There's a 22-day gap in Sarah Palin's e-mails...

Andrée McLeod sent me a copy of a press release about the missing e-mails:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            Monday, June 13, 2011

Anchorage, Alaska: Alaska resident and registered Republican Andrée McLeod has written the Alaska governor and attorney general asking why there is a huge 22-day gap of missing emails in the close to 25,000 of Palin emails that were released in Juneau, Alaska by the State of Alaska on June 10, 2011. (See email below)

McLeod asks, “I write to inquire about a huge 22-day gap in Palin’s emails that were released ...by your office. That’s almost a month’s worth of missing Palin emails!”

McLeod called the governor’s office Monday morning, June 13, 2011, to ask about the missing emails. She was told that no one else had called to ask about them.

McLeod continued, “Palin’s standard practice of operating government through secret back-channels with private email accounts on unsecured and unprotected servers violates the freedoms that the Alaska Public Records Act guarantees us and infringes on our right to know about the inner workings of our government.”

Alaska Governor Parnell and Attorney General Burns received McLeod’s communication Monday night. McLeod hopes to receive an explanation as to why there is such a huge gap in the release of Palin’s emails. “Where are the emails? Where did they go?” McLeod asks.

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From: Andree McLeod
To: 'sean.parnell@alaska.gov'; 'johnjburns@alaska.gov'
Cc: Don C. Mitchell (Dcraigm@aol.com); 'Perez, Linda J (GOV)'
Subject: HUGE 22-DAY GAP IN PALIN EMAILS ????

Governor Parnell and Attorney General Burns,

I write to alert you and to inquire about a huge 22-day gap in Palin’s emails that were distributed on Friday, June 10, 2011 by your office. That’s almost a month’s worth of missing Palin emails!

Sarah Palin was sworn in as governor on December 4, 2006. There are about 7 pages of a few emails that span from December 4-8, 2006…and then the dates shoot right up to only one on December 30, 2006…while the rest of the emails begin again on January 2, 2007 and onward.

There is no mention of this 22-day gap of missing Palin emails listed in the Alaska Public Records Request Privilege Log either.

Where are these emails? Where did they go?

The last email before the 22-day gap was from DNR employee Marty Rutherford on December 8, 2006, and states:

Michelle,
Thank you so much!! I have the Governor's personal email as well, so I'll just
use that for awhile.
MartyR

This was in response to Michelle Fabrello:

Marty,

I wanted to let you know that this is a "public" address for the Governor, it is not one that she has access to. I check this account daily, and can forward things on, but I am worried that emails might get missed as there are times when I am unable check it for hours. KrisPerry might have a better email address for her.

Thanks so much,

Michelle Fabrello

Coordinator for Constituent Relations

I would appreciate a prompt response to this serious and important inquiry. Why is there such a huge gap in the emails Sarah Palin sent or received between December 8 through December 30, 2006?

Where are these emails? Where did they go?

Sincerely,

Andrée McLeod

BTW Sean: In my review of the emails, I noticed that your personal private email account sparnell@alaska.com was used a heck of a lot more extensively than you’ve let on to the media.

It’s imperative that a law be passed to prohibit the use of private email account for official business so the people’s business is protected and secure…and not at risk of getting hacked as was done with Sarah’s emails.

[Link to the December 8, 2006 exchange.]

Frank Bailey and Sarah Palin's e-mails

The Bailey manuscript saga is the topic of the week and is still unraveling. Some issues have been overlooked and they add an extra twist to the proceedings.

Andree McLeod has issued a press release regarding an ethics complaint she filed with the AK Attorney General last September and has sent me a copy of it this morning:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Anchorage, Alaska: An ethics complaint filed last fall against former Palin aide Frank Bailey is still under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office. It was filed by Alaska resident and registered Republican Andrée McLeod and charges Bailey with improper use and disclosure of official records.

Alaska law prohibits employees to use or disclose information acquired in the course of their official duties for any benefit and personal gain, if that information has not been made public. And, employees can’t use or disclose information acquired in the course of their official duties if that information is confidential by law.

The Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act states: Sec. 39.52. 140. Improper use or disclosure of information.

(a) 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.

(b) A current or former public officer may not disclose or use, without appropriate authorization information acquired in the course of official duties that is confidential by law.

“I, along with the Associated Press, Mother Jones, MSNBC and others, submitted legitimate public records requests in the fall of 2008. More than 2 years and countless extensions later, Palin’s email documents have yet to be made public,” McLeod said. “Yet, it seems that a former Palin aide and at least two others have had free access to Palin’s emails….all because Bailey worked in the governor’s office.”

It was widely reported last week that a manuscript written by Bailey and 2 others is being shopped around for a publisher. The reports state that the book is based on tens of thousands of Baileys emails, which include official emails he accessed while a public official.

“The revelations in and about the manuscript raise additional questions that must be addressed by the Attorney General,” McLeod said. “The people’s business continues to be breached by Palin’s (former) aides. Making matters worse, Bailey’s recently outed co-writers admittedly and illegitimately have had access to confidential emails that others, who have followed the rule of law, still anticipate. This is wrong. The AG has yet to provide resolution, since the Legislature has indicated that public records should not be made available for public inspection until they’ve been reviewed for privacy and policy reasons.”

Andree McLeod

At this point there are countless people in possession of the manuscript who have access to a number of the e-mails mentioned above. As Jeanne Devon put it, "the toothpaste is out of the tube."

Regardless of who leaked the manuscript, there are other issues that could explain why the authors had not found a publisher for such a revealing book. There are legal and ethical issues that have not been resolved yet.

Of course there is great curiosity about anything involving Sarah Palin's wrongdoings, but it seems to me that the only way Bailey could have bypassed the state of Alaska statutes regarding the confidentiality of the e-mails would have been to report any illegal activities to the proper authorities when he first became aware of them.

It is a complicated affair and Watergate comes to mind. Without confidential information leaked to the press, Nixon would have met a very different fate.

It should be mentioned that we have lost faith in the proper authorities in Alaska a long time ago.

The rights and wrongs of the manuscript saga seem to get more complex by the minute, but that's to be expected whenever anything involves Sarah Palin...

Copy of ethics complaint may be viewed HERE

Andrée McLeod calls on Alaska Legislature to appoint Special Prosecutor in order to investigate corruption in the "Parnell-Palin Administration"

Andrée McLeod today sent the following letter to the Alaska Legislature:

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Senate President Stevens and House Speaker Chenault:

I call on you to appoint a Special Prosecutor with full subpoena and investigative powers to investigate the systemic corruption in the Parnell-Palin Administration. It is the Parnell-Palin Administration because, even though he is acting Governor, Sean Parnell has kept the Palin Administration in place.

The State Ethics Board is impotent and Ethics Board attorney Tim Petumenos, as vice president of the law firm Birch, Horton, Bittner & Cherot, contracts with the state for bond counsel and civil work. Petumenos will not do anything to endanger those contracts since, as a shareholder, he shares in the income generated from those contracts. That is one reason he white-washed Palin’s Troopergate, Lamal hire at DOT, family travel and legal defense fund inquiries.

Andrée McLeod

Matters to be addressed by the Special Prosecutor:

1. Whether DNR Commissioner Marty Rutherford steered the gas line project to her former client, Trans-Canada. The Special Prosecutor would investigate to determine, among other things, if Trans-Canada played a role in drafting AGIA and whether Rutherford breached her duty to the state by sharing confidential information regarding any aspect of AGIA with Trans-Canada.

2. Why Joe Balash has been kept on the State Gas Line Team after had been offered a job by Enstar even though the Gas Line Team’s work involves Enstar.

3. Whether the state procurement codes were violated by the RFP processes employed by DNR and the Department of Revenue for contracts related to in-state gas line work.

4. Whether Enstar influenced any of the RFP awards related to in-state gasline work.

5. Whether Todd Palin violated state statutes by lobbying state employees on commercial fishing issues that directly related to his commercial set net operations.

6. What role DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin played in the hiring of his former boss Steve Haagenson as Executive Director of the Alaska Energy Authority. Also, whether Irwin used his state office to help orchestrate the give-away of the Healy Clean Coal Plant to his former employer Golden Valley Electric Association.

7. Answers to questions about the Healy Clean Coal Plant raised by Andrew Halcro (see HERE and HERE)

8. Whether Jim Palin (Todd Palin’s father) lobbied the state administration on behalf of Golden Valley Electric regarding the Healy Clean Coal plant.

9. Whether Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin breached the State’s obligation for good faith and fair dealing when he unilaterally terminated contracts between AIDEA and Homer Electric for the restart and sale of the Healy Clean Coal Plant. (Galvin to Nordmark/Debnam 12-30-08 letter attached)

10. Why Sean Parnell and Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin repeatedly refuse to disclose the identity of the 15 new oil and gas explorers who received $193,000,000 million dollars in cash, as stated in this July 10, 2009 Department of Revenue press release. (Jul 10 2009 press release attached) - Note by Patrick: See the extensive reporting by Palingates about this matter HERE

11. Whether Governor Parnell violated state statutes by engaging four state employees (Joe Balash, Gene Therriault, Pete Kelly and Curtis Thayer) as deputy campaign treasurers for his re-election campaign. Balash, Therriault and Kelly were all directly supervised in their state jobs by Parnell. (Deputy Campaign Treasurers list attached)

12. Whether Parnell violated state statutes by hiring Curtis Thayer as Deputy Commissioner of Commerce shortly after Thayer coordinated Parnell’s first major in-state fundraiser in Anchorage for his re-election campaign. Thayer has little to no economic development experience and has been involved for many years in political fundraising for Republicans and in government relations for Enstar.

13. Whether Governor’s staff member Joe Balash was moved from Fairbanks to Anchorage recently at state expense and for the purpose of working on Parnell’s re-election campaign. If it is important for Balash to work in Anchorage re: his state duties, why was he allowed to work out of his home community in Fairbanks for the past three years?

14. Who directed state employees Joe Balash and Curtis Thayer to call lobbyists and other potential campaign donors who had appropriations in the state’s proposed FY 2011 capital budget and advise them to come to a Parnell fundraiser at Bill Sheffield’s house just days before the capital budget was signed. Were promises and threats made by these state employees regarding quid pro quo’s of state appropriations for campaign donations? Were these calls made on state time and on state telephones?

15. Whether Governor Parnell violated state law by orchestrating, with the participation of campaign donors Peggy Brown and Susan Christianson, state-funded ads by a private non-profit corporation that supported his re-election campaign platform against domestic violence? Whether the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault violate their state grant agreement intermingling state monies with the in-kind contributions, discounts and freebies from unidentified sources they collected for the production and airing of these ads? Did Parnell violate federal campaign laws by contributing $15,000 from his remaining 2008 Congressional campaign funds to the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault after they aired the ads in question? Was this an attempt to skirt laws against the use of federal campaign funds to support a state campaign? Did Parnell also violate federal campaign laws by having the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault use film footage in their ad campaign that was also used in Parnell’s 2008 Congressional campaign ads? Were Parnell campaign donations from Brown and Christianson in December 2009 just before the ads aired evidence of an orchestrated effort to use state funds through a private non-profit corporation to support his re-election campaign? Was Parnell telling the truth in 2000 when he denied a family history of domestic violence in a Juneau Empire Article or in 2010 when he describes a family history of domestic violence in these ads? (Brown and Christianson contributions, FEC Report, Apr 2000 article, KTUU Feb 2010 report attached)

16. Whether Bill McAllister, Mike Nizich and Linda Perez violated state rules and laws when Bill McAllister received his salary while he traveled to Sweden on a family vacation upon being hired in July of 2008…without submitting any leave slips. (Nizich-McAllister stranded in Sweden email attached)

17. Whether laws were violated when chief of staff Mike Nizich was kept on the ONLY ONE PUBLIC MEMBER SEAT of the Aerospace Development Corporation board, which prohibited a bona fide genuine true member of the public from being appointed to the board.

18. And lastly, where the money trail leads with the whole Matanuska Maid affair - Note by Patrick: See the extensive reporting by Palingates about "Dairygate" HERE

There is much in the Parnell-Palin administration that needs looking into. A Special Prosecutor appointed by you will go a long way to correct the unacceptable course of the Parnell-Palin administration.

All too often, legislators have ignored what’s been right under their nose. But, it was Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”

Do right by your constituents. Be good stewards. Exercise your charge. Appoint a Special Counsel so the people within the Parnell-Palin administration who are responsible for inappropriate conduct and improper actions can be held accountable. Maybe then, Alaskans might feel like they have been made whole.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns.

Andrée McLeod

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Read all posts by Palingates regarding Andrée McLeod and her discoveries, court cases and ethics complaints (CLICK)

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Sarah Palin's executive style did not serve the interests of Alaskans - New ethics complaint

As we're having an "ethics feast", I must say that we have more to reveal about Andrée McLeod's adventures in Alaska. Until not that long ago, she and Sarah Palin were political allies.

Sarah Palin has no qualms about throwing former political allies under the bus. Compare these quotes (just a few examples from a number of e-mails sent by Sarah Palin to Andrée McLeod between 2002 and 2005) to Thomas Van Flein's description of the same person in a recent note on Palin's Facebook page.

Sarah Palin:

"Did you hear us talking about you on the Mike Pocaro show Monday evening?! It was a hoot! He was impressed with your efforts on the VanEten issue & I called in to say "Kudos to Andree... she's obviously got tireless energy and desire to keep government and government officials accountable to Alaskans... we need more "Andrees" in this state... etc..." And then that gal, "Michelle" (who calls in a lot) called right after I did to say, "Sarah Palin just needs to stay out of Anchorage politics... blah blah blah..." and the show went on with you as the highlight for callers! It was awesome. Ya' done good again!!!"

"You will be thanked for summing up for others what many believe: that there's nothing wrong with healthy debate and challenges to the status quo when something is wrong & it can easily be fixed!"

"Holy Moly you are powerful regarding getting the word out to the press about questionable activity!"

Thomas Van Flein, referring to the mounting number of ethics complaints against his client, the excuse given for quitting as governor of Alaska (reference to Andrée in bold) :

"The past year has confirmed that Governor Palin was right. The number of false claims, records requests, mendacious accusations and ridiculous posturing by the left and street corner ethicists dropped dramatically – at least as applied to the mechanics of state government."

Andrée McLeod is still interested in the mechanics of state government. We have received more communications that highlight Sarah Palin's "executive" experience and how the present administration continues to employ the same tactics as the former governor.

Sarah Palin with Bill McAllister

As the CEO of Alaska, as Sarah likes to put it, she didn't reward her minions with golden parachutes (no room for parachutes under the bus...). Bill McAllister was rewarded at the start of his stint as Sarah Palin's spokesperson in clear violation of Alaska's ethics rules and personnel rules. Andrée has filed a complaint which has received no attention at all from the Alaska media. Surprise, surprise!

June 7, 2010

Anchorage, Alaska: An ethics complaint has been filed with the attorney general’s office by Alaska resident Andrée McLeod charging Department of Law spokesman and former Palin Communications Director Bill McAllister with misuse of official position and receipt of improper gifts. Also named in the complaint for violations of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act are the Palin/Parnell governor’s chief of staff Mike Nizich and governor’s office administrative director Linda Perez.

The attached complaint relates to McAllister’s abrupt absence from his job upon being hired by Sarah Palin on July 21, 2008. “Unless there was some official state of Alaska business in Sweden that simply couldn’t wait, it would seem McAllister was handsomely rewarded by Palin with a paid vacation when he was first hired in July of 2008,” McLeod said.

McAllister went on a family vacation overseas although state laws and regulations forbid it. “State employees know, especially long-time employees Nizich and Perez, that leave can’t be taken within the first 30 days of employment,” McLeod said. “Yet, McAllister was authorized to fly out of the country without having any leave slips or travel authorizations on file. How long was he gone? I don’t know as Palin/Parnell’s chief of staff and his staff refuse to admit he was even gone…even though email records clearly show they knew he was staying at a cabin in Sweden.”

McLeod said, “This is akin to stealing from the state. This blatant breach of the public’s trust was avoidable had Palin and staffers put McAllister on the payroll three weeks later as she implied in an August 12, 2008 press release. What was the rush and why lie about it afterwards? These people knew what they were doing, and knew it was wrong.”

Since McAllister only started handing in leave slips in March of 2010, after McLeod started asking questions, McLeod also asked the attorney general to investigate McAllister’s other nonattendance, including the period while he was gravely ill during 2008 and 2009. Records show that although McAllister had not submitted leave slips before March 2010, he did cash out over 125 hours of leave worth more that $6,600 in 2009 alone.

On the same note: the state’s personnel board adopted an amendment to 2 AAC 08.065 on Friday, June 4, 2010 and voted to eliminate the restriction on the number of leave cash-ins an employee may be granted in a leave year.

Download the full ethics complaint HERE.

Mike Nizich makes another appearance in Sarah Palin's irregular practices, as detailed below. This is the same Mike Nizich who made this statement regarding the piling ethics complaints against Sarah Palin: "I hope that the publicity-seekers will face a backlash from Alaskans who have a sense of fair play and proportion."

Sarah Palin with Mike Nizich

But Andrée McLeod doesn't give up, even when faced with a backlash. She told us:

This is a very important issue that speaks to the integrity of a state board…the Aerospace Development Corporation.

Per AS 14.40.826, there is only one public member on that board. But governor chief of staff Mike Nizich has occupied that since December 2006. The governor basically had a seat at the table and took the place of a public member. Nizich was appointed to the seat on December 4, 2006, two days before Sarah Palin started her half term as governor. He was then deputy chief of staff, appointed by Frank Murkowski. Palin should have removed Nizich from the board when she decided to keep him on as deputy chief of staff. But she didn’t.

Michael A. Nizich
Public
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811-0001

Mike Nizich became acting chief of staff on the resignation of Mike Tibbles in May 2008 and officially appointed to the post in August 2008. And Palin still didn’t remove him.

Andrée continues:

That is not right…and it definitely doesn’t square nor look favorably on her pronouncements of being on the people’s side looking out for their interests…SHE LET HER OFFICE TAKE UP THE ONLY PUBLIC MEMBER SEAT.

This board oversees MILLIONS of dollars… and no public oversight….

As CEO of the State of Alaska…Palin violated AS 4.40.826 by keeping her deputy chief of staff on the board.

Just imagine the possibilities… of what Palin would do as commander in chief of the American military… when she won’t even follow the rule of law when it comes to this public entity under her watch and would not allow public oversight nor allow a member of the public to be on this board… but rather, kept her chief of staff on it, rendering public oversight inoperative.

The issue is still not resolved and, in true Alaska fashion, anybody who asks questions is stonewalled until the questions are rendered irrelevant. Mike Nizich's stint on the board expires on July 1, 2010.

Here's a letter Andrée wrote to Gov Parnell on June 18, 2010:

Dear Governor Parnell Sean,

Still no response to the question I asked you on back in March. Why have you not removed your chief of staff from the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation? Why have you kept Mike Nizich on the Alaska Aerospace Corporation as he occupies the ONLY one allotted public member slot on that board…which violates AS 14.40.826. The gov’s office doesn’t have a seat on the board. When are you going to give a real, bona fide and genuine member of the public a chance to serve on the AADC as is set forth in Alaska statute?

Documents received from your office show that citizen Nizich did not take leave for his Aerospace Development Corp. activities…and that chief of staff Nizich attended those meetings. Minutes also reflect that he represents the gov’s office as he clearly states that he would report back to the governor…and not the people of Alaska.

This is a HUGE conflict of interest as there is ONLY one allotted public member slot on that board, per AS 14.40.826. This board oversees a huge amount of public dollars funneled to the private sector. The presence of high-priced lobbyists at these meetings clearly demonstrates the significance of $$ that relates to this board. Where is the public oversight???? The chief of staff's continued presence on that board in the ONLY public member slot violates Sec. 14.40.826 and renders public oversight inoperative.

The board's integrity is disabled and its mandate is compromised by the chief of staff taking up the ONLY public member position on the board. So, when will you enable the AADC board to be above-board, remove your chief of staff, and appoint a real, genuine and bona fide member of the public to the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, per AS 14.40.826?

Sincerely,
Andrée McLeod

Andrée made this observation:

The thing about the AADC (Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation) is that, through a quick review of their minutes for the last four years, there are high-powered lawyers and lobbyists in attendance as guests… which means they are chasing the large amounts of FED $$$. And Palin just continued the politics as usual…

We all know that Sarah Palin has a very strange relationship with ethics: as mayor of Wasilla, as governor of Alaska and as a private citizen.


Sarah Palin's readiness to depart from the ethics rules upon stepping into her governorship, a practice which continued throughout her aborted term in that office and beyond, involving multitude* of irregularities, gives us a glimpse into what kind of "CEO" she would make if given the chance to run the whole country.

(* Dairygate, Troopergate, children's travel, per diems, Alaska Fund Trust, property taxes, Big Oil, Pebble Mine... the list is very long. Please refer to "The Palingates" on the sidebar.)
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Alaska judge rules that Todd Palin could have acted as an advisor to the Governor Sarah Palin - it's "common sense!" - UPDATE!

News reaches us today that Andrée McLeod lost her appeal regarding the question whether emails of the Palin administration that Todd has received do not fall under "executive privilege" and should be disclosed.

It is my view that this judgement contains poor reasoning, and the judge strikes me as very biased. I don't usually wade in regarding the legal issues, but in this case, the judgement is so poor that I cannot hold back.

Download the judgement HERE.

Let's have a look at some parts of the judgement.

For example:

I think this is a very good argument by Andrée, and why this "ignores reality and common sense" is not apparent to me, nor explained in any depth by the judge. Very convenient reasoning!

Let's also have a look at this passage:

The judge didn't even pick up on the acknowledged fact that government can indeed choose private citizens as consultants - but only based on their "undisputed experience and qualifications."

The judge himself acknowledges that an external consultant can be considered as an employee with the possible consequence of executive privilege if he advises the government in an area in which the "government lacks expertise."

But as we all know, Todd Palin, who has never finished College, has no experience whatsoever which could qualify him to give advice to a State government. He only has experience as a fisherman and oil production worker, and these are hardly areas in which the Alaskan government lacks expertise - with legions of qualified state employees working on these issues.

The whole reasoning of the judge comes down in the end to that supposed fact that it's "custom and the right of heads of state" to "rely upon her husband for advice", ignoring all the other factors which have been named. The judge doesn't even make a citation for this supposed "fact!" Case closed.

No, not entirely. The judge then takes aim for his final important reasoning:

"Absent any Alaska law to the contrary, common sense and Federal Law require finding that Todd Palin could properly have acted as an advisor to the Governor, thereby rendering the six emails at questions in this appeal subject to the deliberative process privilege."

Common Sense! Wow, that's a striking judicial argument! Where have we heard that before?

Federal Law! Why does it apply to Alaska in this case, even though the Alaska Legislature has not formally recognized the role of the Governor's spouse? Doesn't matter, it just applies! Probably also through "common sense."

The name of the judge also sounds familar. Where have we heard about judge Patrick McKay before?

In the ADN:

Anchorage judge is charged with 2nd DUI

MCKAY: Superior Court judge removed from criminal cases.

By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com

Published: August 29th, 2009 02:01 PM
Last Modified: August 30th, 2009 10:32 PM

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay has been charged with drunk driving.

An Anchorage police officer pulled over McKay's Toyota Camry Thursday at 9:30 p.m. for a traffic infraction on the outbound Glenn Highway, police said. When the officer made contact with him, McKay was found to be under the influence, according to police Lt. Dave Parker.

The officer put the 56-year-old judge under arrest and took him to the Anchorage Jail where he was later released on $500 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.

McKay has been removed from handling criminal cases, his supervisor said Saturday.

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The Palins, as usual, get away with everything in Alaska. It's a done deal.

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Please watch this excellent video in which Andree McLeod talks about Sarah Palin's use of her private yahoo email accounts for state business and the role of Todd Palin:



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UPDATE:

We weren't the only ones who felt compelled to write about this judgement - Thomas Van Flein has also addressed this issue today, on Sarah's facebook!

Thomas and his cash cow Sarah are happy:

"In a well reasoned opinion, the judge explored state law, federal law (including an historical discussion on First Lady Sarah Polk, wife of President James K. Polk), and invoked a too rarely used legal principle – common sense – to throw out this lawsuit. In so doing, the court concluded that Todd Palin, as the First Gentleman, though unpaid, was in essence a privileged consultant to the Office of the Governor, and the court compared Todd Palin’s privileged consultations to First Lady Hillary Clinton, in which a federal court determined that the chief executive’s spouse “acts as the functional equivalent of an assistant to the President.” And, with state government employees assisting the first spouse, Todd Palin had a clear and obvious privileged consultative function and is analogous to a de facto state officer."

I should point out that Thomas Van Flein also specifically highlights the "common sense" remarks of the judge. This is Sarah Palin's "brave new common sense world" in action - no reasons necessary, it just "feels right" - "common sense!"

The federal judgement in question, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. v. Hillary Clinton, decided by the US Court of Appeals in 1999 can be found here.

At the end of his facebook post, Thomas Van Flein has a curious political message:

"There are, of course, some remaining issues to address. The attacks against Sarah Palin will continue. They are distractions meant to keep her off message. 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. Today’s ruling is a positive step not just for Sarah and Todd Palin, but for all female chief executives currently in office – and waiting to take office in November."

She has "always acted with honest intent?"

Well, Mr Van Flein - that remains to be seen! And your client Sarah Palin surely will be a joy for you and your law firm for many years to come.

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UPDATE 2:

Sarah Palin and "common sense" - that apparently means that the law is interpreted JUST in the way which is beneficial for Queen Sarah.

As our reader BluedogAK pointed out, the only reason why the Petumenos report "overturned" the hard-hitting Branchflower report in the Troopergate affair was that Sarah Palin was not held liable for the potentially incriminating actions of Todd Palin - because he was acting as a private citizen, as the Petumenos report stated over and over again!

In addition, it is repeatedly mentioned in the Petumenos report that Sarah Palin had no knowledge of Todd's actions!

But now Thomas Van Flein claims in the facebook post that Todd Palin had in fact

"a clear and obvious privileged consultative function and is analogous to a de facto state officer."

How can this be reconciled with each other?

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Download the Branchflower report HERE and the Petumenos report HERE.

Screenshots from the Petumenos report:

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UPDATE 3:

Another update, and this time it's a particularly pleasant one!

Geoffrey Dunn just published great news on Huffington Post!

"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."

So there we have it. The Alaska Fund Trust ethics complaint is, as we explained in detail in a post from March 2010, the big elephant in the room, and it doesn't look that Palin is going to get rid of it.

And by an unbelievable coincidence Geoffrey Dunn also mentions a name which we have just dropped here a few hours earlier - Petumenos.

Geoffrey writes:

"According to legal sources in Anchorage, there also have been rumors that attorney Tim Petumenos -- who issued the infamous Troopergate finding in 2008 and who also handled the first ethics complaint filed by McLeod against Palin and found that a key member of Palin's staff, Frank Bailey, get "training and counseling" on the Alaska Personnel Act to "prevent the potential for future violations of the act" --has been brought into the case. What the role of Petumenos would be given that Daniel handled the original finding remains uncertain. And there has never been an explanation as to why this complaint has taken more than a year to be resolved. So much for political transparency in the Last Frontier."

Things are going to get REALLY interesting! We will keep you updated.

I agree with our valued reader EyeOnYou that Petumenos was most likely brought in to get a second opinion. Tim Petumenos would have been the perfect choice, as he let Sarah off the hook in Troopergate. However, it seems possible that Petumenos has NOT let Sarah off the hook this time.

Please go over to Huffington Post and vote Geoffrey Dun's article up, share it and comment on it so that they will put it on the front page!

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Websites which linked to this post:

Alaska Dispatch

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Message to Kristan Cole: It's time to release the records of Sarah Palin's Alaska Fund Trust! - UPDATE!

John McCain recently had a great idea!

He put a running clock on his website, with the question:

"When will Hayworth release the names of his Secret Abramoff Trust Fund donors?"

Well, we don't know the answer either, and we don't really care who has donated to teabagger Hayworth.

But John inspired us and we thought that we at Palingates should have a clock, too!

Why? Because Sarah Palin's best friend Kristan Cheryl Cole is now 249 days overdue with disclosing "the contributions as well as the amounts and categories of expenses" of the "Alaska Fund Trust", Sarah's "legal defense fund". Kristan Cole is the trustee of this fund, and she is obliged to make the disclosure on a quarterly basis, according to the Trust Agreement -from the FAQ:

"8. Will there be any disclosure of contributions and expenses?

Yes. The Trustee will disclose on a quarterly basis the contributions as well as categories of expenses with amounts."

The Alaska Fund Trust was set up on April 22, 2009. The first report was therefore due on July 23, 2009. That's when we start our sweet clock:

Coincidentally, Kristan Cole made a public statement on July 22, 2009 - but this statement had nothing to do with her obligation to release the quarterly report.

Kristan Cole was forced to speak in public after the report of the attorney Thomas Daniel was leaked to the media. He was the investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board during the investigation of Kim Chatman's ethics complaint. Kristan Cole denied that Palin was "involved" in the Alaska Trust Fund. Sure! I think we believe in the Easter bunny as well! Back in July 2009, Mudflats published an excellent article questioning these statements of Kristan Cole.

Investigator Daniel reported that there is "probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund." Download Daniel's original report HERE.

Since then - silence!

However, it's worth to take a closer look at the Alaska Trust Fund again.

It has been noted before that Sarah's practical "Legal Defense Fund" is in fact nothing more than a handy slush-fund for her and her family. The "Trust Agreement" leaves no open questions in this respect:

"3. Rights of Withdrawal

a) 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 (including the cash value of life insurance policies, if no other cash or property is available) 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 (including the cash value of life insurance policies, if no other cash or property is available) equal to the maximum amount which qualifies for the Federal Gift Tax exclusion allowed by Section 2503(b) of the Code (currently $13,000 per donor, but such amount shall be adjusted to provide the maximum amount excludable) presuming that a donor's spouse, if any, has consented to treat any such eligible gifts as being made one-half by such donor and one-half by such donor's spouse. The holder(s) of such power are hereinafter referred to as "Donee". Except as otherwise provided herein, said power of withdrawal shall not be cumulative from year to year, must be exercised separately for each calendar year in which any such addition or additions are made, 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.

4. Beneficiary.

The beneficiaries of this Trust shall be SARAH PALIN. In addition, the class of potential beneficiaries shall include any "Covered Individual. For purposes hereof, a "Covered Individual shall be any other person determined by the Trustee, in the Trustee's sole and absolute discretion, to (i) hold a "covered staff' position within SARAH PALIN's administration and/or an employee in the office of the Governor of the State of Alaska; and (ii) hold a covered relationship with SARAH PALIN, including without limitation, a family member, such as a parent, spouse, child, grandchild, sibling and other close family relationship. Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, in no event shall anyone other than the Trustee exercise control over the Trust property and, in no event shall any beneficiary receive tangible or intangible benefit from the Trust other than such benefit that is incident to or may have arisen out of the defraying, payment, or satisfaction of expenses as provided herein."

So: Sarah's whole family and other people can be granted to right to withdraw money - and "no purpose for the withdrawal need to be shown". How useful! A grifters dream. Regina published a detailed article about this topic on Palingates in July 2009 and about possible criminal consequences, which is worth to be revisited. Back then, Regina came to the conclusion:

"The website soliciting donations states that the money raised will be used only to pay certain legal expenses. The agreement says no such thing. The website states the money cannot be used for personal purposes. The agreement contains a clause that says otherwise."

So where are the quarterly reports? Kristan Cole doesn't need the permission of anybody else to release the reports, the "Trust Agreement" is clear in this respect:

"The Trustee is authorized and directed to release the amounts and categories of expenditures for the benefit of any beneficiary hereunder and the public on a quarterly basis."

Kristan Cheryl Cole: What are you waiting for?

Also: What happened to Kim Chatman's ethics complaint? Since July 2009, the public has heard nothing with regard to the outcome of the ethics complaint, despite the grave concerns of investigator Thomas Daniel. Do we need another clock?

Investigator Thomas Daniel expressed grave concerns in his report about the choice of Kristan Cole to become the Trustee:

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In addition, something else caught our eye.

In FAQ of the Trust, we also read:

"10. Where does the unspent money go?

Once the purposes of the Trust no longer exist, the Trustee, in her sole discretion, will donate unspent funds to qualified 501 (c)(3) organizations."

So, we asked ourselves: What exactly is a "501(c)(3) organization"?

Wikipedia knows - the general definition:

"Colloquially, a 501(c) organization or simply "a 501(c)" is a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation or association. Section 501(c) of the United States Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)), provides that 26 types of nonprofit organizations are exempt from some federal income taxes. Sections 503 through 505 set out the requirements for attaining such exemptions. Many states refer to Section 501(c) for definitions of organizations exempt from state taxation as well."

501(c)(3) in particular means: "Religious, Educational, Charitable, Scientific, Literary, Testing for Public Safety, to Foster National or International Amateur Sports Competition, or Prevention of Cruelty to Children or Animals Organizations"

We found this extremely interesting - and I will tell you why: We recently learned from a reliable source in Alaska that the Palins set up an educational fund for Tripp, and they are directing some of their income to this fund - for example the $ 100,000 that Bristol received for her cover story in "In Touch" magazine! Our information is that this fund is supposed to pay Tripp's college/university expenses in the future.

So - can it be that some of the money of the Alaskan Fund Trust will eventually go in the trust for Tripp or in similar channels that the Palins have created? After all, they are very creative regarding their money affairs, with the invaluable assistance of Sarah's busy lawyer Thomas Van Flein, who is the "registered agent" of Sarah's mystery company "Pie Spy" as well as of Bristol's mystery company "BSMP".

EDIT: We just learned that 501(c)(3) can only benefit an organization, therefore the theory that it could benefit Tripp's educational fund is apparently not valid. Many thanks to our reader "AuntieRuth"!

Our second theory is, by the way, that Sarah Palin will eventually set up her own charitable organization which will then receive the money. ;-)

Kristan Cole, publish the reports! After all, you have nothing to hide, right?

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UPDATE:

Our reader "mxm" has left a very interesting comment, which I would like to add to the post for the discussion. I would also like to point out that the Alaska Trust Fund is still accepting donations via PayPal (some of our readers made test donations today via PayPal - it worked!). Due to the lack of information and disclosure, we can only speculate what the current situation is with the Alaska Fund Trust. However, we do have Kristan Cole's own statement from July 22, 2009, in which she says:

"I am here to address the unusual letter that was leaked yesterday, the contents of which are unprecedented in the history of our country, suggesting that a legal defense fund could somehow be unethical. This is particularly notable, and concerning, in light of the fact that the Trust, on my instructions, has not paid even one penny to Gov. Palin or her lawyers. I issued that instruction because I was aware the Board was reviewing this matter."

Here is the comment by "mxm":

Kristan Cole is the sole Trustee, and as such she made commitments to the donors to provide quarterly reports. Anything related to trust fund use is under the sole discretion of Trustee Cole. As she has not released any reports in the nearly 12 month duration of the the trust, one has to search out sources of information related to the AFT cash flow. This is what I have found, 2 critical pieces of information:

(1) The bots conducted a webathon for the fund, and reported raising in excess of $115,000.

"You have already achieved 23% of our goal to retire $500,000 in legal bills that Governor Palin is held personally responsible ..."

(2) SarahPAC paid some interesting legal invoices.

The Alaska legal firm Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen submitted 3 invoices to the PAC.

12/08/2009
Legal Services, Political Services, June
$45,000

12/08/2009
Legal Services, September
$10,000

12/08/2009
Legal Services November
$10,000

Attorneys with Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, and Tiemessen must have a greater degree of PAC and political experience than the consultants and specialized attorneys Sarah Palin paid to advise her PAC. The firm was paid $65,000 in December 2009.

Diane Cooley provided legal services to the PAC and was paid $4,060.

Baker & Hostetler provided legal services to the PAC and was paid $13,500.

From these two facts, I surmise that the AFT is either frozen or broke. If frozen, as a result of the yet unresolved ethics complaint, then it may hold at least $115,000. If the AFT is broke, and it was used to pay Palin's self-claimed legal bills of $500,000, then the PAC was tapped to pay some more personal legal bills.

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UPDATE 2:

In this post, we didn't mention so far that there were actually two ethics complaints filed against Sarah Palin because of the Alaska Fund Trust. It was not only Kim Chatman who filed a complaint, but Andree McLeod filed a second complaint in December 2009. You can download the full text of Andree's complaint HERE.

The outcome of the second complaint is unknown as well - nobody knows what's going on. No information has been given to the public.

Although Sarah Palin has "left the building", her hand-picked appointments like her chief of staff, Attorney General, and every commissioner have not. They are still playing fast and loose with the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, and continue to protect and defend Palin’s political interests when it comes to complaints regarding her "legal defense fund".

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David Kernell to Sarah Palin: "Do you Yahoo?" - UPDATE

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!

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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...

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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
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Sarah Palin's gift to Alaska

Alaska has very strange laws and their judges make some strange decisions. Andree McLeod filed a lawsuit in October 2008 regarding Sarah Palin's use of private e-mail accounts to conduct state business. This practice keeps communications out of the public records. Not an example of open and transparent government, which was one of the cornerstones of Sarah Palin's campaign for governor of Alaska.

Not surprisingly, Andree lost. Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay ruled in favour of former governor Sarah Palin. It may not have any bearing on this case, but it's interesting to know that Judge McKay has two charges of drunk driving against him. He was arrested in 1988 and again in August 2009.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay has been charged with drunk driving.

The officer put the 56-year-old judge under arrest and took him to the Anchorage Jail where he was later released on $500 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.

This is the second time McKay has been charged with drunk driving. In 1988, he was convicted and served the mandatory three days in jail.

McKay has been a Superior Court judge since 2005 when he was appointed by Gov. Frank Murkowski.

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One issue Sarah Palin exploited during her campaign in 2006 was ethics. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. But openness and transparency didn't apply to her and neither did the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. When Alaskans took issue with their governor's conduct, they were branded partisan, malicious and frivolous in Sarah Palin's many irate press releases.

One of the reasons she gave for her resignation last summer was the number of such "malicious" attacks, even though she got away with the majority of the ethics complaints against her and managed to spin the ones where she had to repay the state for her children's travel on the state's dime, for example.



Sarah Palin said she was resigning for the good of Alaska. Her legacy of "putting Alaska's interests first" continues to have precisely the opposite effect. Her histrionics inspired some lawmakers to propose changes to the ethics rules, which would result in less transparency, less accountability and avoidance of responsibility in the part of public officals. They proposed that any ethics complaints should remain secret until the Personnel Board decided to publish their findings and that any person filing a complaint should remain bound by confidentiality or risk having it summarily dismissed.

Sarah Palin made quite a song and dance about the huge financial burden imposed on herself and her family as a result of the ethics complaints against her. In order to remedy that, she started a "legal" fund to collect money from her misguided supporters. The trust document was written in such a way as to make the money available to herself and members of her family for any purpose. Ironically, the fund is frozen, pending the outcome of an ethics complaint.

Some of the changes proposed by the lawmakers above would make any worries about taking responsibility and footing the bill for wrongdoing a thing of the past.

(2) 9 AAC 52.040 is proposed to be changed by adding new provisions establishing standards for the conditions when the acceptance or approval of state money to pay on behalf of, or reimburse a public officer for, expenses incurred for professional legal services to defend against a complaint brought under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act (AS 39.52) may occur, including when the public officer is exonerated of any violation of the Act.

The much maligned but tenacious Andree McLeod took exception to this proposal:

The AEBEA states that: (7) compliance with a code of ethics is an individual responsibility; thus all who serve the state have a solemn responsibility to avoid improper conduct and prevent improper behavior by colleagues and subordinates. That individual responsibility includes the individual's choice to seek legal council, thereby, they alone should be responsible for expenses incurred by their choice. Secondly, these past 15 months or so have shown, beyond a shadow of any doubt, that there is an inherent and systemic breach in the way and manner ethics complaints are processed, and summarily dismissed. The biased and subjective manner in which the Department of Law deals with ethics complaints is one that must be drastically changed before any state funds are appropriated to cover legal expenses of public officials who conduct themselves unethically. Instead, they are protected and defended by a flawed and corrupt complaint process where the person(s) investigating the misconduct of other public officials is situated within the chain of command of their bosses and their bosses' bosses. The reports that dismiss every complaint I have filed are the best examples that illustrate the dysfunctions that occur when "the Fox Watches the Hen House".

Another proposal is about gifts of travel:

5) 9 AAC 52.060 is proposed to be changed to clarify the application of AS 39.52.130, addressing gifts to a public officer. 9 AAC 52.060(b) currently permits agency heads to determine that a gift of travel received by an employee traveling on state business is a gift to the state, not a personal gift to the employee. The proposed amendment would clarify that the individual employee does not have to submit a disclosure for pre-approved state travel relating to offers by others made in advance to pay travel expenses of a state employee to facilitate state business.

Andree chips in again:

"The important question I have is: Had this regulation (5) been in place already...would it have meant that Kris Perry would NOT have had to claim as gifts all those gifts of travel, lodging, and meals she claimed from the McCain and Chambliss campaigns?"

I submit by example: Kris Perry claimed over $15,000 in gifts for travel, lodging, etc. from the McCain and Chambliss campaigns while she "facilitated state business" and traveled from one end of the country to the other on the very partisan very political Republican vice-presidential campaign trail. Were this regulation in place…the public would NEVER have known the extent of those gratuities that were offered and accepted by this governor's staffer. Keeping these kinds of gifts a secret and under the cloak of secrecy is unacceptable, does not serve the Alaskan public's better interests, and totally violates the intent and objectives of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, AND the Alaska Public Official Financial Disclosure Act.

These changes happen to come along at the same time a governor decided to pursue interests other than being governor. The premise of most of my complaints is found within the many conflicts of interests that resulted because of Sarah Palin's extra curricular activites that had absolutely nothing to do with her role as governor. These changes to the AEBEA regulations do nothing to better define, refine, avoid and resolve those conflicts of interests.

Andree, unlike the ex-governor, sticks to her guns when it comes to the true purpose of ethics rules:

The AG and his staff's time would be better spent on finding ways to make the ethics complaint process free from the biases inherent in the system currently in place….and strengthen the statutes, policies, procedures, and protocols in place to address the chaos that ensues when a governor chooses to put their personal and political interests before the interests of the public when they make deals with other Outside interests and abandon the Office of the Governor and its constitutional duties…to follow their self-proclaimed providential destinies. These regulation changes above merely weaken the AEBEA and its intent…and should be thrown out. Time would be better spent to find ways to better enforce the good ethics laws already in place.

Sarah Palin made a mockery of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. The lawmakers had a golden opportunity to address some of the flaws in the act, such as governors being investigated by their own appointees, a clear example of conflict of interests. Instead, they are doing their very best to ensure that present and future governors and other public officials can indulge in unethical behaviour in lawful secrecy and be paid by the state to do so.

Only in Sarah Palin's Alaska!
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Sarah Palin's week in pictures

It's been an interesting week for Sarah Palin in Wasilla. She signed books, banned people from her book signing and served Christmas dinner to the less fortunate...

Let the pictures tell the story.

Sarah signing books, helped by Todd and Juanita Fuller

Some people were allowed in and distributed pamphlets, posters, gathered signatures for petitions and had a jolly good time.

(Photos by Bill Hess)

(Photo by Kim Chatman)

Others weren't so lucky. Todd provided a list of people who weren't welcome at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center.

There were four names on Todd's list. Gryphen and Dennis showed up, the others didn't.

Gryphen, from Immoral Minority

Dennis Zaki and Shannyn Moore

Andree McLeod was too busy to attend

One person wasn't prevented from entering the sports center, but her signs were confiscated and destroyed. Dawn was threatened with arrest for disturbing the peace. On the plus side, Dawn could display her beautiful t-shirt and got her flu jab!

(photo by Kim Chatman)

...I turned up at 12 in my Sarah Palin LIAR shirt & with 2 signs 1 of which had palingates.blogspot.com & 3 others with slogans. I planted them in the snow at the front door where I stood. After 45 min, bldg security told me to get rid of the signs cuz Palin’s publisher was paying $85/ hr for facility, (can’t remember exact amt )I said no. He said the cops would come. They were parked right there. I said FINE. They can just give me a ticket. Anyway, he took the signs before I could grab them since using a walker slows one down. He crumbled them up after refusing to return them to me. I did make him give me the sticks back.( one was my meter stick) . He asked for my ID. I refused. I told him I could stay out there & sing my slogans & he said I’d be taken for disturbing the peace. I didn’t sing cuz I really don’t & laughter was something I didn’t want to inspire. So, instead, SarahPalin LIAR shirt prominently displayed, I entered what I thought would be the lion’s den only to find an H1N1 flu clinic giving free flu shots. GEEZ. And lucky too cuz I had planned on getting one. The nurse filled out the form for me cuz I didn’t have my reading glasses on the picket line. I pulled my sleeve down for the shot hoping that with my SP LIAR shirt I wasn’t at the mercy of 1 of Sarah’s biggest fans. It didn’t hurt. The next 1/2 hr I spent displaying my shirt to a winding line of people passing by with their books to be signed. I talked with people getting flu shots, ate a few Palin Xmas cookies & let those in line see that yes, even in Wasilla, there was a real live person who considered Palin less than legitimate. Had I known there was a flu clinic going on, I would have been more aggressive about letting brown uniformed security man get my signs. Other than that, mission accomplished, at least on a personal level. (Comment by Dawn on Shannyn Moore's blog.)

UPDATE - Commenter William Henley, at C4P, disputes the photographic evidence shown here and issues a charming threat to detractors of Sarah Palin:

Sandra, you are lying out your a**. I was at the Wasilla book-signing. As a matter of fact I was there at 10 p.m. the night before and was in line at 05:30. I was one of two people who sat out there all night. The second person (Amy) got there at midnight. I was there through-out and not a single protester with signs showed up at anytime. No single person was there handing out oblabla/hitler pictures. You are nothing more than a lying bi**h and need to go to one of the sights that care for what you are lying about. Just as one of the security heads told me, if anyone started trouble they probably would not have survived. I and many others at the signing were carrying our sidearms. Mine happens to be a police special 357 mag. and I know how to use it and rather enjoy using it for the right reasons, i.e. protecting Sarah Palin and family.

(H/T to gunsmoke)


Sarah turned her hand at food serving at the same venue a few days later. She wore gloves, but somehow she never seems able to find a hairnet for these occasions. Maybe hairnets don't come in big enough sizes to contain her generous mane...

Yum..

Todd looks tired...

Sarah signing yet another copy of "Going Rogue"

Yes, all in all, it was a busy week for Sarah Palin. It provided a lot of material for the bloggers, as usual...

We can't wait for the New Year!