Sarah Palin Cleared - By Board She Can Fire!!

Before people go to the polls tomorrow morning they're going to read that Sarah Palin has been cleared of any ethics violations in the Troopergate scandal by an Alaskan Personnel Board . This runs counter to an earlier finding by a bi-partisan committee of investigation which did find her guilty of ethics violations. So what does this mean?

It means that the board she wanted to investigate her, once she found out there was good evidence to convict her, has sided with her, a board consisting of people over whom she has control. Surprised? Not if you have followed what has been noted all along in this blog - that this is a controling woman who uses threats and favors to keep people in line.

Here's the story as our favorite Alaskan blogger, AKMuckraker, has it. AK is also clear that this is not over as the trooper is going to file suit, in which case Palin is going to have a much harder time controling the outcome.

This from AKMuckraker:

THE BREAK DOWN OF THE TROOPERGATE INVESTIGATION:

The Legislature decides to investigate Palin for ethics violations. Palin says she will cooperate, so no subpoena is issued. Palin sends out Attorney General Talis Colberg to interview witnesses in advance of the Legislature’s investigation, so she knows what they’re going to say. Palin discovers a taped phone call made by her administration pressuring Troopers to fire Wooten. Palin says she is surprised by phone call and concedes it looks bad. Palin files ethics complaint against herself so that the Republican governor appointed Personnel Board, made up of people that she can fire, will be the group that investigates. Palin says Legislative investigation has become partisan and refuses to cooperate. Attorney General tells state employees they don’t need to comply with Legislative subpoenas. They don’t show for depositions. At the last minute they provide written testimony, but Palin still does not cooperate because she was not subpoenaed. Legislature releases report that says Palin abused her power and violated the Executive Ethics Act. Then, the day before the election, The Personnel Board releases a report clearing Palin and all state employees of everything.

My contacts at Alaskans for Truth, who were involved in supporting Walt Monegan in his request for a hearing, are not pleased. This isn’t over by a long shot. It’s unlikely that this grass roots group is going to let Palin skip off into the sunset without a fight.

Stay tuned for updates as they become available. I expect we’ll be hearing from members of the Legislature soon.

FULL POST HERE

How Do You Know When Sarah Palin is Lying?

Of the many endearing traits of Sarah Palin that have been revealed to us in the two months she's been in the public eye, none is less attractive than her penchant for lying. And I'm not just talking about little white lies. I'm talking about the kind of whoppers that deserve a whole bar of soap.

What's most unnerving is how good she is at it; the kind of good that says "red" is "yellow"so convincingly that people actually believe it. She's sure got a lot of Republicans fooled. They not only listen to her lies. They repeat them as though they came straight from the mouth of God.

Her biggest whopper was when she was confronted with this:

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 2952.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 2952.110(a) provides

“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”

to which she responded with this:

"Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

Then, confronted with the evidence of her excessive expenditures on clothing and accessories to the tune of 150,000 which broke down like this:

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August."

she responds with this:

"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention.

She's also been telling some whoppers about Obama. True, they come mostly from her Republican handlers. But she says them with such relish that you know she's speaking from her heart.

There's the one about Obama being a Marxist (which was convincing enough that a dim-witted local TV reporter fed it back to Biden who was so astonished that he could only say: "Are you kidding?"). And, of course, the one she's been repeating over and over and over again: "He's paling around with terrorists!" (notice the plural). Even McCain found that whopper to be over the top. "Well, you know. Sometimes things get exaggerated in a campaign."

Politicians, we're told, do this kind of thing. They lie. But this is the big leagues; humongous, hit em out of the ballpark lies; all told with such a straight face that some commentators have wondered if she isn't pathological.

The richest part of all this is to hear lying Sarah Palin say that Obama can't be trusted. Not her. Obama. He can't be trusted.

Which for some reason brings to mind that old lawyer joke:



How do you know when Sarah Palin is lying?

Her lips are moving.

Spreading the Wealth??

They're at it again. One more item to add to the growing list of distortions and half truths and, yes, LIES.

Earlier Palin accused Obama of "paling around with terrorists." Not "terrorist", but "terrorists." And not a "terrorist" that is on any list of "terrorists", but a "washed up old '60s radical" who is now a noted educationalist. Not exactly a lie, but about as close  as you can get.

Then came the troopergate report with it's  undeniable condemnation of Palin's abuse of office. Her response? To deny it. "I'm so glad I was vindicated," she said.   This was a bald faced lie. But she says it with such a lack of guile that the press lets it slide on by.

Now, she and McCain are on the trail claiming that Obama is a socialist who wants to "spread the wealth." They base this on the Fox News expose of Obama speaking to "Joe the Plumber" (who isn't - another lie).

Well, now it turns out that Obama wasn't suggesting this at all. The clip that Fox News used was a carefully edited attempt to smear Obama (surprise, surprise). And the McCain/Palin team carried the Fox football.

"He wants to spread the wealth!" they say. "He's a socialist. No, he's a Communist!" And the red meat crowd eats it up.

But here's what he actually said. Socialism? Not even close . .

From The New York Times:

“My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s going to be good for everybody,” Mr. Obama said, according to the transcript, adding that plumbers are better off when there are more customers who can afford to hire them. “And right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody, and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” Mr. Obama said.

Full Article Here

The Latest Palin YouTube Videos

And now for your entertainment and edification here are the latest Palin videos available on YouTube.com

See What Sarah Hath Wrought:





Continued Questions on Palin's Ties to Seditious Alaska Independence Party



She Lies

Press Discovers the Truth about Palin: She's a Delusional Liar

What our friends in Alaska have been saying all along about Sarah Palin is finally coming out into the open. She is a vindictive, self-aggrandizing, self-serving politician who will do anything and everything to get what she wants including lying through her teeth.

The lying part is now so clear that even the otherwise reticent mainstream press is taking note of it. Jake Tapper of ABC news makes no bones about it: Palin Makes Troopergate Assertions that are flatly false is the title of a blog post he writes about her astonishing conversation with the Alaskan press (see previous blog). Among other things he writes:

"Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing," Palin said, "any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

That's just not the case.

One can make the argument, as Palin and her allies have tried to do, that this investigation -- launched by a bipartisan Republican-controlled legislative body -- was somehow a partisan Democratic witch hunt, but one cannot honestly make the argument that the report concluded that Palin was "cleared of any legal wrongdoing" or "any hint of unethical activity."

Andrew Sullivan, writing for the online Atlantic, is even more scathing about this particular trait of Palin's. He wonders if there isn't something pathological about her, the way psychologically disturbed people are unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Her lies, he says, are not just ordinary lies, they are odd lies.

[T]his is the clear pattern with Palin: she publicly denies reality, insists on repeating that denial and is unable to deal with real world the way psychologically healthy people do. That's why I called her lies "odd lies." They are not the lies of a devious politician. They are much more troubling than that. They reflect a psyche unable to process fact when it conflicts with a delusional self-image. She is even worse in this psychotic denialism than Bush. She is a politician who can only survive in a propaganda state.

And it just gets interestingner and interestinger . . . . .

Sarah Palin, Master of Doublespeak

Our favorite Alaskan blogger, AKMuckraker, has just put up a post with the deliciously surreal transcript of a phone interview Palin did with Alaskan reporters giving her take on the Troopergate scandal. Here is political doublespeak at its best - the same kind of dissembling nonsense she tried to pass off in the Katie Couric interview which did more to advance Tina Fey's career than her own.

Be sure to read the whole post as AK's comments put it all in the right perspective.

What was it that John McCain said about nailing jello to the wall? Perhaps he had his running mate in mind. I mean, this is one slick politician, so slick that leeches would have trouble sticking to her.

THE INTERVIEW

Excerpted from Through the Looking Glass with Sarah Palin by AKMudraker.


Palin: Hey, thank you so, Meg. Thank you so much. Thank you also to our local reporters up there in Alaska. Even hearing your names make me feel like I’m right there with you at home. It’s good to get to speak with you. Let me talk a little bit about the Tasergate issue if you guys would let me and, Meg, you want me to just jump right on in there?

Stapleton: Sure governor, go ahead.

Palin: OK cool. Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that. Todd did what anyone would have done given this state trooper’s very, very troubling behavior and his dangerous threats against our family. Todd did what I think any Alaskan would do.

And he, Todd did what the state’s Department of Law Web site tells anyone to do if they have a concern about a state trooper. And that’s you go to the commissioner and you express your concern. And Todd did what our personal detail asked him to do. Bob Cockrell early on as I was elected and was asked are there any threats against ya, and Todd brought the concern as I did to Commissioner Monegan about the state trooper’s threats. He did what any – I think — any rational person would do so again, nothing to apologize there with Todd’s actions and again very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing.

(Stapleton invites the first question).

ADN: Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case?

Palin: Not at all and I’ll tell you, it, I think that you’re always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving. In this case I knew that I had to have the right people in the right position at the right time in this cabinet to best serve Alaskans, and Walt Monegan was not the right person at the right time to meet the goals that we had set out in our administration. So no, not having done anything wrong, and again very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all.

ADN: Have you read the whole report? (No response; Stapleton invites question from KTVA reporter).

KTVA-Channel 11: … The report that came out yesterday, do you think that the end result is partisan?

Palin: Yeah, I did think it did turn into a partisan circus to tell you the truth. Yes I did. You know from Day One it’s been the Personnel Board that clearly laid out in state statute there — Personnel Board deals with any issue of question regarding a governor, a lieutenant governor or an attorney general in the state of Alaska. What this legislative investigation — quote unquote — turned into was a political circus.
.
KTUU-Channel 2: Governor, so good to hear from you. Do you approve of the way that your campaign has handled themselves here in Alaska? We’ve had a lot of people voice concerns about what they call attacks of good people in our state while you are away.

Palin: Well I haven’t heard of any attacks on good people in Alaska from our campaign. If you have specifics there, maybe I could answer specifically. But no, in John McCain’s mission here, in taking the high road, as you’re going to see too with a lot of unfair shots he has taken in this campaign with some of his opponents’ supporters, McCain and I taking the high road, being positive. I wouldn’t support nor would I condone taking shots at any good Alaskans.

KTUU-Channel 2: Let me answer your question since you asked for specifics.

Palin: Sure.

KTUU-Channel 2: Walt Monegan was called “rogue.” How do you feel about that?

Palin: Rogue isn’t a negative term when you consider that in a cabinet you need a team effort going forward with a governor’s agenda. And our agenda has been to find efficiencies in every department and make sure that we are serving the people of Alaska to the best of our ability given the resources that we have. And remember I fought very hard to increase funding for state troopers so that we could fill positions there and goals not being met that included not being able to recruit and retain all the state troopers that I wanted to best serve Alaska. That could be characterized I think as a cabinet member who – it’s not a negative term I think — being rogue in terms of not meeting those goals.



FULL POST HERE

Sarah Palin: But I didn't break any laws (wink, wink)

Here's a headline from the New York Daily News:

Sarah Palin: Troopergate Probe Findings Show I didn't Break Any Law

This is Sarah Palin's defense in the face of the damning evidence of her abuse of office. "But I didn't break the law!"

What's disturbing about this is that she actually believes this exonerates her. Which only underscores a point many have made about her. She really is George Bush in a skirt. And not only because of the way she tortures the English language.

Here's the point: the Bush administration has made a fine art of skirting the edges of legality. Wire tapping? We didn't break the law. Torture? Where does it say we can't do that? Getting rid of lawyers we don't like? Can't convict us of anything here.

That, essentially, is Sarah Palin's defense. Can't convict me, so it must be OK. Never mind evidence of the abuse of power. In Palin's eyes its OK as long as she didn't "break the law."

It's George Bush in a skirt.

When Barak Obama says that John McCain means Bush redoux what he usually has in mind is the way McCain has walked in near lock step with the Bush agenda over the past eight years. We can now add another element to this. To elect a McCain/Palin ticket is to have a Bush clone a heart beat away from the presidency.

God help us if that happens.

McCain/Palin: Guilty as Charged

With the revelation of Palin's guilt in the Troopergate scandal we now know the difference between the McCain/Palin team and the Obama/Biden team.

It's guilt by association versus just plan guilt.
----------


The McCain/Palin team have done their best to smear Obama using the classic Republican tactic of "guilt by association." Obama, they say, is ill suited to be president because of the company he has kept in the past. It's what others have done rather than what he has done that convicts him, even though the ties they cite are inconsequential.

With the Republicans, on the other hand, its simply guilt.


McCain's abuse of office through unwise dealings with Savings and Loan shark, Charles Keating: Guilty.







Palin's abuse of office for a personal vendetta: Guilty.







Big difference between the two.

Sarah Barracuda: A Pattern of Guilt

Those who have followed the career of Sarah Palin in Alaska, particularly Alaskans themselves, were not at all surprised by the findings of the investigative committee determining Palin's guilt. She has been engaging in this same kind of vindictive behavior ever since she got into the mayor's office in Wasila.

Here it's good to recall the letter written by a fellow Waslilian who has watched Sarah Palin's career unfold from the beginning. Not only her career, but her life. It hasn't been a pretty sight.

Below are excerpts from a letter by Anne Kilkenny which should have indicated to the McCain staff to proceed with caution with Palin. Or were they looking for someone with a record of petty-minded vindictiveness? If so they found the right person.

The main question here is why would anyone consider this woman suitable for national office.

What were you thinking, John McCain?
----------------

From a letter by Wasila, Alaska, resident, Anne Kilkenny:

• While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed.

• Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited.

• At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal

• As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press.

• She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

• Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness.

Full text on thepresidentialcandidates.us

The Report

Once again our favorite blogger in the frozen north, AKmuckraker, has come through for us. Make sure you visit her blog to get the most detailed report of the Troopergate investigation. Here's the actual wording of the investigative report:

No doubt about it. Palin is guilty as charged:

From Mudflats:

Findings:

Finding Number One:

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides

“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”

Finding Number Two:

I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.

Finding Number Three:

Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim properly and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled.

Finding Number Four:

The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of emails.

------------------

And if you've got stomach for legal reports (and a whole lot of time) here's the full report:

Branchflower Report on Sarah Palin Abuse of Power (pdf file)

GUILTY!

Here's the headlines from the Anchorage Daily News:

TROOPERGATE REPORT: PALIN ABUSED POWER

Here's my guess: the McCain team will immediately claim that this is pure politics and appeal it to a date long after the election. They will then use it to get their already rowdy crowd even more riled up. "Look how they persecute us!" they will say.

Then the pitchforks and torches will come out as they storm the gates of Obama's house. Since he only lives three blocks down the road from me I'll make sure I take lots of pictures :)

So the crap has hit the fan . . . . Stay tuned.

From the Anchorage Daily News:

Troopergate report: Palin abused power

By DON HUNTER

Published: October 10th, 2008 04:45 PM
Last Modified: October 10th, 2008 04:52 PM

A legislative investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister.

The report by investigator Steve Branchflower was made public late this afternoon by a 12-0 vote of the Legislative Council, which authorized the investigation.

Branchflower's report contains four findings. The first concludes that Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act, which says that "each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust."

Branchflower was investigating whether Palin abused her power by pushing for the firing of state trooper Mike Wooten, who was involved in a nasty divorce from Palin's sister. Palin and her husband, Todd, have accused Wooten of threatening Palin's father.

FULL ARTICLE

For the video that shows the twists and Turns of Palin's Attempts to Evade Justice click on the Sarah Palin picture.

Sarah Palin: Updates

I started this blog as a way of ferreting out information about an unknown candidate for vice president whose qualifications for office were questionable at best. Now that we're only a few weeks from the election it may be good to review what we know so far.

Who is Sarah Palin?

• It's now clear that despite her perky demeanor and ability to read cue cards like a pro, Sarah Palin is, as some have labeled her, George Bush in a skirt. Her curiosity about and knowledge of world affairs is dismal.

Comedians love her. But after eight years of putting up with bad (and good!) George Bush jokes its time we moved on to something more serious. Paula Poundstone's response to the question, "What will comedians do when Bush is gone?" on an NPR, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me segment is most apropos here:

"We'll get over it!"

• As those who were familiar with her modus operatum in Alaska warned, she is mean spirited and vindictive. The red meat Republican crowd loves it. So do the racists and bigots who are now coming out in droves to her rallies. From shaking their fists and booing at the mention of Obama's name to racial epitats hurled at African American cameramen to screaming: "terrorist!" and "kill him!" she's bringing out the best in people.
  Which makes her ever-present beauty queen smile seem more sinister than sincere.
• Despite the best efforts of the McCain team to erase her past, the scandals from Palin's time as mayor and governor won't go away.

These include (among other things): 1) troopergate 2) attempts to fire a small town librarian for not agreeing to ban books 3) a mis-use of state per diem funds 4) the worst kind of cronyism in the hiring of under qualified friends for political purposes.

In all this it may be good to recall what AKMuckraker wrote about Palin back in 2006 when she was running for governor. She wasn't qualified then. She isn't qualified now.

FACTS ABOUT SARAH PALIN
from http://mudflats.wordpress.com

Palin Says She’s a Change from The Scandal-Plaued Republicans, But She’s More of

the Same.

Palin built her reputation on criticizing state Republicans for ethics questions, but Palin has
questions of her own, as she used city resources when she campaigned for Lt. Governor; Palin chaired the campaign of another candidate in a race dominated by resource issues when she was on the oil and gas commission and said that she saw no conflict of interest. For years, Palin supported Murkowski, campaigning for him across the state, and he supported her campaigns as well.

Palin Touts Fiscal Conservatism, But She Increased Spending Tremendously and supported Tax Increases

FULL DOCUMENT

Countdown: Smoking Gun Found in Troopergate!

More Day till the Palin-Biden Debate!



Mudflats: Smoking Gun Found in Troopergate Investigation

Hold onto your britches, boys and girls, the crap is about to hit the fan. According to AKMuckraker, whose site went down yesterday*, a witness has come forth with what appears to be proof that the Palins did, in fact, act improperly in the Troopergate affair. It's serious enough that AKMuckraker predicts it will put an end to Palin's political career.

* - The site is still down, but the old Mudflats site is still up: www.mudflats.wordpress.com. The article is found there

From Mudflats:

I've been waiting for this one. One of the witnesses called by Stephen Branchflower (independent investigator of the legitimate Troopergate investigation) put herself in a tricky spot.

Murlene Wilkes, owner of Harbor Adjusting Services, and holder of a $1.2 million/yr. contract with the State of Alaska to handle workers compensation claims, apparently told a big fat fib. When Branchflower asked her if the governor's office had ever asked her to deny a workers compensation claim for Palin's ex-brother-in-law Trooper Mike Wooten (the trooper in "Troopergate"), she said no. Never. Really.

Mike Wooten, of course, is involved in a bitter custody dispute with Palin's sister Molly. The Palins do not like him. Some say they have made a vengeful and personal sport out of ruining his career.

Problem is, that there are actually honest people in the world....and one of them works for Murlene Wilkes at Harbor Investments. This unnamed worker made a little phone call to the tip line that Branchflower set up at the beginning of the investigation. According to the tipster, yes indeed, the governor's office DID put pressure to deny the claim.

Hard evidence contradicting sworn testimony has a certain effect on people. Murlene Wilkes, faced with this situation, decided to change her testimony according to a report in The Public Record <http://www.pubrecord.org/>. Now, with the little extra incentive of avoiding perjury charges, she has admitted that she *was* asked to deny the claim - *at the direct request of Sarah and Todd Palin.*

*chin hitting desk* (a moment of stunned silence)

Full Article

The Latest from Alaskan News Sources

Given how little we continental 48 staters know about the unique perspective of the most surreal state in America (that would be Alaska), it's important that we take the time to read what Alaskans themselves are saying about the phenomenon which is Sarah Palin. Here are a few recent pieces from Alaskan news sources:


From the Juneau Empire:

Lawmakers: Politics 'hijacked' Alaska



From the Anchorage Daily News:

Pale Shade of Green (Palin's poor record on environmental issues)

Abdictation by Palin: When Did McCain Take Over the Governor's Office?

Palin: Fiscal Conservative?




Partisan Diversion (op-ed on Palin's stonewalling)

New Doubts Raised About Palin's Claims

From abc.com:

EXCLUSIVE
from ABC News

An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into "Troopergate."

READ THE FULL STORY HERE