.

While the Legislature's investigation is over, it appears there are more chapters yet to write in what we have come to know as Troopergate.

Video Gallery

Monegan files complaint
2:33

Also on KTUU.COM

With investigation finished, what's next?
Palin claims contradict report conclusions
Branchflower: Palin abused power
Palin says report clears her