Palin violated state ethics laws and abused her power

[tony hipchest]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081011/...oc5sg2mCRh24cA

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The politically charged investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is over, and its conclusions are stinging. But the fallout, if any, might not come until Election Day.

A legislative investigator found that Palin violated state ethics laws and abused her power by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.

The next move may be at the ballot box. The legislative committee that released the report Friday recommends no criminal investigation and has no authority to sanction the governor, the Republican vice presidential nominee.

"It is out of the Legislative Council's hands. It goes to anyone's hands who got a copy or clicks the link on the Web," said Democratic state Sen. Kim Elton, the chairman of the committee that released the report. "I can't tell you how the process ends."

If voters believe the report's finding and it tarnishes Palin's reputation as a reformer and a champion for good government, that could hurt Republican presidential nominee John McCain in the final weeks of the race.

...

The report notes a few instances in which Palin pressed the case against trooper Mike Wooten, but it was her husband, Todd, who led the charge. Todd Palin had extraordinary access to the governor's office and her closest advisers and he used that access to try to get Wooten fired.

Gov. Palin knowingly "permitted Todd to use the Governor's office and the resources of the Governor's office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired," Branchflower's report reads.

this is a gem. while todd and palins kids are cruising around in the state jet, he's trying to get a police officer busted for dropping his kids off at school in the patrol car.

For Palin, some pork is kosher

http://www.politico.com/news/stories...471_Page2.html

Last year, when a Juneau Pentecostal church asked the Alaska state government for cash for a new youth center, Gov. Sarah Palin, who had recently started worshipping at the church, vetoed the legislative appropriation from the capital budget, explaining it was “not a state responsibility.”

But by the time this year’s budget negotiations rolled around, Palin had become very involved in the Juneau Christian Center, attending an increasing number of services there, touring the youth center with her family, citing the pastor as among her spiritual guides, and appearing with the pastor at a Martin Luther King Day celebration and a religious conference where he laid hands on her while praying.

During this year’s capital budget writing process, Palin penned a letter to lawmakers “in support of the Juneau Christian Center’s new state-of-the-art youth center,” and she approved $25,000 for the center in May, even as she sparked a backlash from officials around the state for slashing spending from projects they deemed crucial to their areas.

Her reversal on the church funding is one small example of what both her critics and supporters in both parties in Alaska say is a trend in Palin’s political track record: She supports spending taxpayer cash on initiatives that tickle her fancy, even as she rails against funding for other — sometimes similar — projects and does little to slow overall government spending.

It’s a pattern that runs counter to the cost-cutting, anti-pork crusader persona that Palin has fashioned for herself from the dawn of her political career in the hometown municipal politics of Wasilla, Alaska, through her 22 months as Alaska’s governor, and now in her surprise turn as John McCain’s running mate on the Republican presidential ticket.

On the campaign trail, Palin’s denouncements of wasteful government expenditures — and her boasts of vetoing “nearly a half a billion dollars in reckless spending” from Alaska’s capital budget — dovetail with McCain’s own pledges to veto pork barrel spending.

But Palin over the years has approved billions of taxpayer dollars for discretionary projects, including some to which she had personal, political or parochial connections.

....

On the campaign trail, Palin joined McCain in denouncing the bridge as epitomizing government waste. But Weinstein points out that Palin has not withdrawn her support for the Knik Arm Crossing, which has also been lampooned as a "bridge to nowhere,” but which would cut commute times for Palin’s neighbors in Wasilla and the surrounding Matanuska-Susitna — or Mat-Su — Valley.

...

She also managed to find at least $10,000 to help fund the snowmobile race her husband has won several times.
...

But during her tenures as both mayor and governor, operating budgets ballooned by 55 percent in Wasilla and 25 percent in Alaska.

It was easier — and splashier — for Palin to slash the capital budget than to rein in the operating budget, said state Sen. Bert Stedman, a Republican who co-chairs the Senate Finance Committee.

...

In 2007, Palin slashed funding from the capital budget for 40 sports-related projects, ranging from school baseball and soccer fields to $2.5 million in roof repairs at an Anchorage arena, because she asserted sports did not constitute an essential government service. Yet she approved cash for Wasilla’s hockey complex and several other sports projects in the Mat-Su Valley, including new lights at one high school field and new bleachers at another.


"She’s certainly in a position to favor those projects that she likes and that satisfy her personal interests,” said Botelho. “Every executive has that prerogative.”

lots of gems in this article. helps explain why she looks the other way while her state forces rape victims even though it is critical evidence the police and local govt. use to build a case. kinda disturbing being that alaska doubles the national average of rape victims.

also makes me wonder why earmarking some of this budget surpluss to clean up the toxic waste dump in her own back yard isnt more important, being that alaska has 2x the national average of children born with birth defects. i would think this one would especially be important to her.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.ht...3776ba5b10&p=1

Unfortunately, as governor of a state with a birth-defect rate that's twice the national average, and which has the gloomy status as repository of toxic chemicals from around the world, Palin has pursued environmental policies that seem perfectly crafted to swell the ranks of special-needs kids. It's true that Alaska's top leaders have placed industry wishes over environmental protection for years. But, instead of correcting this problem, she's compounded it. Peer into her environmental record, and Palin ends up looking a lot like George W. Bush.

so while shes out smearing obama, i think its important to ask who is the real sarah palin and why did mccain touch her with a 10 foot pole? she is the iceberg that will sink his ship. i still doubt her background was more than skimmed in the vetting process. shame on the campaign. mccain deserved better than this.

[T&B fan]

the 2 partys are bad that is the reson you shoud vote for Ralfe Nadder

[Mosca]

Wait, wait... let me continue this so that the others guys don't have to...


BUT OBAMA.... (fill in whatever deflecting crap you want to here).

[GBMelBlount]

There are clear differences between these candidates. It doesn't say too much about someone whose vote would be decided because of something this minor when there is so much at stake this election.

[cubanstogie]

this pales in comparison to hanging out with a known terrorist and racist. I wonder if Obama would pardon Ayers if he pulls this crap again. Pretty scary thought there.

[Preacher]

Originally Posted by Mosca

Wait, wait... let me continue this so that the others guys don't have to...


BUT OBAMA.... (fill in whatever deflecting crap you want to here).

Democrats find a republican in violation, but no criminal act... which means, no real violation.

Oh yeah... did anyone hear about the officer's threats of death and violence toward the family? Kinda funny how that was missing in the newscasts around here.

I think that is reason for a trooper to lose his job, regardless of what a democrat led state investigation in a political year says.

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by GBMelBlount

There are clear differences between these candidates. It doesn't say too much about someone whose vote would be decided because of something this minor when there is so much at stake this election.

EXACTLY! which makes this even that much more confounding. why would the mccain camp spend the whole last week focussing on obamas meaningless association with ayers when there is so much at stake?

dont you see the hypocricy here? palins husband is a known secessionist and anti govt. and america, and it comes to light that even he has abused her position and tried to use it for personal gain.

all you righties who were weary of hilary clinton's alleged pull while she was should easilly understand why someone might be skeptical about "first dude" todd.

this article gives a nice little history and backdrop of sarah and her rise to the local politics. i know everytime a local article is posted about her that is written by an insider, all those call it sour grapes and evidence of a vendetta against her. this paints a much clearer picture, she seems to be the one with a vendetta.

sarah seems to be the one with an inferiority complex and seems to have a problem with anyone more educated than her, richer, or with a higher social standing. some might call it a napoleon complex, some may call it penis envy....

anyways this exerpt may show where first dude (and sarah?) became introduced to his anti US govt. movement.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.ht...63f085cf13&p=2

By 1996, a cultural shift in Alaska had emboldened Palin to take on Carney and Stein and enforce her own sense of right. Since it came online in the 1970s, Alaska's oil pipeline had attracted legions of Sunbelters--oil men from Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. They were largely right-wing evangelicals who preferred Wasilla--where land was cheap, zoning was minimal, and taxes were low--to the more uppity environs of Anchorage. Their presence led to a proliferation of conservative churches and anti-government attitudes. By 1994, the same Republican tide that swept the Democrats from Congress had reached the Mat-Su Valley as the conservative hordes came of age.

In 1996, Palin was also asserting herself more and more. For example, she'd demand to know why Stein, the mayor, had "raised the budget." Stein and Carney tried to explain that he'd done nothing of the kind--that, when a city grows, businesses collect more in tax revenue, but that new residents also increase demand for public services. Palin wasn't appeased. She'd say things like, "'Oh, okay. Well, that's the way you think about it,'" Stein recalls. "I was thinking--these are things she should know better. Why is she asking me these stupid questions?"

[Preacher]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

EXACTLY! which makes this even that much more confounding. why would the mccain camp spend the whole last week focussing on obamas meaningless association when there is so much at stake?

dont you see the hypocricy here? palins husband is a known secessionist and anti govt. and america, and it comes to light that even he has abused her position and tried to use it for personal gain.

all you righties who were weary of hilary clinton's alleged pull while she was should easilly understand why someone might be skeptical about "first dude" todd.

this article gives a nice little history and backdrop of sarah and her rise to the local politics. i know everytime a local article is posted about her that is written by an insider, all those call it sour grapes and evidence of a vendetta against her. this paints a much clearer picture.

sarah seems to be the one with an inferiority complex and seems to have a problem with anyone more educated than her, richer, or with a higher social standing. some might call it a napoleon complex, some may call it penis envy....

anyways this exerpt may show where first dude became introduced to his anti gove movement.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.ht...63f085cf13&p=2

Because Obama not understanding that giving terrorists.. even domestic terrorists legitmacy is crucial to how he will govern, especially when he chooses to meet with heads of state with "no precondition" which IS what he said.

You can choose to belittle that all you want... but in doing so, it just strengthens the argument that democrats have NO CLUE when it comes to keeping a nation physically safe.

[43Hitman]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

EXACTLY! which makes this even that much more confounding. why would the mccain camp spend the whole last week focussing on obamas meaningless association with ayers when there is so much at stake?

dont you see the hypocricy here? palins husband is a known secessionist and anti govt. and america, and it comes to light that even he has abused her position and tried to use it for personal gain.

all you righties who were weary of hilary clinton's alleged pull while she was should easilly understand why someone might be skeptical about "first dude" todd.

this article gives a nice little history and backdrop of sarah and her rise to the local politics. i know everytime a local article is posted about her that is written by an insider, all those call it sour grapes and evidence of a vendetta against her. this paints a much clearer picture.

sarah seems to be the one with an inferiority complex and seems to have a problem with anyone more educated than her, richer, or with a higher social standing. some might call it a napoleon complex, some may call it penis envy....

anyways this exerpt may show where first dude became introduced to his anti gove movement.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.ht...63f085cf13&p=2

Meaningless association my ass Tony! Pot meet Kettle..

[GBMelBlount]

tony hipchest

EXACTLY! which makes this even that much more confounding. why would the mccain camp spend the whole last week focussing on obamas meaningless association when there is so much at stake?

dont you see the hypocricy here?

I realize the associations appear meaningless to you but not to many including myself. Unfortunately, because so many people are spoon fed by the left wing media, everything that happens appears to be the fault of greedy capitalists and many of the ignorant, uneducated spoon fed masses buy the solution called big government. So, unfortunately, perhaps that may be McCain's only legitimate shot.