Frank Bailey has agreed to pay civil penalties totaling $11,900

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 21, 2012

Anchorage, Alaska: Sarah Palin’s top aide Frank Bailey has agreed to pay civil penalties totaling $11,900 to resolve an ethics complaint. The complaint was filed on September, 2010 by Andrée McLeod when she learned that Bailey misused confidential documents and emails he had acquired while he worked for Palin.



“Justice has yet to be served. I have called on the Attorney General to reveal all the public’s documents and emails that Bailey confiscated and shared with others when he left state employment.”



McLeod and members of the media have requested all of Palin’s email communications for the time she was Alaska’s governor. Although some have been revealed, many couldn’t be located because of Palin’s rampant use of private email accounts for official business, and thousands more remain undisclosed as Alaska’s governor’s office cites executive privileges and other delay tactics.



“Every one of those confidential and still undisclosed public documents that were in Bailey’s possession must be made public, immediately, as Bailey broke the chain of custody when he illegally shared them with his co-authors Jeanne Devon and Ken Morris,” McLeod said.



“This is the second time that Sarah’s go-to guy has been found to have crossed the line. The first was back in November of 2008 when I filed another complaint against Sarahand her staff, including Bailey,” McLeod said.



McLeod continues, “This agreement proves, yet again, that Sarah Palin's account of her role in reforming Alaska’s government while governor is truly the only real ‘false narrative’ being bandied about.”


NOTE: The settlement agreement from the AK. Department of Law is attached, and is also available upon request.

The initial September, 2010 McLeod complaint is attached, and is also available upon request.

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.


Read More

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)


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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.