Celtic Diva posted an excellent analysis, by a qualified lawyer from the East Coast, of the wording used in the Alaska Fund Trust.
Funnily enough, when I wrote "$arah Palin's legal fund: questions, questions...", I was puzzled by the same passages explored by the lawyer in Diva's article.
I noticed that the purpose of the trust was for the payment of fees incurred as a result of $arah Palin being the governor of Alaska:
OK, the sole purpose of the fund is to provide for the payment of fees incurred by the governor, her family and other covered individuals, blah blah.
I omitted the word legal when referring to fees because I couldn't see the word in the text of the agreement. But the penny didn't drop until I read Diva's article.
They used the expression "legal fees" on the website, but NOT in the actual agreement. Obviously the website is not legally binding, but the trust agreement IS.
Read the purpose of the trust carefully:
The sole and exclusive purpose of this Trust is to provide a proper means for the acceptance of money, property, and services, including, if necessary, pro bono legal services, to provide for all reasonable, necessary, and appropriate fees or charges incurred by (i) SARAH PALIN as a result of the fact that she is Governor of the State of Alaska or as a result of the performance of her duties as Governor of the State of Alaska; and (ii) Covered Individuals, that may be selected or designated by the Trustee as provided herein, as a result of or arising out of their association or relationship with or employment by SARAH PALIN, in her capacity as Governor of the State of Alaska.
The main purpose is to provide a proper means for the acceptance of money, property, and services, including, if necessary, pro bono legal services (the the word legal appears here, but it's incidental), followed by: to provide for all reasonable, necessary, and appropriate fees or charges incurred by (i) SARAH PALIN as a result of the fact that she is Governor of the State of Alaska or as a result of the performance of her duties as Governor of the State of Alaska (no mention of legal fees), finally extending the benefit of all that lovely money to family and friends selected or designated by the trustee.
It continues in a rambling fashion and does mention legal representation, but only to specify their right to appoint attorneys, negotiate fees etc, for the above purpose, which they were careful to state as fees and charges incurred because $arah is the governor, not that the trust fund exists solely to pay legal expenses. The legal expenses are mentioned in an incidental manner...
In a nutshell: the purpose of the fund is to raise money for $arah Palin, her family and selected friends because she's the governor of Alaska. No strings attached.We know very well that $arah doesn't like no pesky strings, no siree!
I had a closer look at the other trust agreements offered as examples on the AFT website.
ALL the trusts contain the expression legal expense in their title. $arah's is simply called The Alaska Fund Trust.
The purpose in all the other trusts is clearly specified: to pay legal expenses. In the cases of Stevens and Kerry, the purpose relates to specific proceedings, and in Kerry's case, a specific lawsuit: the Sherwood suit.
None of the other trusts has the Rights of Withdrawal bit:
Each of the beneficiaries of this trust, shall, in each calendar year, have an absolute and unrestricted power to withdraw from this Trust up to the lesser of the total additions made to this Trust during each calendar year or an amount in cash or other property equal the lesser of the total additions made to this Trust during each calendar year, divided equally among such beneficiaries, or an amount in cash or other property equal to the maximum amount which qualifies for the Federal Gift Tax exclusion (...) and shall be exercisable only by written notice to Trustee of the amount Donee wishes to withdraw, but no purpose for said withdrawal need be shown.The most transparent and restrictive trust in the history of trusts has no clear purpose other than raise money, property, services, you name it, for $arah Palin, family and friends because she's the governor of Alaska, the name of the Trust doesn't reflect anything to do with legal expenses and provides a lovely way for each of the beneficiaries to access tax free money each year, no questions asked.
They did restrict the donations to a maximum of $150 per donor per year, which is, by sheer coincidence, the maximum value of any gifts before they need to be disclosed to APOC.
Most of the wording of $arah's trust was copied and pasted from some of the other examples, omitting some crucial words and introducing the get money for nothing described above.
I also noticed that $arah's and Clinton's trusts are the only ones that make provision for moving the trust to another jurisdiction. In $arah's case at the discretion of the trustee without notice to the beneficiaries...
The AFT website gives the fund the appearance of being transparent and restrictive, but the text of the actual agreement seems to tell a very different story.
It looks very neat , eh? I pity the poor suckers who sent money to this "legal expense" fund. I hope the handwritten thank you note "signed" by the governor is enough to keep each of them on cloud 9...
.
26 comments:
Hi Regina - just finished reading the whole thing and I was struck, like you, by the fact that this is NOT a Legal Defense Fund.
It is a Palin Family Support fund. Collect $500K and walk away with up to $13K per year (for an unlimited number of individuals that Palin/Cole shall determine) with NO accountability, not to mention Kristen Cole's "cut" as Trustee.
How long will it take for this family to walk away with every dime?
So SHE and her family can collect say $500K per year, TAX FREE, with no oversight?
I wonder how the IRS will view this Trust.
Regina:
The suckers continue to send the skank money- then again, there is one born every minute right?
None of us will EVER waste our money on trash like her. She does the crime, she does the time. Most individuals don't fall for scams like this.
So it's really a Palin Family Slush Fund, eh?
Who here is surprised? A show of hands?
(Crickets)
I used to feel sorry for the people who support Palin. I know they are poorly educated, low income, culturally deprived, and socially isolated. But they are also violent and racist, and evidently too dumb to know when they've been "had."No wonder Palin posed for "RUNNER'S WORLD." She'll soon be on the run!
There isn't any question that the wording in the Fund keeps referring to Governor Sarah Palin. An ordinary citizen with no title would not generate that kind of outpouring of money. She (or her dear friend) used her office to make money.
I'm a big fan of Judge Judy (a guilty pleasure, because it is close to Trash TV). When there is a debt that someone wants repaid, Judge Judy always asks the most important questions: "How did you know that he/she needed the money?"
Invariably, the borrower expressed the need for bail money, money to pay off a car, to pay off credit card bills, for some purpose. They asked. They expressed need.
$arah has whined on more than one occasion that the frivolous law suits were costing her hundreds of thousands of dollars. By repeating such a need, she used her public office to ask for money. (If not, why mention it).
The irony is that most of the bills were due to her own ethics complaint that she filed against herself (Troopergate) so that her own Personnel Board would find her innocent, contrary to the ruling of the legislature. Gossip on the internet now suggests that it was the McCain Camp which suggested this route to her to make the charge go away, offering to cover her costs. When she turned out to be such a diva, they failed to provide the money originally promised.
I think that she is going to keep us entertained for quite a while. That hacker from Tennessee already showed us that she used her private Blackberry to secretly conduct state business. We are not done hearing about the Alaska Fund thing; she wants the money!!! and the complaint froze it. Despite the fact that it should have been frozen, it is still up there, begging. We can't wait to hear all of her secret deals, special speeches and whatever else she can to to prolong her quickly fading star. She ought to burn out before the year is over; she just was not ready for prime time.
Yes I agree with everything you said. I believe they are "low value" voters - they would vote on the back of a cereal box if their icon told them to.
They are violent, and they are stupid which makes them volatile and dangerous.
They continue to give her money - but if you stop and really think about it, it isn't our problem, it is theirs.
Rather than give to one of the many 501(c)3's that are struggling trying to make their programs survive, they chose to support an old time cheapa*s grifter. Bad taste? Of course, but it isn't MY money.
Every year we donate - sometimes to political entities - but most of the time our funds go to organizations that help people who really are suffering and struggling (our personal preference is Burn Patient families).
There are so many needy organizations that HELP people - legitimate individuals who are struggling through traumatic life-altering times.
It's their money - if they want to flush it into the $arah $ewer reflects on their own judgment, not ours. It's their loss - not ours.
I don't think the Trust issue is a closed issue. I think this will keep on keeping on - entertaining us if only watching the Pee-ing in the Sea morons jump through whatever hoops their $arah tells them to do.
Today's poll showing her support is slipping among EVANGELICALS and REPUBLICANS is very telling. She is viewed by 57% of Americans as NEGATIVE and 40% positive (we know who that is). Let's think about this - 57% of people view her negatively.
One of the most telling questions in the poll was the question: do you believe Sarah Palin understands complex issues? Not surprising, she didn't WIN on that question.
She has 110,000 followers on TwitterQuitter. It is estimated over 50% of these people follow her for the laughs she generates. She is quite simply, a BIG FAT JOKE!!!
In a way if it wasn't so sad, it would be hilarious. Accepting the nomination was a BAD MOVE. She does not stand up well to sunlight.
I also do not feel sorry for any of the idiots who donate to her. They won't care that this trust will be withdrawn for botox or whatever any member of the family or friends wants because Miss Wasilla wants to save the babies!!
And it isn't even tax deductible - so why give?
People always fall for grifters and liars - it's human nature.
But after they find out they've been "had", most people don't continue to shovel money into pits.
I would like to know why Mr. Daniels based his opinion on the website of the Trust and not on the document itself since it was on the website as a .pdf file?
How funny - guess they're tossing him under the bus now as a "DEMOCRAT"!!!
It is both a family and friend slush fund? Bristol could use the money if Levi wanted to establish his parental rights?
Who is it that knows how the book sales scams work? How do we know for certain all the ways the Alaska trust is funded? Organizations buy books by the bulk and each one counts as individual sale. One group sale is made to look like thousands of sales.
I know an active Republican family, they are shamed by Repubs like Palin. All except an elderly lady that is a prominent church member. She could afford to send a $150 check every day. She also influences needy people at her church. They do help the needy but I wonder how the needy are helping them. There are many ways to manipulate funds and donations.
Exactly, it is a family and friends slush fund! So not only can Palin use it for herself and her family's expenses of any kind, she can spread some moolah around to anyone whose favor she may want to influence and collect. I think there is a word for that.
Basheert, when my sons were a little younger, I advised them to call people with whom they disagreed politically "low-information voters," rather than "stupid," or worse. (There were a lot of neocons' and/or old-fashioned red-meat conservatives' kids at their schools.) It worked like a charm: Their sparring partners didn't know what "low-information voter" meant!
Anon@19:33,
I suppose Bristol would have to show that Levi impregnated her BECAUSE she's the governor's daughter?
If it really was a legal fund, I wonder if Todd's part in Troopergate has bumped up the size of the legal bill, so family members were included as beneficiaries?
The thank you notes went out in $arah & Todd's names, so they're not to say thank you for SarahPac donations, as the Sea of Pees are saying.
Another thought: if $P sacrifices her reputation as "ethical" and goes out under a cloud, would she have access to the money? As Shannyn Moore said in her "monkey trap" post, $P can't get the banana and remain ethical.
Would a decision by the Personnel Board against $P make the fund illegal, or would it just mean she had to pay some fine, made to look bad, BUT still get to keep the money?
If all it takes to get the banana is the loss of reputation, would $P go for it? I don't know how people are able to set up such scams, but if she can keep the money and the worst that could happen is being branded unethical...
If nothing else, this is a nice test of $P's character.
Regina
Regina: If you read the Celtic Diva piece, and even your "money quote" as I call it, directly from The Trust and NOT the website, this is NOT a legal defense fund.
It is a slush fund - it can buy Piper's Gucci or Coach purse and Twerp's Versace Diaper Bag if Kristen Cole decides (with of course, NO influence from $Palin...right).
The only good thing about this is that low information SeaPeople think this is ok and don't mind sending their money to a Grifter. And they don't get a tax deduction (last time I looked there is no Line on the 1040 for "stupid money gifts")
So the only people who lose, truly, are the idiots who continue to give her money knowing it is NOT for a legal defense. That says a lot about the current contributors and frankly, if they are that dumb, they deserve to give their money away.
I don't know if this is fraud since the donors are aware it's not tax deductible. And I doubt if her groupies really care that they are financing a slush fund for her and her grifter family.
With the financial picture in this country, it just shows what low information voters really are like.
There may be one or two individuals who gave for what they believed in - the rest of them honestly appear to believe that Miss Second Coming gives a rats as* whether they live or do - or perhaps will someday "notice" them.
Sociopaths do NOT CONNECT on a personel level, they are not wired that way. She will take their money, run and never look back at them.
It's their loss - their money...not mine. They seem to enjoy being defrauded, lied to, and bilked. But she'll never care about them. She can't even pretend to care.
Drew from lil ol Texas said...
Trigs Grandmother Sarah is no doubt a Grifter,
and for sure a Quiter,
but she will never quit being a Grifter.
That quality she will take to her grave!
I bet Levi knows all about this Trust.
"The Fly On The Wall"
by Levi Johnson
O/T. Just saw this comment on another AK media website. I'm putting it here before it's flagged and gone:
"Sarah is quoted saying: ' I still believe there will be more revelation of truth of ho I am...' Boy, isn't THAT the truth! She had an affair with her husband's partner in the snowmachine dealership, destroying that business... her oldest son isn't Todd's... solid reports of various other infidelities... while all the while she professes a deeply religious foundation for her life. "
I have collected the screenshots of Sarah's handwriting and other documents regarding Sarah's "thank you notes" and organised it in a slide-show on my flickr, easy to watch:
http://tinyurl.com/kocl7h
I have also made PDF-copies of all these websites, with Adobe Acrobat, containing the exact URL, time-stamps etc.
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=10782445
We only have Kristan Cole's "word" that the fund has been frozen and no funds have been issued. I don't believe there are any legal constraints mandating the freezing of the funds are there? Do I accept KC's statement that the funds are frozen? ROFLMAO! NO!
There also hasn't been any proof offered that the Palin's have ANY legal bills - has there? Again, all we have is $P's "word." Call me cynical.
Regina,
Why would “pro bono legal services” be included in the Trust language, since pro bono means without charge? That seems very strange to me to include something that is free in a document that is intended to pay expenses.
“including, if necessary, pro bono legal services,”
OMG, are you people laughable! Where is the proof that her oldest son is not her husband's? Where is the proof that Trig is not her son? Where is the proof that she had an affair with Todd's business partner? Are you all so gullible that you believe EVERYTHING that is told to you? Are you really that lacking in intelligence or even common sense?
Furthermore, since her ethics complaints have been found to be without merit there is no "crime" committed. Therefore the statement, "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" is as ineffectual as all of your other comments.
I know that most of you have no legal background (except as probably defendants in a criminal court) but most legal documents include everything but the "kitchen sink" in order to cover all points that could ever in the future be brought up. That is legalese for CYA.
ooooooo look, an idiot who is paid 5c a post to hit blogs and "blog for $arah".
Shall we feed it?
Ah - forget it, insanity cannot be cured by logic and reason.
I believe the Trust will be a downfall and a watershed moment. Sometimes it takes pushing that envelope - getting a bit cocky and overconfident and then BLAM!
$arah is done as a viable candidate (if she ever was). It doesn't matter what happens from here on, she cannot be elected, which is the purpose of opening up doors and windows and letting the fresh air in.
The fact that she is a Grifter and an incompetent loon is merely a happy side product. She has toasted her career with her funkiness. Her unfavorables are SO high she will never ever make it as a National candidate. All she has to do is threaten to RUN and all this stuff will be regurgitated and it will be all over the MSM. National candidates get tons of negative exposures.
So little troll...run back to your cave and eat those puppies and kittens for your Slavemaster$arah.
Like she even knows you're alive.
@17:08, I am the one who reposted the comments from another media site. No one here wrote them. Someone in AK did. Look at the KTUU link and you will see the source of the comments. Hurry over there so you can do your job well.
Hey anti-Palin bloggers, how much does Obambo pay you to "attempt" to destroy people?
Post a Comment