BREAKING NEWS: Jeanne Devon (Mudflats) reveals on the Shannyn Moore radio show that Sarah Palin has been evading property taxes for several years

GRIFTER WATCH

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What an exciting start into February:

Jeanne Devon ("AKMuckraker") from the famous Mudflats blog in Alaska just disclosed on the air on the Shannyn Moore Show that Sarah and Todd Palin have been evading property taxes for years now for two of their properties. If the Palins had declared the value of the property correctly, they would have had to pay a substantial amount until today - which they didn't.

The property in question are two cabins in a remote area in Petersville, AK.

Despite of the fact that the two cabins are proper, large houses, the Palins "wisely" chose to declare the value of the cabins with $ 0,00 and only declared the land with a value of $ 30,000.


One of the "cabins" which the Palins have self-assessed

with a value of $ 0,00 for several years until now
(picture about 2 years old, according to Mudflats)

Jeanne Devon on Mudflats explains the particulars of the case in a brilliant, carefully researched post and reveals more highly embarrassing details, including the fact that Sarah Palin in the past explicitly spoke out against the non-payment of property taxes and declined to support the candidate Vic Kohring in the past because he owed his borough $ 2,277 in unpaid property taxes.

This scandal came to light because an unknown person sent Jeanne Devon an ominous envelope with the general facts. Allow me to quote this letter:

Todd and Sarah are now millionaires, but they shirk their responsibility to pay local property taxes.

Attached are printed copies of Matanuska-Susitna Borough tax assessments from the public website (address shown at the bottom) regarding two lake frontage properties the Palins own in the Petersville Hills. Safari Lake is a gorgeous location, with stunning views of Mt. McKinley and the surrounding terrain.

Please note that two parcels total almost 20 acres and are assessed for a total value of $30,000. Also, there is a $0 value regarding any buildings on the property.

Any photos or visual inspection of the properties would clearly reveal that there are two large “cabins” on the property that are well built, and include thousands of dollars worth of improvements and amenities. The buildings are clearly nicer than many people’s homes.

Also on the property is a large shop for snowmachines and four-wheelers.

These buildings have been on the property for years now – yet the Palins have done nothing to correct the assessment.

I have managed to record the second part of the on-the-air conversation between Shannyn Moore and Jeanne Devon and will put it up here in a few minutes.

In addition, Jeanne Devon announced on the Shannyn Moore Show that she will post the story on Huffington Post. This scandal will go national!

Al Capone redux?

Now we finally know why Sarah Palin doesn't like "big government" - she rather keeps the money for herself! Is this supposed to be the "real America"?

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UPDATE:

The Mudflats-website has apparently crashed - but you can read the story on Huffington Post HERE!

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UPDATE 2:

The story is just a few hours old, but judging at the reaction at C4P, it seems that Sarah Palin's "general defence" is already apparent: It's all the "government's" fault! The Borough didn't assess Palin's property correctly, therefore the Palins are innocent! Move along, nothing to see here!

But wait a moment!

Could it be that the ex-Mayor and ex-Governor Sarah Palin has forgotten that citizen also have "actual responsibilities"?

Well, after about 5 minutes of research, we found the following explanation for the assessment of property taxes in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (you have to click on "Your Rights and Responsibilities"):

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES?

If your opinion of the value of your property differs from the assessor’s, by all means go to the office and discuss the matter. Staff will be glad to answer your questions about the appraisal and explain how to appeal if you cannot come to an agreement. The assessor’s office relies on the property owner for information. You can help by providing accurate information.

Sarah Palin: It seems that the people from the Borough were not obliged to climb up the mountain to look at your property, which apparently doesn't even have proper road access - it seems that YOU were required to tell them that the two cabins are worth much, much more than $ 0,00!

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UPDATE 3:

In case you have missed Shannyn's radio show - I have good news for you!

I managed to record the second part of the conversation between Jeanne Devon and Shannyn Moore which happened a few hours earlier. I had to divide the conversation into two clips. It's essential to listen to the recording, because Jeanne and Shannyn give a lot more background information, and Jeanne explains in detail why the owners of these cabins have a responsibility to assess the property correctly themselves. Therefore, Sarah's possible "it's the governments fault" defence will not be successful.

Don't miss the interesting remark of Shannyn Moore right at the end of the second clip at 4:58! ;-)

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UPDATE 4:

Our reader "Older_Wiser" made an interesting discovery:

There's evidently precedent in AK for charging the proper taxes retroactively on property not even shown by the tax assessor, and for the taxpayer to properly list said property, as this post I borrowed from Mudflats shows:

"I haven’t been able to find any cases specifically about the Mat-Su borough but an Anchorage case held that the assessor could retroactively assess a warehouse addition as “escaped property” even though the assessor had assessed the other buildings but missed the addition. (Anchorage v. Alaska Distribs. Co., 725 P.2d 692 ).

"The court held “AS 29.45.110(a) and AS 29.45.180(a) also support our holding. AS 29.45.110(a) requires the assessor to assess property at its full and true value. AS 29.45.180(a) requires the taxpayer who receives an assessment notice to advise the assessor of errors or omissions in the assessment of property. These statutes emphasize the legislature’s policy of fairness to all taxpayers by insuring payment by each taxpayer of its fair share of taxes and by disallowing windfalls due to the tax [**10] assessor’s errors. ”

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UPDATE 5:

Here are the links to the assessments of Sarah and Todd Palin's properties which are in question here, as previously published on Mudflats:

http://www.matsugov.us/myproperty/detail.aspx?taxID=2357B04L012-1

http://www.matsugov.us/myproperty/detail.aspx?taxID=2357B04L010-1

The properties were assessed in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and each time the value of the buildings was assessed with $ 0,00. The picture of one of the "cabins" which we published above shows the state of the property about 2 years ago, according to Jeanne Devon from Mudflats.

(many thanks to sjkfromthebellyoftheplane!)

Open Thread - Weekly round-up, and CNN's Tanika Ray's suggestive comments - UPDATE: New comment from Tanika Ray

We have had a busy week. Levi Johnston keeps talking, and Sarah Palin threw a massive "hissy fit", revealing once again her true, "rogue" nature: The mean, insecure and immature girl with the paper-thin skin. I have often asked myself the question: What would Sarah Palin do if Wladimir Putin or Hugo Chavez or Mahmud Ahmadinedschad "insulted" her - in the very unlikely event that she became President? I fear that she would be unable to make any kind of "adequate" response, and I really don't want to think too closely about what kind of statement "White House Press Secretary Meghan Stapleton" would then release. We might have already seen a very uncomfortable view about what might happen in such a case here. And remember, Sarah Palin knows exactly who the "good guys and the bad guys" are.

The Alaskan bloggers continue to be very active and in painstaking work try to make sense of Sarah Palin's financial affairs. "Celtic Diva" Linda Kellen Biegel wrote a very informative post about the mysterious "Pie Spy" business with interesting speculations about Sarah Palin's "Alaska Fund Trust".

The second article by Celtic Diva about Sarah's financial disclosure has been published by "AK Muckraker" Jeanne Devon today in Huffington Post, examining the details surrounding "Arctic Cat".

Tank Jones also keeps getting attention from the media, and the question why exactly Levi Johnston needs a bodyguard is still unanswered. In light of the last days which brought us "Levi vs Sarah and vice versa reloaded", I would also like to draw your attention to an interview which Tank Jones had with Alaska's conservative radio talk-show host Dagan Fagan. This interview took place on September 8, 2009, after the publication of the Vanity Fair article, and you can listen to it or download it here. In this interview, Tank Jones defended Levi's claims that Sarah Palin called Trig a "retard" and engages in a heated exchange with Dan Fagan.

I would like to say a big "Thank you" to one of our unnamed readers who placed a highly effective advert on Craigslist in Anchorage with a link to Palingates. This advert received lots of attention, and I would like to encourage everyone to follow this example.

In addition I would like to say a huge "Thank you" to Bree Palin who has a great blog and at the same time values cooperation with other bloggers and posts valuable information also in the comments on Palingates. She just provided us with the transcript of CNN's "Showbiz tonight" from October 29, 2009 which can be found here. Yesterday, several of our readers noted that Tanika Ray had something very interesting to say - here is the relevant part of the conversation:

"HAMMER: Tanika Ray, here is the most important question of all. If you had the opportunity to either be in the audience for that taping of the "Oprah Winfrey Show" with Sarah Palin or be on hand for the nude "Playgirl" shoot with Levi Johnston, where are you going to be, Tanika Ray?

RAY: I`m going to be slitting my wrist. That`s what I`m going to be doing. Let`s be really honest. One thing that Levi is not is a liar. He`s not smart enough to figure out how to lie.

The guy told me straight up that Sarah Palin is a liar. He has no reason to gain from saying that she`s lying about the things that she did during the race, like when she pretended like it was her son and not her daughter`s, when she had him there and pretended like they were a happy family.

HAMMER: So you`re buying it.

RAY: He said the whole time she was lying and knew that they couldn`t stand each other ...

HAMMER: I`ve got to end it there.

RAY: ... and that they could be together anymore. So Levi, not smart, but not a liar.

HAMMER: All right. Tanika Ray, Kim Serafin, appreciate it, guys."

I am intrigued as to whether there will be follow-up or what our readers think about these remarks.

Last but not least, the sweet "Spongebob Sarah" was drawn by a very active Trig Truther - another "Thank You" to the artist!

UPDATE: Now we have the second clip with Levi Johnston on ET - and he confirms his claims (which were originally reported by Gryphen in his "Splitsville" post) that the Palin's are headed straight for divorce and gives some more details. He also stands firm with his view that Sarah Palin is "two-faced" and that her version of events shouldn't be taken for granted, no matter what she might say on Oprah. Sounds like the Sarah "we have all come to know"!

More news of the week: Sarah Palin is consistent in some respects - it has now been officially confirmed that she is not speaking in Iowa. Who would have guessed it, and what will happen with all the money that has already been collected for her speaking fee? $ 59,000 had been raised so far, as Bill Collier from Team Sarah had written to his members, when he asked them to donate a further $ 41,000. So how much did Team Sarah collect after the appeal of Bill Collier, and what will happen to that money now? In classic fashion, the Palin camp now denies that they were ever asking for money for the appearance in Iowa - despite the detailed information that Bill Collier had already given to the Team Sarah members.

I think it's time for another hilarious Bill Collier rant!

Here is further proof for the fact that "Team Sarah" collected money for Sarah Palin's speech in Iowa. So what is "Team Sarah" going to do with this money now? The page is still online:

Further Update (H/T EyeOnYou): Levi Johnston has spoken to the Guardian (UK) and has given even more details. He also indiciated that it might be unavoidable that he will go to court to gain offical custody of Tripp. Remember, not only are the Palins now apparently denying Levi access to his baby again, but in doing so they are denying the child access to his father.

Download or listen to the audio from the Guardian here.

Another important Update: I just had a phone conversation with Tanika Ray and asked her for clarification of her remarks. We spoke for several minutes and she explained to me that in her comment "like when she pretended like it was her son and not her daughter`s" she was NOT talking about Trig and did not want to suggest that Trig wasn't Sarah Palin's baby. I have told her that she can send me an email to patrick12344@yahoo.com with further clarification if she feels the need to.

But Tanika Ray did confirm that she had spoken to Levi (she said that she had"interviewed" him). Tanika also said that she in general is not too interested in Sarah Palin issues.

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