Monday, September 15, 2008

Governor's two e-mail accounts questioned

Governor's two e-mail accounts questioned
BLACKBERRY: Is state business on private account really transparent?
By LISA DEMER - Anchorage Daily News
September 15th, 2008

Moments after Gov. Sarah Palin's first speech as Republican John McCain's running mate, she sat with her kids backstage, thumbing one of the two BlackBerrys that are always with her. You can see them in photographs from that day on the campaign blog of one of McCain's daughters.

The tech-savvy governor has one of the devices (which allow users to read and send e-mails) for state business, another for personal matters, but those worlds intertwine.

Palin routinely uses a private Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business. Others in the governor's office sometimes use personal e-mail accounts too.

The practice raises questions about backdoor secrecy in an administration that vowed during the 2006 campaign to be "open and transparent."

Even before the McCain campaign plucked Palin from Alaska, a controversy was brewing over e-mails in the governor's office. Was the administration trying to get around the public records law through broad exemptions or private e-mail accounts?

Activists, still fighting to obtain hundreds of e-mails that were withheld from public records requests earlier this year, say that's what it looks like.

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Governor's two e-mail accounts questioned

Radio host Burke suspended for a week

Radio host Burke suspended for a week
By JULIA O'MALLEY | Anchorage Daily News
September 15th, 2008

Anchorage AM radio host Eddie Burke was been suspended after broadcasting the phone numbers of women involved in organizing a protest rally against Sarah Palin over the weekend, his station manager said today.

In a statement, KBYR-AM 700 station manager Justin McDonald said broadcasting the numbers last week was "breaking station policy." Burke will be suspended for one week without pay, he said.

"Though I do not agree with some of the comments he made, as a licensee, we attempt to respect everyone's First Amendment rights, including Eddie Burke's, our listeners' and our nonlisteners'," McDonald's statement said. "That does not mean I condone inciting violence or harm in any way to people wanting to voice their opinions with peaceful protest."

Last week Burke, host of a conservative daily talk show, called rally organizers Charla Sterne and Ilona Bessenyey "socialist, baby-killing maggots," read their phone numbers on the air and encouraged listeners to call them. The women said their voice-mail quickly filled with angry, profane messages, some of them threatening.

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Radio host Burke suspended for a week

Monegan on Troopergate: Sarah Palin is not telling the truth

Palin won't meet with 'Troopergate' investigator

Palin won't meet with 'Troopergate' investigator
Campaign says governor won't cooperate because investigation is 'tainted'
Jack Dempsey / AP - Sept. 15, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A campaign spokesman says Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin won't speak with an investigator hired by lawmakers to look into the firing of her public safety commissioner.

McCain campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan told a news conference Monday that the governor, the Republican nominee for vice president, will not cooperate as long as the investigation "remains tainted." He said he doesn't know whether Palin's husband would challenge a subpoena issued to compel his cooperation.

The campaign insists the investigation has been hijacked by Democrats. It says it can prove Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was fired because of insubordination on budget issues -- not because he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin's sister.

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Palin won't meet with 'Troopergate' investigator

Signs that 'Palin effect' is wearing thin

Signs that 'Palin effect' is wearing thin
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Monday, 15 September 2008

There are growing signs that the "Sarah Palin effect" is starting to wear off and that the Republican candidate John McCain has already peaked.

Democrats took heart from four national opinion polls which show that despite the phenomenal bounce caused by interest in Alaska's Governor Palin, Mr McCain now leads by an average of just 0.25 points, his smallest margin since the convention.

The latest polls come amid a flurry of critical news reports into Mrs Palin which reveal a large credibility about some of her claims to be a squeaky clean reformist. Senator McCain’s claims that his running mate had not sought special interest funding from Congress have been shown to be completely wrong.

It emerged yesterday that she asked US to fund $453 million worth of projects in oil rich Alaska for the past two years. Among the requests was $4.5 million for an airport serving less than 100 people on a Bering sea island and $9 million to help Alaska’s already hugely profitable oil companies.

Democrats quickly mocked the governor as "an earmark queen". The disclosures come on top of evidence that her administration also held onto more than $500 million in US federal funds for a much derided "bridge to nowhere" which she maintains she vetoed.

For two weeks the McCain campaign has wallowed in the media’s obsession with Governor Palin. A huge bounce in the opinion polls followed, with women especially declaring that they were changing their allegiance because they admired her so much.

But that appears to be changing as the focus of the election turns to the economy and especially the northern states. In Iowa new Des Moines register poll has Barack Obama with a comfortable lead of 12 points. He is also ahead in New Jersey, although it is not a battleground state.

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Signs that 'Palin effect' is wearing thin

Sarah Palin Left Wasilla $20 Million In Debt

‘Hard-Core Fiscal Conservative’ Sarah Palin Left Wasilla $20 Million In Debt
ThinkProgress.com

The campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is presenting his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), as a reformer, fiscal conservative, and “tough minded budget cutter.” Other conservatives have latched onto this image - Phyllis Schlafly calls Palin “the total package” with “fiscal conservative credentials.”

Palin embraces the title, labeling herself a “hard-core fiscal conservative,” whose “agenda was to stop wasteful spending.

However, as mayor of Wasilla, AK, Palin “was not always the fiscal watchdog she has since boasted of being.”

During her term in office, Palin cut property taxes and other small taxes on business. But as the Anchorage Daily News points out, “She wasn’t doing this by shrinking government.” During her tenure, the budget of Wasilla (population 5,469 in 2000) “apart from capital projects and debt, rose from $3.9 million in fiscal 1996 to $5.8 million.”

Palin also successfully pushed through a sales tax increase in Wasilla, which went to fund a $15 million sports complex. However, a land dispute over the sight of the complex led to “years of legal wrangling” and cost Wasilla almost $1.7 million, “a lot more than the roughly $125,000 the city would have paid in 1998 if it had closed a deal to buy the property outright.” Wasilla is still facing budget shortfalls from the case today.

When Palin left office in 2002, Wasilla had “racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt,” or roughly $3,000 of debt per resident.

But Palin’s approach actually brings her in line with McCain, whose own “massive tax cuts” “would recklessly exacerbate the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush Administration” and cause the largest deficit in 25 years.

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‘Hard-Core Fiscal Conservative’ Sarah Palin Left Wasilla $20 Million In Debt

The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin II: The Bridge To Nowhere

The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin II: The Bridge To Nowhere
Andrew Sullivan - The Atlantic
Sept 15, 2008

In her speeches, Sarah Palin routinely and repeatedly uses the phrase: "I told the Congress 'thanks, but no thanks,' for that Bridge to Nowhere." In the McCain-Palin ads, the claim is that she "stopped the Bridge to Nowhere."

These are, again, demonstrable lies. Again I will cite Wikipedia, since it's the fairest summary of the facts of the case, and includes all the links for you to see for yourself:

In 2006, Palin ran for governor on a "build-the-bridge" platform,[101] attacking "spinmeisters"[102] for insulting local residents by calling them "nowhere"[101] and urging speed "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[103] About two years after the introduction of the bridge proposals, a month after the bridge received sharp criticism from John McCain,[104] and nine months into Palin's term as governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Bridge, blaming Congress for not providing enough funding.[105] Alaska will not return any of the $442 million to the federal government[106] and is spending a portion of the funding, $25 million, on a Gravina Island road to the place where the bridge would have gone, expressly so that none of the money will have to be returned.[101] Palin continues to support funding Don Young's Way, estimated as more than twice as expensive as the Gravina Bridge would have been.[107]

Your call.

Read the whole story here:
The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin II: The Bridge To Nowhere

Count the McCain Lies

Count the McCain Lies
From McCainPedia

John McCain may be trying to sell himself as a "maverick" and a "straight talker" who will tell the truth no matter the consequences, but independent, non-partisan watchdog groups aren't buying it. But, since he wrapped up his party's nomination, John McCain has offered more of the same false attacks and smears. To date, independent, nonpartisan fact checkers have published more than 50 fact checks debunking John McCain's lies and distortions.

To hold John McCain accountable to his own standard, the Democratic National Committee will count and chronicle the lies here on the McCainPedia's "Count the Lies" page.

Find all the lies at:
Count the McCain Lies

Obama Tax Cut: ObamaTaxCut.com

Barack Obama will cut taxes for over 95% of American families. (even though more than half of American think he'll raise their taxes)

Please E-mail your friends and family about ObamaTaxCut.com so that they can learn about what Obama's tax policies mean for them. All numbers are from the independent, non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Obviously, you'll note that filling out your taxes is a lot more complicated than just listing your income, filing status, and number of children -- these are estimates based upon the stated policies of the candidates and average deductions claimed by folks in similar economic conditions. Luckily, Obama promises to simplify the filing process. The number reported above is the estimated difference between income taxes paid under current law and the taxes under the Obama plan.

Find Out More at:
ObamaTaxCut.com

Joe Biden St Claire Shores, Michigan pt. 2

Joe Biden St Claire Shores, Michigan pt.1

Sarah Palin Rally in Golden, Colorado