Chief of Staff Mike Nizich talking to Gov. Palin--courtesy of the Juneau Empire
Yesterday, an ethics complaint was filed against Sarah Palin...number 12. It asserted that through SarahPAC, the Governor violated the "outside employment" portion of the Executive Branch Ethics Act.
Last night, the Governor's office released a statement. Per the State of Alaska website:
"In the past several months, we have seen an orchestrated effort by the governor's opponents to make differences of opinion and ideology almost criminal," said Mike Nizich, the governor's chief of staff. "Governor Palin has spent a considerable amount of time and money fighting ethics complaints - and no charge has been substantiated. I hope that the publicity-seekers will face a backlash from Alaskans who have a sense of fair play and proportion."
First off, I've never seen the words "backlash" and "fair play" used in the same sentence before. It reminded me of the late George Carlin's classic stand-up routine on contradictory terms, like "jumbo shrimp" or "military intelligence."
Secondly, I wondered exactly what would constitute a successful "backlash" in the eyes of the Governor's office? We can look at what's already occurred in varying degrees to those we know have filed complaints:
Attempted ambushing by Palin-friendly media? Check.
Hundreds of hate emails? Check.
Phone threats against kids, causing a need for police involvement? Check.
Lies, smears and insults (as well as more lies and smears) towards those who filed ethics complaints by Palinbot websites? Check.
They know that their words have a powerful effect on Palin's rabid fans. About 20 hours after I emailed the press release regarding the Arctic Cat complaint, I had received no more than 10 negative emails. Then Governor Palin hit the national media with a press release that used the sentence., "How much will this blogger's asinine political grandstanding cost all of us in time and money?"
That opened the email floodgates. I probably got 100 emails within that next 24 hours. I still get a trickle and that was a month ago!
So again, I ask, what kind of "backlash" is the Administration suggesting?
In one of the most striking pieces of irony, Bill McAllister then waxed poetic about the "confidentiality" issue. Note the first part of the first sentence:
"There's a core hypocrisy in nearly all of the ethics complaints brought against the governor, including this one. The ethics act clearly states that complaints, when filed, are to be confidential. Ms. Tompkins publicized her filing on several blogs, breaking the letter and the spirit of the law."
YES, there is absolutely a "core hypocrisy" at work here! However, it comes from the Governor!
First of all, there is no punishment against a private citizen if they announce filing a complaint because, well, we're private citizens!
While the ethics law calls for confidentiality, that doesn't mean the attorney general can throw out a complaint because the person who filed it spoke out, according to Assistant Attorney General Judy Bockmon.
It only applies to State employees (who could lose their job), probably because State employees have access to confidential personnel information that the general public does not. There was nothing in my ethics complaint that was not already VERY public information.
And what is the real core hypocrisy? Palin was "against" the "secrecy" of the Ethics Act before she was "for" it:
Palin has been involved in Personnel Board investigations before -- though not as a subject of complaint -- and at the time complained about their secrecy.
In high-profile cases that established her statewide reputation as an ethics reformer, Palin helped with a 2003 investigation of Republican Party chairman Randy Ruedrich, who was working on a state oil regulatory panel, and she co-filed a complaint in 2004 against then-attorney general Gregg Renkes.
Both men were found by investigators to have crossed ethical lines. Details of the investigations were released in the end, as part of a settlement that stopped short of the full public hearing before an administrative law judge that the law requires in serious cases.
In the Ruedrich case, Palin resigned her state job in protest while the investigation was still secret, saying she felt implicated in a cover-up because of the shroud.
"I'd like to find a hero in the Legislature who can take on and change that law and make it more sensible," Palin said at the time she resigned. As governor, she has supported changes to ethics laws, but the secrecy of board investigations has not been changed.
The second part to the "core hypocrisy," Palin sure didn't have a problem crowing to the international media when she filed a complaint AGAINST HERSELF:
Her lawyer sent an "ethics disclosure" Monday night to Attorney General Talis Colberg. The governor asked that it go to the three-person Personnel Board as a complaint. While ethics complaints are usually confidential, Palin wants the matter open.
Well, Governor Palin, in words that you can understand....RIGHT BACK ATCHA!!!! |
