"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

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."

Palin's staff defy subpoenas for their testimony into her abuse of power case

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Seven of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's top aides defied subpoenas for their testimony Friday into possible abuse of power by the governor.

Palin's Chief of Staff Mike Nizich and six other aides failed to appear at a legislative hearing into whether Palin abused her power when she fired her public safety commissioner this summer.

Alaska Senate Judiciary Chairman Hollis French, D-Anchorage, waited 30 minutes Friday before reading a statement that the witnesses could be found in contempt when the full Legislature convenes in January.

Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg filed a lawsuit on behalf of the seven state workers Thursday challenging the subpoenas. He claims the committee has no jurisdiction to issue subpoenas in the investigation.

Colberg planned a news conference later Friday.

Palin fired Walt Monegan, the public safety commissioner, in July. He claims he was fired for refusing to fire a state trooper who had gone through a nasty divorce with Palin's sister.

He claims he was pressured by Palin, her husband and members of her staff to fire the trooper.

Palin denies the charge, and says he was dismissed over budget disagreements.

The Legislative Council, in a unanimous bipartisan vote, ordered an investigation into Monegan's firing, and Palin agreed to cooperate — until she was named John McCain's running mate.

Since then, Palin — through the McCain campaign — has accused lawmakers of manipulating the probe to be potentially damaging ahead of the November election.

Time for a GOP Panic?

By Robert Stacy McCain
Published 9/22/2008 12:08:46 AM

What a difference a week can make. Seven days ago, Democrats were in a state of political panic after Sarah Palin's selection as running mate had helped push John McCain ahead in the polls. Now it may be the Republicans' turn.

Relentless media criticism of Palin seems to have succeeded, at least temporarily, in turning Palin from an asset to a debit for the GOP ticket. Barack Obama's campaign has unleashed a heavy wave of attack ads. Most of all, daily headlines about the financial crisis have shaken voters' confidence in the economic status quo, increasing the appeal of Obama's theme of "Change."

As with the previous panic among Democrats, last week's Republican panic was driven by slumping poll numbers. McCain had boomed to a 5-point lead over Obama in the Gallup daily tracking poll released Sept. 8, and maintained that edge for three consecutive days.

The Palin pick and the post-convention bounce so enhanced the Republican Party's image that by Sept. 12, Gallup was reporting that the GOP had narrowed the gap on the so-called "generic" congressional ballot question -- where Democrats had enjoyed a 15-point advantage earlier this year -- to a slender three-point margin.

Even as these polls prompted one reporter to note a "growing sense of doom among Democrats," however, the Republican momentum was slipping away. On Wednesday, Gallup reported Obama had moved slightly ahead, and by Saturday, Gallup had the Democrat ahead by 6 points, 50-44 percent.

Other polls reported different numbers, but the overall trend was clear -- McCain, who had led nearly every survey taken Sept. 5-11, trailed in nearly every poll taken thereafter, resulting in a net 5-point shift toward Obama in the Real Clear Politics average.


WHAT HAPPENED? The timing of the McCain slump (or Obama surge, as the case may be) makes it difficult to distinguish the causes.

It was on Sept. 10 that ABC began airing the first network exclusive interview with Palin, with Charlie Gibson professorially peering over his glasses playing "stump the governor" by asking her about the Bush doctrine. Afterwards, at least according to a Research 2000 poll commissioned by the liberal DailyKos site, Palin's approval numbers took a nosedive, going from 52% positive to 41% positive in the space of eight days, while her negatives ratings rose from 35% to 46%.

However, it was during the same time frame that the slow-brewing financial crisis hit the meltdown stage. The takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was announced Sept. 6. Lehman Brothers stock began a death spiral Sept. 8. A week later came Black Monday, as stocks plummeted, Bank of America took over a collapsing Merrill Lynch, and the insurance giant AIG hit coffin corner.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign unleashed a series of fierce attacks, including a TV ad that debuted Sept. 14 featuring headlines accusing McCain of "lies" and "deception."

If nothing else, those headlines accurately captured the overwhelmingly negative coverage the Republican has endured in recent weeks. As during the primary campaign -- when, as a Media Research Center analysis found, the major networks provided Obama's "margin of victory" over Hillary Clinton -- the media are clearly in the Illinois Democrat's corner.

Despite all the woes afflicting the GOP ticket in recent days, however, it may be too soon for Republicans to hit the panic button.

Granted, the dire economic situation could be expected to hurt Republicans, not only because of the two-term Republican in the White House, but also because the GOP is closely identified with big business in the minds of voters.

Empty Room as Predicted- Who's on the subpoenas list?

From Wesley Loy in Anchorage --

Here’s the status of subpoenas the Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee authorized on Sept. 12 in the Troopergate investigation:

• Frank Bailey, state boards and commissions director, now on paid leave: Provided copy of sworn statement he gave to Gov. Sarah Palin’s attorney to legislative investigator Steve Branchflower, satisfying his subpoena.

• Bailey’s cell phone records for calls between Feb. 1 and March 31: Phone company ACS has turned records over to Branchflower.

• John Bitney, Palin’s former legislative liaison, now aide to House Speaker John Harris: Questioned in Branchflower’s office, satisfying his subpoena.

• Murlene Wilkes, owner of Harbor Adjustment Service, an Anchorage business with a state contract to process workers’ compensation claims: Scheduled to give statement Friday to Branchflower.

• Todd Palin, the governor’s husband: Served with subpoena but hasn’t given statement and didn’t appear before the committee as ordered Friday to testify.

• Randy Ruaro, Palin’s deputy chief of staff: Served with subpoena but hasn’t given statement and didn’t appear before the committee as ordered Friday to testify.

• Ivy Frye, a Palin special assistant: Served with subpoena but hasn’t given statement and didn’t appear before the committee as ordered Friday to testify.

• Annette Kreitzer, state administration commissioner: Not yet served with subpoena.

• Dianne Kiesel, a state human resources manager: Not yet served with subpoena.

• Nicki Neal, state personnel and labor relations director: Not yet served with subpoena.

• Brad Thompson, state risk management director: Not yet served with subpoena.

• Mike Nizich, Palin’s chief of staff: Not yet served with subpoena.

• Kris Perry, director of the governor’s Anchorage office: Not yet served with subpoena.

• Janice Mason, Palin’s scheduler and executive secretary: Not yet served with subpoena.

America, Sarah Palin Is still under Investigation

Alaskanomics

Sarah Palin's Alaskonomics
By Michael Kinsley

Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn't a journalist and has never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey. Although Palin praised John McCain in her acceptance speech as a man who puts the good of his country ahead of partisan politics, McCain pretty much proved the opposite with his selection of a running mate whose main asset is her ability to reignite the culture wars. So maybe Governor Palin does represent everything that is good and fine about America, as she herself maintains. But spare us, please, any talk about how she is a tough fiscal conservative.

Palin has continued to repeat the already exposed lie that she said "No, thanks" to the famous "bridge to nowhere" (McCain's favorite example of wasteful federal spending). In fact, she said "Yes, please" until the project became a symbol and political albatross.

Back to reality. Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.

Alaska is, in essence, an adjunct member of OPEC. It has four different taxes on oil, which produce more than 89% of the state's unrestricted revenue. On average, three-quarters of the value of a barrel of oil is taken by the state government before that oil is permitted to leave the state. Alaska residents each get a yearly check for about $2,000 from oil revenues, plus an additional $1,200 pushed through by Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices. Any sympathy the governor of Alaska expresses for folks in the lower 48 who are suffering from high gas prices or can't afford to heat their homes is strictly crocodile tears.

As if it couldn't support itself, Alaska also ranks No. 1, year after year, in money it sucks in from Washington. In 2005 (the most recent figures), according to the Tax Foundation, Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950). Its ratio of federal spending received to federal taxes paid ranks third among the 50 states, and in the absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No. 1.


Under the state constitution, the governor of Alaska has unusually strong powers to shape the state budget. At the Republican National Convention, Palin bragged that she had vetoed "nearly $500 million" in state spending during her two years as governor. This amounts to less than 2% of the proposed budget. That's how much this warrior for you (the people) against it (the government) could find in wasteful spending under her control.

One thing Barack Obama and McCain disagree on is an oil windfall–profits tax. McCain is against it, on the theory that it is a tax and therefore bad, and also that it would discourage domestic production. Obama is for it, on the theory that if oil companies can make a nice profit when oil sells for $50 per bbl., they can still make a nice profit when it sells for more than $100, even if the government takes a bit and spreads the money around to those who are hurting from higher oil prices.

Although Palin's words side with McCain in this dispute, her actions side with Obama. Her major legislative accomplishment has been to revamp Alaska's windfall-profits tax in order to increase the state's take. Alaska calls it a "clear and equitable share" tax. The state assumes that extracting oil from the tundra costs about $25 per bbl. and takes as much as 75% of the difference between that and the sale price.

Why is a windfall-profits tax good for Alaska but not for the U.S.? Well, it's obvious, isn't it? People in Alaska are better than people in the rest of the U.S. They're more American. Although there are small towns and farms and high school hockey teams in the lower 48, there are fewer down here, per capita, than in Alaska. And there are many more journalists and pollsters and city dwellers and other undesirables who might benefit if every American had the same right to leech off the government as do the good citizens of Sarah Palin's Alaska.

BREAKING: Palin Business Shut Down by State

The WaPo is now reporting that Sarah Palin and her husband were part owners of a business that was shut down by the state for noncompliance with state regulations:

State records show the business ran into trouble with Alaska's division of corporations business and professional licensing after Palin became governor of the state in 2006.

A Feb. 11, 2007 letter to the governor's business partner advises that the car wash had "not filed its biennial report and/or paid its biennial fees," which were more than a year overdue.

The warning letter was written on state letterhead, which carried Palin's name at the top, next to the state seal.

On April 3, 2007, the state went further and issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" because of the car wash's failure to file its report and pay state licensing fees.

How can this woman be trusted to run the U.S. government if she can't even run a carwash in Anchorage with plenty of help?

Palin is a liar- unbenounced to her

ANCHORAGE, Alaska-- Wednesday brought a dramatic turn of events regarding an inquiry into Gov. Sarah Palin's termination of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

The governor hastily called a press conference to announce that her administration did in fact make calls regarding Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Palin said her administration made more than 20 calls to the Department of Public Safety regarding Wooten, the governor's former brother-in-law.

Palin previously had denied her administration pressured Monegan but at least one of those calls was caught on tape.

Recently Palin told Channel 2 News that Monegan was not terminated over his refusal to terminate Wooten.

She continues to stand by that statement. But now she says evidence uncovered by an inquiry by a state attorney general inquiry suggests the administration applied pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten.

"The individual inquiries taken by themselves are one thing. Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate; however, the serial nature of the contacts understandably could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction," Palin said.

Attorney General Talis Colberg's office determined there were more than two dozen calls from Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and her staff to Monegan and other supervisors in the department regarding Wooten.

Colberg also reports it wasn't just Bailey contacting Monegan and others at DPS regarding Trooper Wooten.

However, in a reverse statement to the governors the attorney general revealed that he, along with Todd Palin and former Palin Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles had all made contact with possible threats regarding Wooten.

Palin can continue to think she is fooling someone with this seemingly open presentation. However, what is really seen is unethical behavior. It appears to the vast majority of Alaskans that Sarah Palin is a LIAR. Palin's narcissistic thought: Investigate thyself- Destroy most of the evidence immediately, try to threaten underlings so they will not speak, found is nasty, ugly, evil, unethical, spin on my own terms..... of course.

Sarah Palin, "Abuse of Power" Investigator to be retained...

Grab some popcorn, take a listen....

Gavel to Gavel; Retain Investigator in response to Sarah Palin and "Abuse of Power"




Sarah quote-

"We would never prohibit, or be less than enthusiastic about any kind of investigation. Let's deal in the facts, and you do that via investigation."

Come on' Palinista crowd let's see your enthusiasm, Princess P has issued you her edict. Check out my show on date 7/23/2008 audio documented.