Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show
By James V. Grimaldi and Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 26, 2008
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows.
The 41 gifts Palin accepted during her 20 months as governor include honorific tributes, expensive artwork and free travel for a family member. They also include more than $2,500 in personal items from Calista, a large Alaska native corporation with a variety of pending state regulatory and budgetary issues, and a gold-nugget pin valued at $1,200 from the city of Nome, which lobbies on municipal, local and capital budget matters, documents show. of moms that once was thrilled with her.
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Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show
Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Palin's husband refuses to testify in probe
Palin's husband refuses to testify in probe
By MATT VOLZ – Associated Press
September 18, 2008
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband has refused to testify in the investigation of his wife's alleged abuse of power, and key lawmakers said Thursday that uncooperative witnesses are effectively sidetracking the probe until after Election Day.
Todd Palin, who participates in state business in person or by e-mail, was among 13 people subpoenaed by the Alaska Legislature. Palin's lawyer sent a letter to the lead investigator saying Palin objected to the probe and would not appear to testify on Friday.
"The objections boil down to the fact that the Legislative Council investigation is no longer a legitimate investigation because it has been subjected to complete partisanship and does not operate with the authority that it had at the time of its initial authorization," McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan said.
Sarah Palin initially welcomed the bipartisan investigation into accusations that she dismissed the state's public safety commissioner because he refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper. "Hold me accountable," she said.
But she has increasingly opposed it since Republican presidential candidate John McCain tapped her as his running mate. The McCain campaign dispatched a legal team to Alaska including O'Callaghan, a former top U.S. terrorism prosecutor from New York to bolster Palin's local lawyer.
In the letter, Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein lists nine objections to the Legislature's investigation into Gov. Palin. Van Flein also argues the subpoena is "unduly burdensome" because Palin has travel plans that require him to be out of the state.
Earlier this week, Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said the governor, who was not subpoenaed, declined to participate in the investigation and said Palin administration employees who have been subpoenaed would not appear.
State Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat, said the McCain campaign is doing all it can to prevent the Legislature from completing a report on whether the GOP's vice presidential nominee abused her power as governor.
Read the rest of the story:
Palin's husband refuses to testify in probe
By MATT VOLZ – Associated Press
September 18, 2008
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband has refused to testify in the investigation of his wife's alleged abuse of power, and key lawmakers said Thursday that uncooperative witnesses are effectively sidetracking the probe until after Election Day.
Todd Palin, who participates in state business in person or by e-mail, was among 13 people subpoenaed by the Alaska Legislature. Palin's lawyer sent a letter to the lead investigator saying Palin objected to the probe and would not appear to testify on Friday.
"The objections boil down to the fact that the Legislative Council investigation is no longer a legitimate investigation because it has been subjected to complete partisanship and does not operate with the authority that it had at the time of its initial authorization," McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan said.
Sarah Palin initially welcomed the bipartisan investigation into accusations that she dismissed the state's public safety commissioner because he refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper. "Hold me accountable," she said.
But she has increasingly opposed it since Republican presidential candidate John McCain tapped her as his running mate. The McCain campaign dispatched a legal team to Alaska including O'Callaghan, a former top U.S. terrorism prosecutor from New York to bolster Palin's local lawyer.
In the letter, Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein lists nine objections to the Legislature's investigation into Gov. Palin. Van Flein also argues the subpoena is "unduly burdensome" because Palin has travel plans that require him to be out of the state.
Earlier this week, Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said the governor, who was not subpoenaed, declined to participate in the investigation and said Palin administration employees who have been subpoenaed would not appear.
State Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat, said the McCain campaign is doing all it can to prevent the Legislature from completing a report on whether the GOP's vice presidential nominee abused her power as governor.
Read the rest of the story:
Palin's husband refuses to testify in probe
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Alaska AG: Palin subpoenas won't be honored
Alaska AG: Palin subpoenas won't be honored
And five Alaska lawmakers file suit to end ‘Troopergate’ probe
Assoicated Press - September 16th, 2008
JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska's investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power, a potentially damaging distraction for John McCain's presidential campaign, ran into intensified resistance Tuesday when the attorney general said state employees would refuse to honor subpoenas in the case.
In a letter to state Sen. Hollis French, the Democrat overseeing the investigation, Republican Attorney General Talis Colberg asked that the subpoenas be withdrawn. He also said the employees would refuse to appear unless either the full state Senate or the entire Legislature votes to compel their testimony.
Colberg, who was appointed by Palin, said the employees are caught between their respect for the Legislature and their loyalty to the governor, who initially agreed to cooperate with the inquiry but has increasingly opposed it since McCain chose her as his running mate...
Read the rest of the story:
Alaska AG: Palin subpoenas won't be honored
And five Alaska lawmakers file suit to end ‘Troopergate’ probe
Assoicated Press - September 16th, 2008
JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska's investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power, a potentially damaging distraction for John McCain's presidential campaign, ran into intensified resistance Tuesday when the attorney general said state employees would refuse to honor subpoenas in the case.
In a letter to state Sen. Hollis French, the Democrat overseeing the investigation, Republican Attorney General Talis Colberg asked that the subpoenas be withdrawn. He also said the employees would refuse to appear unless either the full state Senate or the entire Legislature votes to compel their testimony.
Colberg, who was appointed by Palin, said the employees are caught between their respect for the Legislature and their loyalty to the governor, who initially agreed to cooperate with the inquiry but has increasingly opposed it since McCain chose her as his running mate...
Read the rest of the story:
Alaska AG: Palin subpoenas won't be honored
Saturday, September 13, 2008
NYTimes: In Office, Palin Hired Friends and Hit Critics (please read!)
(My note: This is a very telling and important article...please read it in its entirety.)
In Office, Palin Hired Friends and Hit Critics
By JO BECKER, PETER S. GOODMAN AND MICHAEL POWELL
Published: September 13, 2008
WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.
So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as one of her qualifications for running the roughly $2 million agency.
Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.
When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.
And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.
“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”
Read the rest of the story:
In Office, Palin Hired Friends and Hit Critics
In Office, Palin Hired Friends and Hit Critics
By JO BECKER, PETER S. GOODMAN AND MICHAEL POWELL
Published: September 13, 2008
WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.
So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as one of her qualifications for running the roughly $2 million agency.
Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.
When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.
And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.
“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”
Read the rest of the story:
In Office, Palin Hired Friends and Hit Critics
Friday, September 12, 2008
Gov Sarah Palin Biography Video
This video was put out on September 4, 2008. Boy, have we learned a lot in the past 8 days! The only thing that still rings true here is that she loves moose stew.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Palin Drops “Bridge to Nowhere” Reference in Speech
Palin Drops “Bridge to Nowhere” Reference in Speech
By Monica Davey NY Times Plotics Blog
September 11, 2008, 5:17 pm
In speech after speech to crowds in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia in recent days, Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, has made sure to mention the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, the Alaska project that has become the symbol of earmarks, and what she portrays as her “thanks but no thanks” position on it.
When she landed in Fairbanks in her home state on Wednesday night, though, the bridge was notably absent from an (otherwise mostly similar) speech she made inside an airplane hangar before her homestate crowd.
Ever since she first said it, two weeks ago, critics have questioned her claim that she “told Congress, ‘thanks but no thanks on that Bridge to Nowhere.’”
Her relationship with the bridge to the tiny Alaskan island of Gravina was actually more complicated. In 2006, she expressed support for the bridge project. Later, as support for the project was vanishing in Washington, she announced she was abandoning the project. (Alaska was still able to keep the federal money once intended for the bridge and direct it to other projects.)...
Read the rest of the story:
Palin Drops “Bridge to Nowhere” Reference in Speech
By Monica Davey NY Times Plotics Blog
September 11, 2008, 5:17 pm
In speech after speech to crowds in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia in recent days, Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, has made sure to mention the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, the Alaska project that has become the symbol of earmarks, and what she portrays as her “thanks but no thanks” position on it.
When she landed in Fairbanks in her home state on Wednesday night, though, the bridge was notably absent from an (otherwise mostly similar) speech she made inside an airplane hangar before her homestate crowd.
Ever since she first said it, two weeks ago, critics have questioned her claim that she “told Congress, ‘thanks but no thanks on that Bridge to Nowhere.’”
Her relationship with the bridge to the tiny Alaskan island of Gravina was actually more complicated. In 2006, she expressed support for the bridge project. Later, as support for the project was vanishing in Washington, she announced she was abandoning the project. (Alaska was still able to keep the federal money once intended for the bridge and direct it to other projects.)...
Read the rest of the story:
Palin Drops “Bridge to Nowhere” Reference in Speech
Palin Backstab? Commissioner Praised Then Fired
Palin Backstab? Commissioner Praised Then Fired
By BRIAN ROSS, JUSTIN ROOD, ANNA SCHECTER and MEGAN CHUCHMACH
September 11, 2008
Exclusive Video Shows Sarah Palin Praising Commissioner, Just Months Before She Fired Him
Advocates for women's issues in Alaska have come to the defense of the state's former public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, abruptly fired by Governor Sarah Palin in July.
An inquiry is under way as to whether Sarah Palin abused her power as governor.
Monegan spent Wednesday testifying before a legislative commission which is investigating allegations Palin abused her office in firing him. Monegan claims he was dismissed because he resisted pressure from the Governor and her office to fire the Governor's former brother-in-law.
Some women's advocates say Monegan was one of the few state officials to take seriously the "epidemic" problem of violence against women and children in Alaska.
"I don't believe Governor Palin has made this a priority," said Geran Tarr, chair of the Alaska Women's Lobby. "We have not seen anything that would indicate that this is a priority."
Read the rest of the story:
Palin Backstab? Commissioner Praised Then Fired
By BRIAN ROSS, JUSTIN ROOD, ANNA SCHECTER and MEGAN CHUCHMACH
September 11, 2008
Exclusive Video Shows Sarah Palin Praising Commissioner, Just Months Before She Fired Him
Advocates for women's issues in Alaska have come to the defense of the state's former public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, abruptly fired by Governor Sarah Palin in July.
An inquiry is under way as to whether Sarah Palin abused her power as governor.
Monegan spent Wednesday testifying before a legislative commission which is investigating allegations Palin abused her office in firing him. Monegan claims he was dismissed because he resisted pressure from the Governor and her office to fire the Governor's former brother-in-law.
Some women's advocates say Monegan was one of the few state officials to take seriously the "epidemic" problem of violence against women and children in Alaska.
"I don't believe Governor Palin has made this a priority," said Geran Tarr, chair of the Alaska Women's Lobby. "We have not seen anything that would indicate that this is a priority."
Read the rest of the story:
Palin Backstab? Commissioner Praised Then Fired
PALIN: Troopergate Back in the News
PALIN: TROOPERGATE BACK IN THE NEWS
Posted: Thursday, September 11, 2008
by Mark Murray
The Wall Street Journal: “An informal adviser who has counseled Gov. Sarah Palin on ethics issues urged her in July to apologize for her handling of the dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner and warned that the matter could snowball into a bigger scandal. He also said, in a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, that she should fire any aides who had raised concerns with the chief over a state trooper who was involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister.”
”In the letter, written before Sen. John McCain picked the Alaska governor as his running mate, former U.S. Attorney Wevley Shea warned Gov. Palin that ‘the situation is now grave’ and recommended that she and her husband, Todd Palin, apologize for ‘overreaching or perceived overreaching’ for using her position to try to get Trooper Mike Wooten fired from the force.”
CNN reports that an Alaska judge warned Palin back in 2005 against trying to get her then-state trooper brother-in-law fired...
Read the rest of the story:
PALIN: TROOPERGATE BACK IN THE NEWS
Posted: Thursday, September 11, 2008
by Mark Murray
The Wall Street Journal: “An informal adviser who has counseled Gov. Sarah Palin on ethics issues urged her in July to apologize for her handling of the dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner and warned that the matter could snowball into a bigger scandal. He also said, in a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, that she should fire any aides who had raised concerns with the chief over a state trooper who was involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister.”
”In the letter, written before Sen. John McCain picked the Alaska governor as his running mate, former U.S. Attorney Wevley Shea warned Gov. Palin that ‘the situation is now grave’ and recommended that she and her husband, Todd Palin, apologize for ‘overreaching or perceived overreaching’ for using her position to try to get Trooper Mike Wooten fired from the force.”
CNN reports that an Alaska judge warned Palin back in 2005 against trying to get her then-state trooper brother-in-law fired...
Read the rest of the story:
PALIN: TROOPERGATE BACK IN THE NEWS
Governor Palin May Try to Stop Subpoenas in Trooper Firing Case
Governor Palin May Try to Stop Subpoenas in Trooper Firing Case
By Timothy J. Burger and Tony Hopfinger
Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The Alaska Attorney General's office told lawmakers probing Governor Sarah Palin's firing of the state's top police official that their authority and motivations are suspect, and state lawyers may "move to quash subpoenas" that legislators may issue tomorrow.
"The eyes of the nation have now turned upon us," senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Barnhill wrote in place of Attorney General Talis Colberg, a Palin appointee who recused himself in the case. Barnhill complained in a seven-page letter about public comments made by Hollis French, a Democratic senator, that Palin or her aides may have broken the law by allegedly obtaining personnel files of the fired state public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan...
Read the rest of the story:
Governor Palin May Try to Stop Subpoenas in Trooper Firing Case
By Timothy J. Burger and Tony Hopfinger
Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The Alaska Attorney General's office told lawmakers probing Governor Sarah Palin's firing of the state's top police official that their authority and motivations are suspect, and state lawyers may "move to quash subpoenas" that legislators may issue tomorrow.
"The eyes of the nation have now turned upon us," senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Barnhill wrote in place of Attorney General Talis Colberg, a Palin appointee who recused himself in the case. Barnhill complained in a seven-page letter about public comments made by Hollis French, a Democratic senator, that Palin or her aides may have broken the law by allegedly obtaining personnel files of the fired state public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan...
Read the rest of the story:
Governor Palin May Try to Stop Subpoenas in Trooper Firing Case
Palin's Ethics Scrapes May Undercut Pledge to End Old Politics
Palin's Ethics Scrapes May Undercut Pledge to End Old Politics
By Timothy J. Burger and Tony Hopfinger
Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate sent a signal that he would end business as usual and cronyism in government. Her record shows the Alaska governor engaged in some of the same practices she and McCain now condemn.
Palin's office approved a state job for a friend and campaign aide with whom she shared a land investment, financial records and interviews over the past two weeks show. She hired a former lobbyist for a pipeline company to help oversee a multibillion-dollar deal with that same company.
She named a police chief accused of harassment to head the state police. And she sent campaign e-mails on her city hall account while serving as mayor of Wasilla -- conduct for which she later turned in an oil commissioner on ethics charges...
Read the rest of the story:
Palin's Ethics Scrapes May Undercut Pledge to End Old Politics
By Timothy J. Burger and Tony Hopfinger
Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate sent a signal that he would end business as usual and cronyism in government. Her record shows the Alaska governor engaged in some of the same practices she and McCain now condemn.
Palin's office approved a state job for a friend and campaign aide with whom she shared a land investment, financial records and interviews over the past two weeks show. She hired a former lobbyist for a pipeline company to help oversee a multibillion-dollar deal with that same company.
She named a police chief accused of harassment to head the state police. And she sent campaign e-mails on her city hall account while serving as mayor of Wasilla -- conduct for which she later turned in an oil commissioner on ethics charges...
Read the rest of the story:
Palin's Ethics Scrapes May Undercut Pledge to End Old Politics
Palin's attorney: Investigator 'biased'
Palin's attorney: Investigator 'biased'
Sept 11, 2008
By GENE JOHNSON
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A lawyer for Gov. Sarah Palin is taking another stab at derailing the Legislature's ethics investigation into the firing of her former public safety commissioner, accusing the retired prosecutor who is conducting it of acting unethically himself.
In two letters released Wednesday, Thomas Van Flein called the investigation "unlawful and unconstitutional" and said the man hired to run it, former prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, has a conflict of interest because he's a friend of the fired commissioner. Citing "your seemingly biased conduct of the investigation in recent weeks," he urged Branchflower to stop interviewing witnesses — the second time this month that he's asked Branchflower to stand down.
Branchflower is looking into whether Palin, now John McCain's running mate, canned Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because Monegan wouldn't fire a state trooper who was involved in a messy divorce from Palin's sister, a probe that has come to be known as "Troopergate."
The investigation has included setting up a secret tip line to "accept and investigate anonymous rumors and complaints outside the scope" of the inquiry, Van Flein alleged. He also said Branchflower has deposed witnesses without proper notice other attorneys...
Read the rest of the story here:
Palin's attorney: Investigator 'biased'
Sept 11, 2008
By GENE JOHNSON
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A lawyer for Gov. Sarah Palin is taking another stab at derailing the Legislature's ethics investigation into the firing of her former public safety commissioner, accusing the retired prosecutor who is conducting it of acting unethically himself.
In two letters released Wednesday, Thomas Van Flein called the investigation "unlawful and unconstitutional" and said the man hired to run it, former prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, has a conflict of interest because he's a friend of the fired commissioner. Citing "your seemingly biased conduct of the investigation in recent weeks," he urged Branchflower to stop interviewing witnesses — the second time this month that he's asked Branchflower to stand down.
Branchflower is looking into whether Palin, now John McCain's running mate, canned Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because Monegan wouldn't fire a state trooper who was involved in a messy divorce from Palin's sister, a probe that has come to be known as "Troopergate."
The investigation has included setting up a secret tip line to "accept and investigate anonymous rumors and complaints outside the scope" of the inquiry, Van Flein alleged. He also said Branchflower has deposed witnesses without proper notice other attorneys...
Read the rest of the story here:
Palin's attorney: Investigator 'biased'
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