| It seems like long ago, but in Part I, we discussed some background regarding gift "issues" that the Governor has been facing as a result of her campaign for Vice President. (If she'd turned over the governing of the state to the Lite Gov., she wouldn't be in this mess...but I digress.)
We also discussed the yearly reporting requirements under the Alaska Public Offices Commission and mentioned testimony given by Andree McLeod at their latest quarterly meeting regarding those gifts.
You may have wondered: Why was Andree McLeod testifying at that APOC meeting?
On the agenda, the APOC was going to provide the answers to several "Advisory Opinion Requests" put in from Linda Perez for her boss, the Governor. (Requests for "Advisory Opinions" come from candidates or other public employees who may be confused as to whether or not they need to report something specific on any of their APOC documents. Here, we were talking about gifts so it was in reference to the Governor's financial disclosure form (POFD).)
The first of the Advisory Opinion Requests from Linda Perez was AO-09-05-POFD:
If Governor Palin donates to third parties the gifts that were received by her or her family as a result of her vice-presidential candidacy, must she report those gifts under Alaska's Public Official Financial Disclosure Laws?
Per the APOC:
The short answer is yes. Even if a gift is donated to a third party, it must still be reported on the Governor's annual Public Official Financial Disclosure form.
So in other words, if the Governor...say...donates a bunch of clothes she just wore a couple of times to a charity organization, she must still report it on her gift disclosure forms. Hmmmmm...
The second Advisory Opinion Request, AO-09-06-POFD, was related:
If a public official receives a gift, and returns that gift to the individual who gave it, must the public official report the gift under Alaska's Public Official Financial Disclosure Laws?
Per the APOC:
The short answer is no. A proffered gift which is not accepted by a public official does not need to be reported on a Public Official Financial Disclosure Form.
So, hypothetically, if you were "given" a bunch of clothes by the Republican Party but you gave them back to the Republican Party then you wouldn't have to report them on your POFD.
Or would you?
When dicussion on this came up at the meeting, there was a spirited debate among the Commissioners because one important issue was not addressed in the response...the fact that NO BENEFIT could be derived before the "gifts" were returned.
The decision was made for a rewrite of the response for the next meeting to address the issue of "no benefit." So, hypothetically, the next meeting (June) the decision will be made whether wearing clothes before they are given back derives a benefit.
As I stated before, Ms. McLeod testified the day before in anticipation of the answers to Linda Perez's Advisory Opinion Requests. Two of the issues Ms. McLeod raised were the subject of much discussion during "unfinished business" section on the second day.
1) Would you please request Palin to submit the appropriate amendments to her [financial disclosure] report instead of waiting for a complaint?
2) Why did Palin not completely disclose gifts she received last year? There have been reports of hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of clothes, hair and make-up services that she and the family received yet they are missing from the report, although the travel costs are included. Though on the campaign trail, Sarah Palin was still in the role of governor and must abide by Alaska financial disclosure laws. For consistency's sake, could you please request a full accounting of those clothes, hair and make-up services? Even if they were given away, they were still gifts that she and her family did receive and must be accounted for in the report, as well as other gifts she received on the campaign trail.
During the discussion, it was clear that one of the members of the Commission (Kathleen Fredrick, the Republican member from Wasilla) felt that anyone who saw anything they believed to be incorrect should be forced to file a complaint before the APOC should investigate. In other words, that would completely put the responsibility for honest politicians and campaigns on the shoulders of the public. Commission Chair Elizabeth Hickerson did not agree, stating that Commissioners had the authority to investigate without the need for a formal complaint.
Several of the Commissioners agreed that they found the first two items of Andree McLeod's testimony disturbing and upon discovery that the staff regularly sent out inquiries to public officials even without a complaint on file, they requested that the staff ask Governor Palin for clarification.
A letter, dated April 29, 2009, was sent to Governor Palin. It stated that it was in response to testimony from the APOC meeting and it asked for two items of clarification:
1) Are there gifts which have been received by you or your family in your personal capacity during calendar year 2008, which have not been reported on your 2009 public official financial disclosure statement covering the period January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008? If so, please amend your most recent disclosure statement to reflect this information.
This question was directly related to the public testimony given by Andree McLeod at the meeting.
The second question surprised me:
2) You have reported a "discount on snow machines" by Arctic Cat for Todd Palin. Was this discount exercised during calendar year 2008 and what was the amount of it?
Why is this question significant? Governor Palin only listed the names of Todd's Iron Dog sponsors on her 2009 (covering calendar year 2008) financial disclosure statement, not any amounts. This is different from her 2008 financial disclosure (calendar year 2007), where the Palin's claimed a total of $7,500.00 income/gifts from Arctic Cat. Listing only the names of the sponsors and not the amounts is "legal" as long as the gifts for each sponsor total LESS THAN $1,000.00.
Remember, 2008 was the year AFTER he and Scott Davis won. Also remember this is now a separate question coming directly from APOC regarding "disclosure" on her forms. It's not affiliated with any other agency.
(Next: we'll look at the pieces of a smear campaign orchestrated by "Chief of Backlash" Mike Nizich against Andree McLeod.)
*UPDATED with links to Gov. Palin's financial disclosure forms for 2008 and 2009.
*All information for this piece was obtained:
1) - through attendance at the quarterly APOC meeting in April
2) - through $5.00 purchase of the CDs containing the raw recording information used in the eventual minutes of the meeting. The minutes will not be available until the June meeting.
3) - through hard copies of the the "Advisory Opinion Requests" from Linda Perez and APOC's responses to those requests.
3) - via emails from the participants. |
