  
I have been watching the emergence of the various books on Palin...from "journalists" who followed her campaign, to "writers" who don't understand the first thing about non-fiction and research, to Palin's own book. My interest has been purely in determining how each will handle the information about the state Records Requests (FOIAs), the Personnel Board, Ethics Complaints and the APOC investigation. The books I'm looking at are "Sarah from Alaska," released several weeks ago, "The Persecution of Sarah Palin" released this week and, because of a kind gentleman who gifted me with the pages, "Going Rogue," Palins own book not set to be released until Tuesday.
1) APOC Investigation: NOTHING. Not ONE of these books even mentions that Alaska Public Offices Commission is investigating Sarah Palin's lack of sponsorship/Arctic Cat monetary information on Calendar Year 2008's Financial Disclosure form. They also don't mention her non-compliance in revealing that information to them even though they have asked multiple times.
So, one of the most important and damning issues regarding Palin isn't mentioned in any book so far! Hmmmmm...
2) Ethics Complaints: "Sarah from Alaska" covers it in just two pages...basically including Arctic Cat...which is how my name got in the index (page 240!).
Here is PAGE 239 and PAGE 240.
As you can see, it was mostly rehashing Palin's bogus assertion of "frivolousness," and they were critical in their interpretation of their interview with Andree McLeod. However the book did take her to task for her high-schoolish responses to each complaint's dismissal. The authors also chastise Palin for her inappropriate response to me when the Arctic Cat complaint was filed.
Regarding Matthew Continetti's book...
I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday, grabbed his "persecution complex" book and a cup of coffee and sat down to speed read/skim.
That's an hour-and-a-half of my life that I want back.
Continetti occasionally talks about having "lunch" with someone to get inforamtion, like AK Republican Party head Randy Ruedrich. However, overall his book has a) no index b) no footnotes c) no endnotes d) no references and e) frequently uses sources like "a University professor" or "an Alaska insider." (Even his friends on Conservatives4Palin bust him for it.) When he reams Charley James for lousy sourcing last year, I laughed out loud. When he talked about progressive blogs "linking" to James' article anyway, without mentioning those of us that took him to task, I just got angry.
With all of that in mind, I was not surprised that basically one paragraph on one page (211) is dedicated to the entireity of Palin's legal challenges. Continetti's presentation of the ethics complaints can be summed up in this factually challenged "quote" from the book, attributed to Legislator Gene Therriault:
"That was part of the Democratic plan to grind her up; use the ethics law as a blunt instrument to club the administration."
I guess the fact that of the 20+ ethics complaints filed, only 3 (that I know of) were filed by folks who are actual Democrats. As Mr. Therriault knows quite well, Andree McLeod is strongly Republican, and I believe the rest were filed by non-partisan folks.
The thought of trying to get Andree McLeod to join a "Democratic Plan" just makes me laugh.
At least Continetti fixed his mistake regarding what my Artic Cat claim was about. In his original article on the subject (that was riddled with inaccuracies), "Out of Alaska" in The Weekly Standard, he claimed that Palin was wearing an Arctic Cat "t-shirt."
I also found it interesting that he tied this line from Palin in with the Arctic Cat complaint:
"I got to the point where I said, 'May I just plead guilty?'?" she told me.
While Palin also attributes that line to the Arctic Cat complaint, parts of her "ethics" story is somewhat different in her own book, "Going Rogue." The first two pages were posted early this morning which showed the direction her explanation was going...Andree McLeod-bashing. We see much more of that nastiness in the next two pages:
HERE and HERE.
First off, Palin lied...there was never an official "complaint" about the dress code from McLeod and the target of the letter wasn't Palin. Since her previous job with the State of Alaska Department of Labor was helping people prepare for the workforce, Andree McLeod was hyper-aware of what clothing was not appropriate for the government workplace...especially those folks who regularly deal with the public. The letter was intended for Annette Kreitzer who dealt with those issues for the Office of the Governor. When they decided misconstruing this was great way to attack McLeod, they passed this email to Alaska Ear gossipper Sheila Toomey. The rest led to several records requests.
Considering all of the ethics complaints, I found it interesting that she spent the most amount of time lying (and bitching) about Arctic Cat.
--She claimed that she'd been wearing "the logo and team colors for years." Not while she was Governor and starting the Iron Dog race, she wasn't! I went back three years and she never had a sports jacket on during that race.
--She says the jacket "happened to be the team colors"...actually, it wasn't for 2009. Team Davis/Palin's snow machines and outfits were orange and black while hers were yellow and green. It's the big HUGE Arctic Cat logos all over the jacket and pants that made the difference.
A little worried about the eventual outcome of the APOC investigation, are we?
Of course, the other ethics issue she spends a little time on is the Alaska Fund Trust, that she "covers" on PAGE 374.
Wait a sec...did she just insinuate that the ethics complaint against her over the Alaska Fund Trust was the last straw in her decision to quit her job? Where did I read that before?
So far, the authors have not bothered to achieve a working understanding of Palin's legal issues and the problems that still face her. I look forward to the more accurate books coming out from Geoffrey Dunn and Joe McGinness to see what they have to say about her legal troubles.
You can also look forward to future posts on the blog!
*******************************************UPDATE*************************************************
--As "EyeOnYou" pointed out in the comments (and I forgot to emphasize) Sheila Toomey insinuated via email that the way she got the Andree's memo was through a records request. Nice that Palin cleared that up for us.
--Forgot to point out the rehashed lie that the ethics complaints were all dismissed. There are still several complaints out there BESIDES the AK Fund Trust issue that should have dragged her in front of a hearing by now.
--The official Arctic Cat complaint cited her for vioation of AS 39.52.120 Misuse of Official Position. You can read it HERE.
*******************************************UPDATE*************************************************
I found this in my email (and it seems that PALINGATES got one too):
I act as legal counsel to HarperCollins Publishers. I have just learned that you have posted substantial excerpts from our as yet unpublished book, Going Rogue, by Sarah Palin, on your web site. We view your posting of these excerpts as an infringement of our and Governor Palin's exclusive rights under copyright. Accordingly, we demand that you remove them from your web site.
Christopher Goff
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
Voice: 212 207 7127
Fax: 212 207 7552
******************************************************
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This E-Mail is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you have received this communication in error, please do not distribute and delete the original message. Please notify the sender by E-Mail at the address shown. Thank you for your compliance.
As you can see, I took the pages off the site. However, the real story here is this:
--The Senior Vice President of Harper Collins,
--ON A SUNDAY,
--Sent emails to two specific blogs, one little blog based in Alaska, another based overseas,
--ignoring the multiple other outlets (many of which were larger or were "Palin-positive") that have pages or "extensive excerpts" from her book on the site.
They didn't do this on their own. Palin picked the ones she wanted them to email. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, my posts in question leaned towards fact-checking/lie-refuting than some of the others that were more for entertainment.
In other words, this was Palin-flattery!
I was once asked if, God forbid, Palin ever did become President, what would her first act be? I stated that she would gather up the considerable resources available to a U.S. President and use them...to go after her "enemies" in Alaska and the media.
I rest my case.
And in light of all this, the question I have for Mr. Goss and HarperCollins: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE PALIN'S BITCH?
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