“An ethics complaint filed against a legislator is confidential until it’s determined to have merit,” Lynn said in a written statement. “If the complainant breaches confidentiality, then the case is dismissed.”

What about “equal justice under the law? It would seem to me that if it applies to the legislature, that it should apply to Executive and judicial branches.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Perhaps Lynn should add an amendment or two or three to his propsed law.
1. Each ethics complaint filed against the sitting Governor will cost the filer $100.
2. If the complaintant is proven to have breached confidentiality, then they need a red A tattoo’d to their forehead and the complaint tossed out.
3. The loser of an ethics complaint pays all the legal fees.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

luva, when Palin becomes Citizen Sarah after this Sunday, she is free to utilize the US judicial system as recourse. And I’m not sure if they can continue to file ethics complaints against an ex-Governor. That would be an interesting question, and time will answer that for us all. My bets are that Palin will come out swinging legally.

BarbaraS, by the time Lynn’s bill would get passed (unlikely to be prior to this Sunday), that cannot blame Palin for the Board “being in her pocket” since she’s no longer governor.

I think it would be difficult to choose investigative counsel based on their political leanings. What is worse? Having a liberal Dem investigate a sitting GOP governor, and coming up with a report based on really thin objective analysis? Or having a conservative Republican investigate and having everyone diss it as a whitewash? I’ll take the former. If she can hold up against the opposition, it cannot be questioned.

I’m not completely unhappy with the counsel’s analysis. Frankly, there are only two negative points… that being Palin allowed her photo and position to be used and agreed to an “official” legal defense fund; and she and Kristan Cole have a strong relationship.

On the former, it’s vital to have an “official” site to prohit fraud and scams on those who genuinely want to help. Using her photo is a given. Her title? Again, that comes down to the nature of the donations. ala did they donate to her because she’s the Alaskan governor? Or did they donate because she’s a politician on the national state. Considering that the lionshare of hte donations are from out of state, I would guess the attempt to tie the donations to benefit her as Governor of a state which few are residents wouldn’t hold up well under scrutiny.

On the later? I think her relationship with Kristan Cole… the only “gift” charge problem… also wouldn’t hold up well. Cole has a history of volunteer positions over the years, demands no salary, refuses per diem, and wields no substantial power to influence policy in those positions. If they were searching for her “intent to gain influence in policy”, they’d have to search long and hard.

It’s important to note that even the liberal counsel investigator looked at Alaskan laws as decidedly unfair and in need of reform. I do not like his suggestion that the taxpayers foot the bill for legal defense, but I’m not sure there is an answer for that. You can’t make it so those without means cannot file complaints without the risk of losing their shirts on a counter suit.

I still think the only thing that can be done is to shine the spotlight on those who abuse a system meant to be citizen oversight on elected officials.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

They wanted a fight so lets give it to them. Barrage them with e-mails and letters and file suits against them to clean their wallets of all this time and money they have to harass an innocent woman.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Lynn’s bill has a down side and the dems will surely use it. If a complaint is made public and is tossed out for that reason, the media will print or say the Ethics board is in Sarah’s pocket and the complaint was tossed for that reason. They will also say it was leaked accidently but that does not prove the complaint was not viable. They are not going to let up on her. Their goal is to totally destroy her. Besides, did the ethics board not know the bias their investigator held? This country is now so partisan that no one is trusted by either side to investigate any issue fairly.

The dems see her escaping the net in their last ditch effort to bring her down while she is in office. They wil lose 3/4 of their power when she becmes a private citizen. All this proves what I have felt for decades. The dems will stop at nothing to attain their goals. The communist party has so infiltrated the democratic party that it no longer resembles the party of 20 or 30 years ago. I left the democrat party in the 70s because I could see its leftward lurch. The dems are now coming out blatantly toward communism and the general public either does not know or does not care or is in agreement with these policies.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

[...] Statement by Kristan Cole, trustee of the Alaska Trust Fund VN:F [1.5.6_840]please wait…Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)H/T to Flopping Aces [...]

Like or Dislike: 0  0

@MataHarley: i may sound simple, but hell, this is a bunch of crap. the complaints were and are all bogus, just noise to cause trouble. it would be awesome if palin and her supporters could turn around and sue for the payment of her legal fees because the complaints were all unfounded. the leaks only make it look more and more like a political hit job, which it is. one would think that at some point they would stop filing these things. so what will happen after palin is out of office? will they continue on a civil level to try and nail her or will they just give up? they must be really freakin scared of her or they wouldnt be trying to ruin her so totally.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

According the AK Rep. Bob Lynn, if a complainant violates confidentiality during the process investigating a legislator, the complaint is thrown out, Luva. Evidently not so for the governor, since Rep. Lynn was planning on introducing a bill with similar duct-tape-across-the-mouth restrictions.

Anchorage Republican Rep. Bob Lynn, a supporter of Gov. Sarah Palin’s, said he’s going to introduce a bill to stop ethics complaints against the governor or members of her staff from being publicly discussed unless the state finds they have merit.

“An ethics complaint filed against a legislator is confidential until it’s determined to have merit,” Lynn said in a written statement. “If the complainant breaches confidentiality, then the case is dismissed.”

Lynn said his bill would provide the same rule for complaints against the governor and all others who work in the state’s executive branch – talk about the complaint, and it’s dismissed.

Lynn argued that, currently, “an unsubstantiated complaint can be all over the newspaper, TV, and talk radio before it’s even investigated. That’s not fair. It invites frivolous complaints by people with a political agenda, wasting public money and the time of everybody involved.”

Whether that’s come to pass, I don’t know. A bit after the fact for Palin, but it may help them clean up their process.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

this really makes alaskans look like stupid hicks because they cannot even interperate their own laws. this woman appears to be very honest in her representation of her involvement and is pissed and wants the record set straight. has the ap printed a retraction? bet they won’t. will the snake thqt leaked this be prosecuted? i think they should throw this complaint out not only because it was bogus, but also because it was made with the express intent to harm and pull a fast one and break the law.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

$150 check has just been made out to the Trust. It shall be sent tommorow FedX overnight. All 4 of my brothers, my sister, my Father and every other person I know will be sent this, and 99% of them will send something as well.

Gawd I hate liberals.

Like or Dislike: 0  0