It’s official that Todd Palin will refuse to respond to the Legislative Council’s subpoena to appear. And, of course, the other expected event in tandem with that was Attorney Thomas Van Flein sent a letter yesterday to Indy Counsel Steve Branchflower letting him know just that.
For those of you who have kept up on the Trooper’gate saga via my posts, his reasons for Todd Palin’s refusal to appear are already familiar. i.e. no authority, unConstitutionally vague in what they want him to bring in for documentation, a violation of Constitutional due process, etal. You can read the three page letter in the link above for the specifics. But it’s a familiar shopping list already. The new addition to the list? It’s “unduly burdersome” for Palin to appear…. Todd’s a pretty busy “First Dude” at the moment, campaigning with wife Sarah.
But this really isn’t news… just the anticpated steps that would ensue considering the legal stance the AG’s office has adopted. But, I got politely called on the carpet for being not up to date by a disappointed reader on the side… LOL. So Donald? This one’s for you!
As I pointed out in my Sept 15th post on Trooper’gate, Senior Asst. AG Michael Barnhill was promising to fight the Legislative Councils subpoenas unless they agreed to accept his interpretation of the Personnel Board Act.
So all in all.. the only thing that’s new is that, as predicted, there will be many that will refuse to appear before the Legislative Council…. and Todd’s the most prominent on the list to say “no way, Jose” to French and company.
And right now, the AG’s office has their back for ignoring the subpoenas.
This, of course, has Andrew Halcro, the lead Legislative Investigator cheerleader, being driven up the wall. His latest posting is a rant, accusing Senior AG Talis Colberg of being in over his head… alluding to him as incompetent by saying: “Plucked from the relative obscurity of drawing up wills in Palmer to managing one of the biggest legal staffs in the state, Colberg’s latest actions show he is certainly not ready for prime time.
Perhaps Halcro might want to check further… in that the AG representative taking the lead is not Colberg, but Michael Barnhill. Instead, Halcro demonstrates amazing chutzpah, attempting to dictate to the AG’s office the law. He cites the Alaskan statute on subpoenas… never comprehending that these issues, combined with the AG’s vow to fight subpoenas, and combined with two lawsuits questioning the legality of the French/Branchwater witch hunt in Superior Court, can most definitely delay any testimony with plenty of legal authority.
Halcro’s out of his expertise. His bio via his website:
Occupation:
Director of Business Development, Avis Alaska 2007-present
Candidate for Governor 2006
President, Avis/Alaska (Statewide Family business owned and operated since 1955) 2002-2006
Director of Marketing, Avis Alaska, 1990-2002
Fleet Manager, Avis Alaska, 1985-1990
Administrative Assistant, Avis Alaska, 1984-1985
Airport Rental Agent, Avis Alaska, 1982-1984
Car Wash Manager, Avis Alaska, 1980-1982
Hummm…. I’m missing him being a member of the Alaskan Bar in there….
Now.. the news I *am* waiting for?
1: Who French will pick to represent himself, Kim Elton, Branchwater, the Legislative Council, etal in their lawsuit that was filed by the GOP lawmakers in Alaska Superior Court this week.
2: Who will pay for that legal representative for the above… the taxpayers? And does the Legislative Council have the authority to allocate funding for that?
3: Will the Superior Court put a halt to the legislative investigation?
4: Will the Personnel Board choose to throw out both Palin’s and PSEA/John Cyr’s ethics complaints? Or appoint an investigator?
Now *that’s* news….
Vietnam era Navy wife, indy/conservative, and an official California escapee now residing as a red speck in the sea of Oregon blue.
You can always count on that “Marine” Hollis French and little Kimmy Elton, along with Steve “My wife is a Monegan boot licker” Branchflower to keep their inquiry above board.
Ofcourse the standard they apply are Stalin’s show trails in the late 30’s!!!!!
Great news… for Obama. “Hold me accountable” my ass.
Yes, Obama is really going to get a boost from this. The AG has stopped the Inquisition because it goes against the Alaskan Constitution. And Obama will get what from this??? Probably more people go to the other side for having his minions try to go over the Constitution of Alaska on his behalf.
It’s not the deed but the cover up, or in this case the perception of cover up. Nobody’s going to switch for McCain/Palin because Todd refuses to testify and most people aren’t following closely enough to know about the Constitution defense.
Fit Fit
So what you are saying it is fair game to put out lies in order to win. Way to go. Your surely do belong to the right party. Birds of a feather and all of that.
NEWSFLASH:
St. Sen. Hollis French has indicated that he will release a final report in early October….even though the investigation is incomplete and key witnesses have not testified. I guess the two lawsuites and ultimatum from the Alaskan AG has forced their hand. Now comes time to “flop the river cards”.
The race is on. The Employee Board is still in session. Lets see who finishes first.
No lies. The simple facts.
A unanimous bipartisan approval for an investigation that Palin welcomed. She said “Hold me accountable” and waved off the need for subpoenas as she had instucted her staff to fully cooperate.
Then she refused to testify.
Her staff was instructed not to testify.
Subpoenas were approved.
Subpoenas were ignored.
What had looked totally innocent now looks like a cover up.
It dosen’t matter if she is guilty of anything or not, she now carries the taint of suspicion.
Cover up? More like a witch hunt. And just what was Hollis incinuating about that “October Surprise?” Not that a remark like that would give one pause and wonder just how impartial his intentions were being as though he thought he was running the show up there.
The new media/libertard meme: Palin Cover Up!
I thought that it was a Rovian plot. See, he be t’ one that hacked into Palin’s email and then made it look like she did not do any Official Business on her yahoo account.
I think I need a tin foil hat with all these conspiracies goin’ on. Rove Mind Machine has infected me and I be gettin’ t’ talkin’ points directly into me brain
Talk like a Pirate Day translator
Fit-Fit…have you even read the previous posts by MH? There is a time line and lots of info the MSM is NOT telling the public.
Sure, Palin welcomed the investigation, but when it appeared that it was going to be a witch hunt (remember French’s “October surprise” comments….BEFORE any depositions were taken), Palin and her staff “lawyered up”. If you also read the previous postings, you would had discovered that Sen French is meddling with the investigation which is supposed to be the jurisdiction of Mr. Blackflower alone.
the mcclatchy owned paper in my area is reporting that they are refusing to testify. the libs are foaming, they don’t realize that the investigation is not only unlawful, but tainted. i am stunned by how they have spun this report, they have it as a big old breaking news story. the libs are freakin out, they want her and her husband arrested. how can the paper support this crap?
That is because McClatchy is a rag and is worse than AP or al-Rueters.
It is always amazing what facts uninformed people take out of a story. Yes, Todd Palin will not testify in Commissioner-gate. So what? The AG of Alaska has already said, that the Subpoenas could be ignored because they were not legal. If one reads both of the challenges to this really dumb investsigation, it has already been shown that the bipartisan investigation was compromised by Senator French (he is quoted before it even began that it would be an “embarrassment” for the governor and might even lead to “impeachment”). The second legal document was by five members of the Alaskan house/senate on the legalities of the investigation to begin with (it is against Alaskan statute). Why should the governor or her husband testify in a hijacked investigation by partisans.
To see this whole situation — you actually have to read the facts. This entire investigation started after it was brought up in Halcro’s blog. He has been a vocal critic of Gov. Palin. Then, a bipartisan investigation was voted on by this legislative committee (yes, even in Alaska, Gov. Palin has ticked off some Republicans). So, good friend of the Commissioner (French) is put in charge and makes some inflamatory remarks (quoted in the Anchorage Daily News). Basically, you have Halcro (bitter over losing to Sarah Palin the office of governor – he ran as an independent), French and Elton (democrats), and good friend (the leader of the investigation Branchflower who doesn’t even know why names are left off of the Subpoenas list – that audio has been available on Townhall). Yes, it all stinks to high Heaven, but as mentioned before, you have to search out the facts and read.
Also, lets not forgot — the Commissioner worked as an “at will” employee, at the pleasure of the governor (in other words the governor can fire a commissioner at any time). This is a silly case, where democrat hacks and embittered people are going after Gov. Palin. And, as mentioned before, the state has a surplus, so why not spend it on some dumb investigation?
The trooper (not fired, still works as an Alaska state trooper – in other words – police officer) has a past filled with filled with problems – at work and in his personal life.
The whole case is BS. Get past the partisan smoke screen and figure out what is really going on. Gov. Palin is well-liked and admired. Of course, she has enemies. And, people can disagree with her (I did on a measure Alaskans just voted on) however, I know that she is just what America needs. A politician who really cares about her state/country and will work for the people. Take the blinders off. Gov. Palin is the real deal.
It’s seems that the Trooper’saga is not harming too much the McCain/Palin ticket… read this:
Today, McCain-Palin 2008 released a partial transcript of a conference call held this afternoon with Miguel D. Lausell, Senior Political Advisor to Hillary Clinton, and Clinton Delegate-at- Large Luchy Secaira (Florida). Both Lausell and Secaira endorsed John McCain for president.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/
I loved the lawyers letter to the Inquisition. They just smacked them down HARD!
The following photo showing so many of the Inquisitors at an Obama event shows what this whole business is all about:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=5844710
More here:
http://alaskareport.com/news98/x61636_gara_evidence_3232323.htm
Okay… grandmama is back to catch up. First up… Fit
That “unanimous bipartisan approval was for the Legislative Council only, Fit. That’s a big 14 people, not the entire Alaskan House and Senate. And of course she instructed her staff to cooperate…..
…… until the head witchhunter, Hollis French, started going on multiple local and national media prounoucing her guilty by bandying about impeachment (of which he did not start a legal proceeding to do so, per Alaskan law) and “damaging”. All without one damn testimony.
She personally did not instruct her staff to do anything. You are making things up, here. In fact, as of a few days ago, some were still going to testify until the lawsuits were filed, and the Deputy AG Michael Barnhill said he was going to fight the subpoenas.
Subpoenas for specific witnesseses were voted on as approved by the 14 member Legislative Council… of which they are not supposed to be controlling. The witness list is supposed to be compiled by the Indy Investigator, Steve Branchwater. They are controlling him and the investigation… totally outside their jurisdiction.
The Deputy AG said no to the subpoenas. They were within their full rights of ignoring what is tandamount to illegal subpoenas. Duh
Let me rephrase that. What looked like a fair and unbiased investigation now looks like a partisan witch hunt for political purposes. The Legislative Council has overstepped their bounds at every step, allocated funds when they have no power to do so, and are controlling the Indy Investigator like hired help.
I’d say it looks like everyone involved wants to follow Alaska Ethics Law for investigation, and avoid some Salem witch trial.
Fit, she was also guilty to you. So what’s new?
You have one bizarre comprehension of “the facts”, Fit. Why you’d place more import on McCarthy style legislative investigations than follow Alaskan law… formulated by these lawmakers predecessors… is beyond me. I never thought of you as a lynching kind of guy.
Timothy #6
Politely disagree with the “newsflash” about early release of the investigation reports. French moved the Oct 31st deadline up to Oct 10th several weeks ago… old news.
And it doesn’t surprise me that they will release results of an investigation without having any testimony to speak of since French has already predetermined the results. Just goes to show what a sham this “investigation” is.
Just a note: C in Alaska #14 has it all exactly right. Not because she’s necessarily been reading my posts on this saga since Aug 31st, but because she’s there. And my posts have come to the exact same conclusion… from the beginning, and still… after all this time.
C? Glad you’re here….. Feel free to slap away at some of our more stubbornly blind regulars. We do love ’em, but they get going on an off tangent path, and it’s hard to get those blinders off ’em to get them back on track!
Go and look at Strata-Sphere. AJ has a commmentor that did some research and believes that this whole thing started with the Union that Montegan belonged to revenge on her for firing Montegan. She was the only one to defeat one of their endorsed candidates and Halco was the one that started a lot of the rumors about her. He was endorsed by the PSEA.
Accusations tying Monegan’s firing to an attempt by the governor to get Wooten fired first became public Thursday on former state lawmaker Andrew Halcro’s blog. Halcro, who lost to Palin in the 2006 governor’s race, wrote on his post about the Monegan firing that the public safety budget was cut by .06 percent for this year under Palin. He conceded that was an error Friday.But Halcro also suggested Monegan’s Friday revelation that he felt pressured by Todd Palin and others to fire Wooten should make those who attacked his blog reconsider.
“And just a note for all our skeptics and the Palin defenders since our story broke yesterday morning. … here’s looking at you kids,” Halcro wrote Friday.
Go and read it.
Spam hell again Halcro and the last quote is from Strata-Sphere.
Hilrarious defense of Sarah “Tricky Dick” Palin here. Ya right, and those dozen repubs flipped on the first bailout bill because they were hurt by the Pelosi speech….and then not one of the NINE repugs that followed her at the podium mentioned a word about it.
If you idealogical geniuses believe that… I’ve got a bridge in Alaska I was/was’nt for to sell you.
My favorite time will come after the election, when the truth about Palin’s sordid holy roller hyporcrite family life will hit the presses. What a fraud of a mother, especially her kids who I’d expect to be those of an irresponsible rock star. Just wait, it’ll be a doozy, you betcha!
Sarah Palin…time to go back to the “toothless meth capital of Alaska” as one Alaskan republican described Wasilla. What a moron….but perfect for today’s lowest common denominator republican.
Rich
Oh dear, another bothead escapes from the Daily Kos. One can always tell by the bile that passes for informed comment in their world.
Perhaps, if Monegan would have done his job right and hired police, as was his mandate, instead of going around the governor to do things she nixed, he would still have a job. More police, less meth.
BTW, Missouri is the meth capital of the US, it’s the Missouri State Police that have taken the lead in finding and destroying the labs and arresting the perps. Monegan failed for Alaska.
Missouri is also the Pot capitol ofthe US. Pot is their #1 export.