Astoundingly Ignorant or Orwellian

Anchorage Daily News:

Sarah Palin's reaction to the Legislature's Troopergate report is an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.

She claims the report "vindicates" her. She said that the investigation found "no unlawful or unethical activity on my part."

Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian. (emphasis added)

In a separate article, ADN reports that the second investigation into troopergate is being expanded to include other complaints against Palin.

What Is She Smoking?

A video clip of Palin declaring that she's glad to be cleared of any ethical wrongdoing.



The Branchflower Report, page 8:

Troopergate: Palin Abused Authority

AP: Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday.

Troopergate Report Update

McClatchy News reports:

A legislative panel convened this morning to receive a report on the Troopergate affair and after 25 minutes went into a closed session to question investigator Steve Branchflower.

Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, chairman of the Legislative Council, gave no indication how long the secret session might last or when Branchflower's report might be made public.

But two lawmakers who've stepped out of the meeting briefly say it could be hours.

Are You Kidding Me?

The AP reports, "Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report that clears her of any wrongdoing." (Via Political Wire)

Wow! This is like printing your own get-out-of-jail cards!

Troopergate Report

First Read has this nugget on the troopergate report.

The committee has nine Republicans and five Democrats, and it takes a majority (eight votes) to publish the report. And if it’s made public, independent investigator Stephen Branchflower, will likely present the report and take questions from lawmakers. The committee doesn’t have the power to censure Palin over this; such a reprimand would have to come from the full legislature.

'First Dude' in Trouble?

From the Empty Wheel:

...But I think the real tell--where Todd Palin may be in a heap of trouble--is in this detail from the NYT story.

On Jan. 4, 2007, a month into the Palin administration and his tenure as public safety commissioner, Mr. Monegan was called to the governor’s Anchorage office to meet Todd Palin. Mr. Palin was seated at a conference table with three stacks of personnel files. That, Mr. Monegan recalled, was the first time he heard the name Mike Wooten. [my emphasis]

Personnel files. The implication from this story is that Palin had Wooten's personnel file laying there on a table when he had this first meeting with Walt Monegan. Even in the phone call between Bailey and Dial, there's tension over whether Bailey--a government employee, after all--had accessed Wooten's personnel file. Bailey had suggested he got it through follow-up on the workers comp issue.

But this story suggests that Todd Palin--not a government employee--had gotten Wooten's personnel file in the first weeks of Sarah's tenure as governor. And that personnel file, of course, would have the details about the Grimes investigation.

If Branchflower has proof that Todd Palin got the personnel file--and that Palin's office got it without the excuse of the workers comp issue--then First Dude may be in a heap of trouble.

Read the rest of the complete story here.

Great Reads

Three great articles, the first is fascinating look at Obama's early days in the Illinois Senate and his subsequent tenure there.

The taunting began as soon as Barack Obama joined the Illinois Senate in January 1997. He had expected to face some skepticism as a political neophyte, but not such outright hostility. For the first few months of his career as a lawmaker, Obama navigated the unfamiliar corridors of the state Capitol like a misfit lost in a new school, sometimes complaining to colleagues that he was "getting it from all sides."

The second article details the chronology of 'troopergate.'

...Two years earlier, the trooper and the governor’s sister had been embroiled in a nasty divorce and child-custody battle that had hardened the Palin family against him. To Mr. Monegan and several top aides, the state fair episode was yet another example of a fixation that the governor and her husband, Todd, had with Mr. Wooten and the most granular details of his life.

“I thought to myself, ‘Man, do they have a heavy-duty network and focus on this guy,’ ” Mr. Monegan said. “You’d call that an obsession.”

And lastly, here's a great profile of Moveon.org.

MoveOn, the enfant terrible of online politicking, is growing up, turning 10 years old last month. And it has become far more than a purveyor of vituperative e-mail blasts. During the 2006 midterm elections, for instance, the online organization -- with a full-time staff of 23, most of whom work from home -- spent $28 million advocating for Democratic candidates through its political action committee, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. In contrast, the National Rifle Association, with a staff of about 500 housed in its expansive headquarters in Fairfax, spent $11 million through its PAC.

News Briefs, 10/9/08

The Alaska Supreme Court refuses to halt 'troopergate' investigation.

The Obama campaign purchased a half-hour primetime slot on CBS. Negotiations with the other networks continue.

West Virginia is now a 'toss-up'.

Josh Goodman thinks Obama dodged a bullet by not picking Kaine.

Florida's ambitious plans to restore the Everglades may have to be revisited due to the economic turmoil.

News Briefs, 10/4/08

A leaked cable suggests that US strategy in Afghanistan will fail.

Reports link Afghan President Karzai's brother to heroin trade.

Opposition leader accuses Georgian President of human rights abuses and stifling democracy.

The Biden-Palin debate draws 70 million viewers, or 40% more than the first Presidential debate.

Local hits: The Boston market had the third highest viewership for the VP debates.

Troopergate: Alaska Supreme Court agrees to hear an emergency appeal from lawyers seeing to shut down the investigation.

Rachel Maddow on Palin

Lyda Green and Sarah Palin are not on the best terms to put it mildly, and anything Green has to say about Palin would be suspect due to their strained relationship. On the surface, that is. Maddow does a great job getting to the root of the strained relationship and in the process allows the viewers to get a better look at the Palin administration and Palin's philosophy of governing. Maddow also does what most other media sources haven't -- call Palin on the lies she and the McCain camp have been putting forth about the reasons for firing Walt Monegan.



H/T: Ian Welsh

Welsh on Troopergate:

Sarah's story that she couldn't possibly have fired Walt Monegan for not firing her estranged brother-in-law had a layer of bright-shiny-thing about it: she now claims she fired Walt Monegan because he made a lobbying trip to Washington seeking federal funds to fight sex crimes. As the governor of the state with the worst rate rape, Palin oddly claims she didn't authorize Monegan's trip. And so she fired him.

Except her Chief of Staff's signature is on the expense authorization, signed prior to Monegan's trip.

Troopergate

Two updates on the Wooten investigation:

According to ABC News, "Alaska Senator Hollis French will announce today that he is moving up the release date of his investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired. The results of the investigation were originally scheduled for release Oct. 31 but will now come almost three weeks earlier, according to sources."

And Anchorage Daily News accuses Palin of stonewalling on 'troopergate.'