2008 USP(G)ET pt. II: counting the days to 2012 primary thread 1

Download Branchflower report here:

http://media.adn.com/smedia/2008/10/10/16/Branchflowerreport.source.prod_affiliate.7.pdf

dl'ing ned you rule

breaking: palin abused authority

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Palin-Troopergate.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Telling detail in the ADN story:

An investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power, according to a report just now unanimously released by the legislative council.

'Unanimously'? Try and spin 'partisan' on that!

omg

http://frontpage.americandaughter.com/images/maypole.jpg

NOW CAN WE HAVE A NEW ELECTION THRED?

What's the over-under on Palin dropping off the ticket because of this?

This completely, COMPLETELY backfired on Palin. I am honestly amazed.

This is shaping up to the most fun election in history. Can I get an amen?

http://www.objectmerch.com/ProductImages/amen-0005lg.gif

Seriously, when I first heard after she was named to be the candidate that initial blocks and stalls were happening, I was figuring they'd find a way to stretch it out. What they ended up doing was forcing everything front and center and rapidly undermining her political capital at home.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45097000/jpg/_45097116_32bd81d8-db05-4332-8416-4c2160bedb72.jpg
^abused by palin

this is why mccain should have chosen one of our lovely female republican senators from maine !

"Nailin' Palin 2: Abuse Of Authority"

Check this ADN blog for more on how it all went down today, details coming out, plus audio.

http://community.adn.com/adn/node/132527

in the unintentional irony dept, a fr33pr on o:

He’s a decent man that just happens to hang around the worst kind of radicals.

oh see i thought that was a link to the next election thread, JIMMY MOD

It's just a bummer this is happening at 9pm on a Friday night.

Mudflats bound to have more shortly:

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/

Andrew Halcro's already got some prime snark up earlier today:

http://www.andrewhalcro.com/the_blogger_on_the_grassy_knoll

It's just a bummer this is happening at 9pm on a Friday night.

Can't be helped. But how much is this plus the McCain climbdown *plus* the economy going to dominate Sunday talk show stuff? Should be amusing.

big ups to the Alaskan legislative crew

To Branchflower as well! Sounds like the dude went at it like the prosecutor he once was.

Hahah, and FURTHER:

http://www.adn.com/palin/story/552319.html

The state is bustling to try to comply with a court order issued today that requires Gov. Sarah Palin and everyone else in the governor's office to preserve all e-mails issued from private accounts that concern state business.

The state didn't fight activist Andree McLeod's request for a temporary restraining order to force Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee, and her office to hold onto the private e-mails, said Mike Mitchell, an assistant attorney general. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Craig Stowers ruled largely for McLeod after a hearing today.

"We entered into the hearing ... willing to work to preserve those e-mails that do relate to state business that may have been sent to or from private accounts to the extent they can be preserved at this point," Mitchell said.

The state is going to try to find out which governor's office employees used private e-mails for state business and then try to preserve those e-mails and pull them into the state's e-mail system, he said.

If the state's not fighting it, then wow.

OMIGOD
OMIGOD
OMIGOD
OMIGOD
OMIGOD
OMIGOD

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.

The investigation also looked into whether Palin dismissed public safety commissioner Walt Monegan because he resisted pressure to fire Wooten.

In the second finding, Branchflower says Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten was not the sole reason for his dismissal but that it was a "contributing factor." Still, he said, Palin's firing of Monegan was "a proper and lawful exercise" of the governor's authority.

The third finding says a workers compensation claim filed by Wooten was handled appropriately. Number four concludes that the attorney general's office failed to comply with Branchflower's Aug. 6 request for information about the case in e-mails.

It's important to note that Branchflower concludes that whatever went into it, the fact that Palin fired Monegan is something that the governor has the power to do. This fits in with the Palin stance on things as stated in that self-exoneration yesterday and they will ride that as they can.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brett538/2930376254/in/set-72157607920789303/

Uh...

also, im sure we've all heard the saying ' you meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way down.' go alaska, basically.

in further news, Georgia just moved from strong-red to weak-red on pollster.com's map

don't her knocked up daughter and "special-needs" son have better things to do that follow their mother around the country?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brett538/sets/72157607920789303/

This whole stream is an absurd contrast in styles and message

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brett538/2929501433/in/set-72157607920789303/

woah this guy's hands are hairy

where is my drudge siren 8(

CNN headline: Panel: Palin abused power, violated no laws

The AP article calls it an unlawful abuse of power tho. Unlawful = against the law, right?

:-/

A legislative committee investigating Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican vice presidential candidate, issued a report Friday night that found she unlawfully abused her authority by firing the state’s public safety commissioner.

media manages to bungle things again

So either CNN is wrong, or AP doesn't know the meaning of the word "unlawful."

no response yet at the corner

down on the corner
out in the street

i think the key is to phrase it like, "while she didn't officially break the law, she abused her power and that was a breach of ethics".

The Corner has been quiet since before McCain hushed his crowd. I think there's mass suicide going on over there.

So I hear (via a prominent member of the sane Republican faction) that the word on the right side of the street is that the Republican National Committee is about to pull the plug on its joint ads with the McCain campaign, and devote its resources instead to trying to save a couple of the senators who are at serious risk of losing their seats.

http://crookedtimber.org/2008/10/10/a-bit-of-horserace-commentary/

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

It's a close distinction re: lawbreaking. She's not going to serve time for this or anything, but Branchflower is essentially saying that she, her husband and others basically used the power of the office to pursue a private vendetta. Monegan could legally be let go by the governor, no law broken there, but said vendetta fed into it.

Or what omar said a few posts back, really.

So she can't be forced off the ticket because of indictment. Any chance she'll still drop off willingly?

:-/

― joe 40oz (deej), Friday, October 10, 2008 8:02 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

http://thebeautybrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/liar.jpg

l-r: palin, mccain