Sarah Palin launches NEW defense fund with uber aggressive e-mail. Do NOT let the venom get in your eyes!

From Politico (who is apparently on some e-mail list that I am being completely ignored by):

Here is how the e-mail starts.

Sarah Palin’s enemies have scored another victory in their vicious campaign to smear, bankrupt, and force this dedicated public servant and conservative leader out of politics!

Okay first off as one of the people often identified as "Sarah Palin's enemies" I have to say "Yay, for our side!"

However, I kind of take offense at the whole "vicious campaign to smear or bankrupt" Sarah Palin.

Here let me carefully articulate my response. "Nuh uh, did not!" In fact, speaking just for myself, I am trying to reveal her many lies and abuses of power and hold her accountable for them. Is that NOT the American way?

And who is this "dedicated public servant" they speak of? I have never even met that person.

More from the e-mail:

Alaska is perhaps the only state in the U.S. where the Attorney General does not routinely represent the governor when accusations and complaints are filed against the governor under the operative ethics statutes. This means that the governor has to personally pay for her or his own defense.

That means not only was Sarah Palin required by law to respond to each and every frivolous lawsuit filed against her by left-wing activists, but she also had to personally foot millions of dollars in legal bills to defend herself from this massive witch hunt.

Okay I am sorry I have been hearing about these mythological "millions of dollars in legal bills" for over a year now. Yet we have NEVER seen any proof of that kind of money having been spent.

What we DO know is that as of March of this year the defense fund only paid $87,680 on legal and other expenses. And by the way these "other expenses" could have accounted for $87,600 of this amount for all we know.

We also know that, according to the Alaska Dispatch, the "state had a contract with Van Flein's firm to pay $100,000 for the legal services for the governor, but Palin's lawyer never collected. Palin and her lawyers argued that her official and personal lives were so intertwined that to accept public money to defend the governor would risk accusations she was taking state money to pay for private issues."

However do you know what I think? I think that they never took advantage of that contract because then they would have had to produce bills and invoices to justify the money spent, and accountability is simply NOT a Sarah Palin strong point. After all, when have you EVER seen her turn down free money?

Do you want to see a few more moose nuggets from this e-mail? here you go.

* The National Democratic Committee used its Alaska chapter, the Alaska Democratic Party (ADP), to create a web site with one stated goal: “Keep Sarah Palin Out of Public Office.” To this day, the Democrats are using this web site to publicly seek donations for funding bogus “legal challenges involving issues related to Sarah Palin.”

Now THIS is interesting because that last portion inspired a response from a person connected to the above mentioned website who sent me this statement just this morning:

The Truth: Our website was entirely our idea, and prepared by us. No national group, including the DNC (or some non-existent group called the National Democratic Committee) used us or had anything to do with this site.

Another nugget:

* The ADP’s “Keep Sarah Palin Out of Public Office” campaign has used our own legal system to sponsor over two dozen ethics complaints against Governor Palin. Yet out of 27 complaints, 26 have already been dismissed!

And another response:

The Truth: Nope. The Alaska Democratic Party has not sponsored any ethics complaints. Not one. We did file a public records request to get to the truth out. A large number of the ethics complaints were filed by an Alaskan Republican, Andree McLeod.

Where did they get this stuff? We challenge the Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund to defend their statements. They simply won’t be able to. Ironically, the e-mail accuses us of ignoring the truth.

Okay well you get the idea. The Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund e-mail message is chock full of lies and deceptive statements that are designed to make people feel terribly sorry for poor, poor multi-millionaire Sarah Palin and to get them to dig into their savings or raid their children's college funds to send even MORE money to a defense fund that Palin needs to fight...um.....well I am not sure exactly WHAT she is supposed to be fighting against these days, except perhaps the facts.

However to be fair, there is ONE nugget of truth in there e-mail.

My friend, this is a witch hunt, pure and simple.

Now usually I don't like to call women such names, but lady if the shoe fits.......

Palin must return $386,000 in donations received before she resigned as Governor of Alaska! Update: The Return of Meg Stapletongue! And another update! And yet another update!

From ADN:

Former Gov. Sarah Palin is settling an ethics complaint by agreeing to return more than $386,000 collected in a legal defense fund before she resigned last summer.

The settlement, between Palin and the Alaska Personnel Board, was announced this afternoon.

An investigator for the board, Timothy Petumenos, said today that the fund was illegal because it inappropriately used the word "official" on its website, wrongly implying Palin's endorsement as governor.

Palin's attorney says she will return the funds.

The settlement says the fund collected $386,856 before she resigned, and $33,546 after, according to a report released today with the settlement. As of March, the fund had spent $87,680 on legal and other expenses, the report says.

Just when you think that there is no justice in the world. 

This is awesome news! 

Unless of course you are Sarah Palin who is having yet another unbelievably bad week. Boy that karma is a bitch isn't it?

Update: WTF?  Meg Stapleton has risen from the dead and written a post on Palin's Facebook page to pimp for a NEW defense fund?

As you know, we love a good fight, but we must pick our battles carefully. As a chief executive, Governor Palin makes the calls, and she knows that this battle, though important to her personally, does nothing for the country. She has bigger battles to fight, battles to restore our strength internationally and stand by our allies, battles to stop the downward slide of our economy, and battles to take back control of Congress.

However, I know and you know that no public official should ever have to bear the financial brunt of these attacks. And Governor Palin can lawfully raise money now through a brand new – not official but let’s call it “real” – legal defense fund without any risk of offending an investigator or state law. And such a fund now exists at http://www.sarahpalinlegaldefensefund.org/donate.php.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Alaska Fund Trust. Your heart was in the right place. And Governor Palin and her family have been overwhelmed by your generosity. If you want to, you can contribute to the new fund. In the meantime, we will try to contact you to get your donation returned from the old trust.

Now – back to motherhood for me! And common sense.

P.S. One last thought as we approach the anniversary of Governor Palin’s “reloading,” thank God she had the fortitude and wisdom to look down the road and see what she did – the state’s bills would have amounted to millions upon millions more and her personal legal bills would be personally insurmountable. I don’t know who would want to hold office under these circumstances and with loopholes our Alaska legislators refuse to close.

Something does not smell right here.  Stapleton could not get away from Sarah fast enough when she resigned back in February. I wonder how much Palin had to pay her to get her to come forward now and assume her old role of Palin spokesperson?  If in fact that really IS Meg who wrote that Facebook post that of course.

Update 2: Gee in all of the excitement I almost missed it.  The Defense fund only paid out $87,680 in legal AND other expenses?  Didn't Sarah complain to anybody that would listen that she and Todd owed over $500,000 in legal fees?  And isn't THAT one of the main reasons that she gave for quitting her job?

Simply put every single thing this woman says is a lie.  Period. And anybody dumb enough to donate to this new LEGAL defense fund should not be allowed out of the house without a caretaker.

Update 3: This from the Alaska Dispatch.

Palin solicited the money claiming she needed help paying legal fees to fight ethics complaints filed against her as governor. But the findings of the independent counsel note "a contract for legal services was issued by the state of Alaska to Clapp, Peterson, VanFlein, Tiemesson & Thorsness to represent Gov. Palin in connection with these matters for up to $100,000 at public expense."


No invoices were ever submitted to the state by the law firm.

There you go Palin-bots.  There it is in easy to comprehend black and white.  Your precious Sarah is a complete and total fraud!

Moore Up North for January 30, 2010.

In the first segment we have Anchorage Assemblyman, Mike Gutierrez, who discusses fellow assemblyman, and Mayor Sullivan's lap dog, Bill Starr's incredibly partisan attacks on Senator Mark Begich.

Part One



In this next segment Shannyn welcomes Tom Brennan, author / columnist at the Anchorage Daily Planet, Bob Poe, a candidate for Governor of Alaska, and Steve Heimel, veteran Alaskan broadcaster.

Part Two



Part Three



Part Four



Part Five



I am becoming more and more (or is that Moore and Moore) impressed with this show each week.

We have NOTHING else like this in Alaska, and it clearly fills a need. Shannyn is becoming ever more comfortable in her role as the "hostess with the mostess", and the panel she picks are always very well informed and interesting.

My only bitch with the show is the production value, but everybody knows that it is not the best and they are hoping to improve it.

For Christmas Sarah Palin gets a spanking new ethics complaint. HO, HO, HO!

Sarah may no longer be in Alaska but her ethical violations are still stinking the place up. And it has inspired a new ethics complaint to tidy up a little. And this one is a doozy.

Andree McLeod has filed this ethics complaint with the Alaska Attorney General just yesterday.

And you can read it for yourself down below.

Andrée McLeod

Anchorage, Alaska
December 7, 2009
Attorney General Office
1031 W. 4th Avenue, Suite 200
Anchorage, AK 99501-1994

Dear Attorney General Sullivan,

Please consider this letter as an ethics complaint charging Sarah Palin with violations of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act (Alaska Statute, Title 39, Chapter 52).
Sec. 39.52.120. Misuse of official position: (a) A public officer may not use, or attempt to use, an official position for personal gain, and may not intentionally secure or grant unwarranted benefits or treatment for any
person.

Sec. 39.52.130. Improper gifts: (a) A public officer may not solicit, accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, a gift, whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, employment, promise, or in any other form, that is a benefit to the officer's personal or financial interests, under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that the gift is intended to influence the performance of official duties, actions, or judgment.

Sec. 39.52.310. Complaints: (h) A violation of this chapter may be investigated within two years after discovery of the alleged violation.

Sec. 39.52.410. Violations; penalties for misconduct: (c) If the personnel board determines that a former public officer has violated this chapter, it shall (1) issue a public statement of its findings, conclusions, and recommendation; and (2) request the attorney general to exercise all legal and equitable remedies available to the state to seek whatever relief is appropriate.

The Alaska Ethics Branch Ethics Act declares that:

(1) high moral and ethical standards among public officers in the executive branch are essential to assure the trust, respect, and confidence of the people of this state;

(2) a code of ethics for the guidance of public officers will:
(A) discourage those officers from acting upon personal or financial interests in the performance of their public responsibilities;
(B) improve standards of public service; and
(C) promote and strengthen the faith and confidence of the people of this state in their public officers;

(3) holding public office or employment is a public trust and that as one safeguard of that trust, the people require public officers to adhere to a code of ethics;

(4) a fair and open government requires that executive branch public officers conduct the public's business in a manner that preserves the integrity of the governmental process and avoids conflicts of interest;

(5) in order for the rules governing conduct to be respected both during and after leaving public service, the code of ethics must be administered fairly without bias or favoritism;

(6) no code of conduct, however comprehensive, can anticipate all situations in which violations may occur nor can it prescribe behaviors that are appropriate to every situation; in addition, laws and regulations regarding ethical responsibilities cannot legislate morality, eradicate corruption, or eliminate bad judgment; and

(7) compliance with a code of ethics is an individual responsibility; thus all who serve the state have a solemn responsibility to avoid improper conduct and prevent improper behavior by colleagues and subordinates.

The Scope of the Alaska Ethics Branch Ethics Act states:

…standards of ethical conduct for members of the executive branch need to distinguish between those minor and inconsequential conflicts that are unavoidable in a free society, and those conflicts of interests that are substantial and material.

Palin continues to compromise the integrity of our Governor’s Office. Even though she quit as governor in mid-term on July 26, 2009, the Alaska Office of the Governor Position and title is still being misused to collect money for her personal legal fund that has accepted monetary contributions as recently as December 5, 2009.

This matter of Palin’s Alaska Fund Trust that greatly concerns the public interest was brought forward in another complaint in April 2009. The independent investigator found probable cause of Palin’s ethics violation in a July 21, 2009 report because he found that Palin secured unwarranted benefits and received improper gifts through the fund and that she used her official position for personal gain in violation of Alaska Statute 39.52.120(a). He discovered that she expressly authorized the creation of the trust, and that the trust website quite openly uses her governor position to solicit donations. This pointed to probable cause that Palin used her
official position for personal gain in violation of Alaska Statute 39.52.120(a). (Document attached)

Yet, a public resolution has still not been forthcoming from personnel board members or other public officials to that prior complaint, nor has justice prevailed on the side of the Alaskan public when it was discovered that their ex-governor was found to have behaved corruptly with regards to this fund. (Ironically, dismissed complaints have been highly publicized as Palin waived away confidentiality.) Meanwhile, the fund still collects money with absolutely no oversight. Contributions and expenditures have never been made public, even while Palin was a public official and had to comply with public financial disclosure laws.

This continual and already established unethical collection of money towards Palin’s legal fund’s behalf makes a mockery of Alaska’s system of governance. In addition, the fund’s name “The Alaska Fund Trust” deceptively infers an official State of Alaska legitimacy to what is widely recognized as an unscrupulous fund.

Below are images taken of The Alaska Fund Trust on December 7, 2009 that shows persistent misuse and abuse of Palin’s official governor’s title and position. Palin misleadingly uses her former official position for personal gain and to secure unwarranted benefits. In short, Palin continues to violate Alaska Statute 39.52.120(a).

Standards of ethical conduct for members of the executive branch need to distinguish between those minor and inconsequential conflicts that are unavoidable in a free society, and those conflicts of interests that are substantial and material. Sarah Palin’s conflicts of interests with regards to this fund are significant and material as her interest in the fund is presumed to be more than $5,000.

Based on the facts set forth above I’m requesting that the Alaska Personnel Board enforce Sec. 39.52.410 (c) (1) and (2) with regards to Palin’s misuse and abuse of her official title and position for personal gain and for the securing of unwarranted benefits through this fund. This Alaska Fund Trust has never served the purposes or interests of Alaska or Alaskans. It persists to corrupt public processes and continues to breach the scope and spirit of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

I’m requesting my complaint be investigated in as fair and unbiased a manner as possible. For the record, I’m prompted to file this complaint for exactly the same reason that every one of my other complaints have been filed with your department: solely for the reason of upholding ethical standards and protecting the integrity of state actions and state resources. To think otherwise is to abridge my rights as an Alaskan and American, among other things.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this.
Sincerely,
Andrée McLeod

(If you want to read all of the complaint, as well as the attachments, then click the link above.)

This seems like a very appropriate complaint to me. Andree has laid out her argument very effectively, and I am interested to know if THIS Attorney General is actually going to do his job and launch the kind of investigation that it clearly requires.

So far the Anchorage Press is the only local media to follow my story. Well except the blogs of course. But aren't they always first?

The Anchorage Press is a small weekly publication that seems to always be struggling, so it might really help them to get a bunch of online visits. Hint, hint.

New allegations against Sarah Palin revealed.

I am going to stay out of this one, but I am sure you can decide for yourself just how seriously these allegations could affect our ex-Twitter Quitter.

Celtic Diva finds a lawyer willing to wade through the Alaska Fund Trust horse-pucky. Warning! Bring your boots.

Just click the title to visit Linda's wonderful blog.

Here is just a sample of what this lawyer discovered.

I think the AFT's (Alaska Fund Trust's) purpose is unethical on its face.

Pretty much says it all doesn't it?