Knox News reports on the trial of the student who tricked his way into Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account by using the password recovery feature. He didn't have to guess anything, as the "secret" answers to the questions were all over the internet. David Kernell is not a hacker, he's simply clever.
It's official: One-time vice presidential candidate and conservative star Sarah Palin is coming to Knoxville.
But Palin won't be headlining a Tea Party. She'll be taking the witness stand.
Palin, former Alaska governor and running mate to Republican Sen. John McCain in his 2008 bid for the White House, will testify in U.S. District Court in Knoxville next month when University of Tennessee student David C. Kernell stands trial on charges involving Palin's personal Yahoo! e-mail account.
Kernell's defense attorney, Wade Davies, wants Palin to bring any documents relating to that account - when it was opened, how it could be accessed and why and who was allowed to use it.
"I don't want to get in the position where at the last minute there are questions about whether (subpoenas) were properly delivered," Davies told U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley on Wednesday when seeking the legal OK to electronically serve witnesses, including Palin.
The defence attorney is no fool and must have followed Troopergate and other Palin shenanigans. Wade Davies seems to have a good insight into Sarah Palin's 'style'.
Cast your minds back to September 2008, when the incident first came to light. One person in Alaska, familiar with the way the governor conducted state business in unorthodox ways and who's a champion for for real transparency in government, had something to say about it:
Andrée McLeod, who filed the FOIA request, said yesterday evening that Palin should have known better than to conduct state business using an unsecured e-mail account. "If this woman is so careless as to conduct state business on a private e-mail account that has been hacked into, what in the world is she going to do when she has access to information that is vital to our national security interests?" she asked.
McLeod's Anchorage attorney, Donald C. Mitchell, said Palin declined to comply with a public records request in June to divulge 1,100 e-mails sent to and from her personal accounts, citing executive privilege.
Andree commented recently:
There is a bill, SB 249, that would prohibit the use of private email accounts for official business, among other things.
The bill is stuck in the Senate State Affairs Committee and they refuse to schedule it for a public hearing.
Members of the Senate State Affairs Committee are:
Chair: Linda Menard
Vice-chair: Kevin Meyer
Senator Hollis French
Senator Albert Kookesh
Senator Joe Paskvan
With Linda Menard as chair…is it a surprise that this bill is stuck?
Andree McLeod is no fool either. She had Sarah Palin worked out well before Wade Davies.
Good luck to both. When it comes to Sarah Palin, tenacity alone can work a bit slowly. A good dose of luck can't hurt in keeping their spirits up!
+++
UPDATE
We have some fresh news from the ADN:
An Alaska judge has refused to reconsider his ruling that state law doesn't forbid the use of private e-mail accounts to conduct state business.
The decision stems from a 2008 public records request that showed then-Gov. Sarah Palin and members of her staff had been using private e-mail accounts. Activist Andree McLeod sued, arguing that Palin and the governor's office had a duty to save as public records e-mails related to state business, regardless of the accounts that messages were sent through.
The judge contends that it is up to the legislature to change the law and close the loophole, he can't legislate from the bench.
Meanwhile, the legislators who could address this issue once and for all, led by Sarah Palin's old friend and ally Linda Menard, are dragging their feet regarding the loophole-closing bill SB 249 because they don't want to embarass Sarah Palin...
Sarah Palin is always saying that she doesn't like "politics as usual" and the ol' boy system. I must admit, this a case of ol' girl system that goes back to Sarah being crowned Miss Wasilla all those years ago. Sen Linda Menard is still watching out for her protegee in the halls of the Capitol, but neither of them would call it "politics as usual".
Same old, same old...
+++
While we're on the subject of e-mails, please note our new addresses on the sidebar and amend your address books accordingly. We decided to stop using our personal e-mail accounts for business. Ha ha, I'm joking.
The reason for the change is to show which address is for Regina and which is for Patrick. The old addresses didn't make it very clear and things were a bit muddled from time to time. I think they look really neat!
reginapalingates@gmail.com
patrickpalingates@gmail.com
.
No comments:
Post a Comment