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How Transparent Will Palin Be?

September 16, 2008 12:49 PM

GOLDEN, COLO. -- "We're going to make everything more open," Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said here yesterday, "and more accountable, and more attractive to those who want to serve."

Good government groups have told me that in general, when it comes to transparency issues, they're very happy with both candidates on the top of the ticket. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., are both seen as "reformers" by these groups. Sure, there have been glitches here and there (Obama's broken promises on public financing comes to mind) but in general they see both men as allies.

Enter Gov Palin.

She has a case to make that she's a maverick.

She has a case to make that she's a reformer.

But is she a transparency advocate?

“E-mails from the Palin administration are being withheld from the public and the governor is citing executive privilege," reported Alaska TV station KTUU last month. "With subject lines like ‘Fagan,’ ‘Andrew Halcro’ and even ‘Alaska Ear,’ it makes some wonder how those topics could possibly be policy related; especially since those same e-mails were copied to the governor's husband...Officials say the private e-mails within the Palin administration won't be released.”

“Palin routinely uses a private Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business," the Anchorage Daily News reported a few days ago. "Others in the governor's office sometimes use personal e-mail accounts too. The practice raises questions about backdoor secrecy in an administration that vowed during the 2006 campaign to be ‘open and transparent.’…

"Where you've got a governor apparently using a Yahoo account for state business, that's kind of a complete inversion of what ought to be happening in terms of public records,’ said Charles Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and a Missouri journalism associate professor. ‘E-mail that's public business ought to be done on public accounts that can become public record,’ he said.”

Using a personal email account to conduct official business is what officials of the Bush administration -- perhaps most notoriously Karl Rove -- in an apparent attempt to circumvent any subpoenas.

Is following that model "transparent"?

In December 2006, newly-elected Gov. Palin and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, Department of Revenue Commissioner Patrick Galvin and acting Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Marty Rutherford met with three oil producers to discuss the new gas pipeline. The previous governor, Frank Murkowski, had negotiated a deal with BP, Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil, though the plan had never been ratified by the Legislature. Palin said her new administration would open up the process to other companies.

Wrote the Anchorage Daily News, "Palin promised her pipeline contract negotiations would be open and transparent -- although the meetings starting today won't be…"

"Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy," reported the New York Times this month. "The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.”

When Palin started as mayor in Wasilla in 1996, she was similarly criticized.

“She’s also been criticized by the local semiweekly newspaper for a new policy requiring department heads to get the mayor’s approval before talking to reporters," the Anchorage Daily News noted. "An editorial in The Frontiersman labeled it a ‘gag order.’ Palin said it’s a temporary rule to smooth the way until department heads have a better sense of the administration’s policies.”

The accumulation of all these actions would undermine how transparent and open Palin's instincts are.

And I suppose it goes without saying that Palin was introduced to the public 18 days ago and has yet to hold a press conference.

- jpt

September 16, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (277)

User Comments

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Obama's a fraud manufactured by corporate Stalinists -- and when it comes to fraudiness, Palin's not EVEN in it with the ghastly Biden

---------------------------------------
Is a Corporate Stalinist anything like a Liberal Fascist?

Please help, I'm trying to learn political science from this discussion.

Posted by: Leonard Peltier | Sep 17, 2008 12:15:54 AM

Monegan actually tried to stay off the radar and be deferential to the governor and let the investigation play out. But when she came out and lied about the contacts, he spoke out about the multiple meetings with Todd Palin AND contacts from Palin about the trooper just prior to being fired when he refused. Regardless of what the trooper did, that investigation wen through the proper channels and both his internal department review and the custody hearings were overseen by neutral and competent administrators. So, she says she fired him because he was seeking federal money to investigate sexual assault cases? And replaced him with a man with a known record of sexual harassment claims. This is the same woman who made rape victims pay for their own rape kits and would insist on her 14 year old daughter (the girl's age at the time) not get an abortion even she were raped. And she won't answer questions about it and won't meet with an investigator or permit aides to testify. Wow. She may be a woman, but she clearly HATES women. Well, I guess she gets along just fine with McCain who voted againt Biden's Violence Against Women Act and nominated his wife for the stripper contest.

Posted by: Kate Mom of Twins | Sep 16, 2008 11:51:52 PM

Jayhawk
re: "Can you say "Old Joe Biden the draft dodger?"
Do you really want to go there? well, OK then..
Read it and weep for the over 4000 brave Americans that have died for these frauds.

Bush and his fraud national Guard service, Cheney and all the rest of the chicken hawk neo-cons who like to get other peoples kids killed so their buds can get a hold of more Arab oil.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Ari Fleischer: did not serve.
* Andrew Card: did not serve.
* Ken Adelman: did not serve.

# Sean Hannity: did not serve.
# Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
# Matt Drudge: did not serve.
# Steve Forbes: did not serve.
# Tony Snow: did not serve.
# Michael "Savage" Weiner: did not serve.
# Brit Hume: did not serve.
# Roger Ailes: did not serve.
# Chris Matthews: did not serve.
# Neil Boortz : did not serve.
# Paul Gigot: did not serve.
# Bill Kristol: did not serve.
# Ralph Reed: did not serve.
# Michael Medved: did not serve.
# Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
# Anne Coulter: did not serve.
# Jerry Falwell: did not serve.
# Alan Keyes : did not serve.
# Ted Nugent: did not serve.

None of George W. Bush's three brothers, Jeb, Marvin, or Neil served.

G.O.P. presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, none of his five sons served.

Giuliani did not serve in the military during the Vietnam War. He received a student deferment while at Manhattan College and another while at NYU Law. Upon graduation from NYU Law in 1968, he was classified as 1-A, available for military service. He applied for a deferment but was rejected. In 1969, MacMahon (the judge for whom he was clerking) wrote a letter to Giuliani's draft board, asking that he be reclassified as 2-A, civilian occupation deferment, because Giuliani, who was a law clerk for MacMahon, was an essential employee. The deferment was granted. In 1970, Giuliani received a high draft lottery number; he was not called up for service although by then he had been reclassified 1-A

- Mitch McConnell, the current Republican leader in the U.S. Senate: did not serve.
- Bill Frist,, the former Republican leader in the U.S. Senate: did not serve.
- Trent Lott, the former Republican leader in the U.S. Senate: avoided the draft, did not serve.
- Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee" He defeated tripelegic Democratic war hero Max Cleland by questioning his patriotism!

- Phil Gramm: did not serve.
- Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
- Jon Kyl: did not serve.
- John Engler: did not serve.
- Don Nickles: did not serve.
- Rick Santorum: did not serve.
- John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments, to teach business.
- Richard Shelby: did not serve.

Rush Limbaugh -- sought deferment (because of a cyst on his tail end).
(Rush's conservative brother) David Limbaugh: did not serve.
George Will -- sought graduate school deferment, (too smart to die).
Pat Buchanan -- sought deferment (for bad knee).
Pat Robertson -- his US Senator father got him out of Korea as soon as the shooting began.

This is just a partial list......

GET IT ?

Posted by: Jazzman | Sep 16, 2008 11:41:24 PM

Well... guess what?

Her beloved yahoo email account has been phished.


an individual was able to guess the password (making this a phishing attack, not a hack).

screencaps of several emails were taken.

then another individual comming from the same group felt bad and changed the password and notified the FBI.


just goes to show you:


Sarah Palin is not up to the standards of running the US.

Alaska is another story, but when you run the US, you have to CONSTANTLY scrutinize everything.


she just doesnt have what it takes.

the concept that her Yahoo account might not be secure did not even cross her mind, now she learns the hard way.

Posted by: mongo | Sep 16, 2008 11:26:21 PM

How can Palin be transparent? CNN reported that her SUPPORTERS couldn't use their own signs to cheer her on at one of her bogus, lying rallies. They DISTRIBUTED those yellow posters that read "read my lipstick", "mommies for Palin" etc. Their campaign is controlling the rally signs for goodness sake!!! Her camp is trying to control EVERYTHING pertaining to her, so they can hopefully sail into the Whitehouse. WRONG!!! Sara Palin will never see the light of day at an office at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Posted by: Lila | Sep 16, 2008 11:18:11 PM

Palin is as transparent as mud. What a joke. To think of her possibly taking over for McCain as president makes me want to run for the hills. She must have a tremendous ego to think that she has the body of knowledge to run the country. And McCain, in choosing her, proved not only that he is NOT a maverick (if he was a true maverick he would have chosen Lieberman, who McCain really wanted), but he's weak as well. He caved to the "base."

Posted by: outtahere | Sep 16, 2008 11:10:28 PM

What's a PUMA?

Posted by: Loren | Sep 16, 2008 11:00:25 PM

Whoops! My bad. Update. The count for John McCain's transgressions are up from 70 to 76. Google: "Jukebox John keeps changing his tune." Obama has a looooong way to go to catch up with J-Mac. With only 27 infractions, Obama still won't come close to matching John McCain's outrageous record of asinine misgivings, missteps, mismanagement and mispicking of Sarah Palin. Keep lying John. I love to watch your numbers grow.

Posted by: 76-27=49 | Sep 16, 2008 10:59:20 PM

BTW: Jake, thanks for another intelligent, thought-provoking article

Posted by: JudiNV | Sep 16, 2008 10:56:06 PM

I'm a young minority male who embraces the hip hop culture and dress accordingly. Hip hop influences my style, music, vernacular, and mindset. For those who are quick to stereotype, I'm sure my presence evokes thoughts of thuggery. However, I am a college graduate, gainfully employed, and advancing in a promising career. Having grown up in a large urban city, I know my share of thugs. And trust me, the republicans are no different than the typical street hoodlums. The manner in which the republicans have conducted this campaign is nothing less than gangster politics. The street "dogs" that I know can only aspire to be as shrewd, cutthroat, and sinister, as the "Rethuglican" party. Damn, I wish I had coined that term!

Posted by: J.T. | Sep 16, 2008 10:24:13 PM

Transparent as she has been

as

TITANIUM STEEL

Posted by: Omentum | Sep 16, 2008 10:08:06 PM

Beckie,

The blog erases all links.

Just let people know what you want them to look for on google.

Posted by: Ryan C | Sep 16, 2008 10:07:56 PM

For some reason, this blog will not allow me to post a link to McCain's list of 70 flip flops, lies and failures. Just google "McCain 70 flip flops." Makes Obama look as solid as the pope.

Posted by: Beckie | Sep 16, 2008 9:50:43 PM

"Why did she give his replacement, Kopp, a $10,000 severence package after 11 ..."

_____________

Why not?

Obama and his wee church paid off his pastor to the tune of $10,000,000 in the form of a "retirement fund".... and through in a multi-million dollar mini-mansion to sweeten the deal!
_____________________________________---


WHAT THE HECK DOES OBAMA'S CHURCH'S DONATIONS TO THEIR PASTOR HAVE TO DO WITH PALIN AWARDING KOPP $10,000 OF STATE MONEY?

The former deals with private, personal funds donated by consenting adults to their pastor. The latter deals with the near theft of taxpayer's hard earned dollars going to cover up Palin's lies about Troopergate!! You can't compare apples to crocodiles.

Posted by: Beckie | Sep 16, 2008 9:43:57 PM

James, we have the same last name, Danley...very interesting. But we sure don't have the same political views. Maybe we're related.

Posted by: Beckie | Sep 16, 2008 9:37:46 PM

"The trooper's boss, Walt Monegan, has already stated that neither Gov. Palin nor her husband, Todd Palin, requested him to fire the trooper. Although he says he felt "pressure" to fire him."

That Todd Plain contacted this guy at all is extremely improper. We also have the issue of confidential information being leaked. You may remember the Linda Tripp scenario. This is similar.

"Now as for the firing of Walt Monegan, as a member of Gov. Palin's cabinet, she can fire him for ANY reason. However, Gov. Palin fired him because he opposed her budget priorities."

That is what she claims in documents her lawyer filed.

Meanwhile her failure to release emails indeed her use of personal email accounts to conduct public business are something that should be looked at.

Posted by: Ryan C | Sep 16, 2008 9:15:16 PM

Rejoining John McCain for a joint rally near Youngstown, Ohio, Sarah Palin offered an abbreviated version of her stump speech that included no mention of her putting the state plane in Alaska on eBay or her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere."

Posted by: Ryan C | Sep 16, 2008 9:12:10 PM

Thanks again for the correction, Ryan C. Your right, it should have been December 2002.

Beckie, don't hold your breath waiting for the shoe to drop regarding Troopergate. In 2006 the state investigators found the trooper guilty of "a significant pattern of judgment failure." This pattern included the tasering of his 10 year-old stepson, drinking beer while in his state trooper vehicle, and killing a moose out of season. The trooper was never fired. He was given a 5-day suspension. The trooper's boss, Walt Monegan, has already stated that neither Gov. Palin nor her husband, Todd Palin, requested him to fire the trooper. Although he says he felt "pressure" to fire him.

Now as for the firing of Walt Monegan, as a member of Gov. Palin's cabinet, she can fire him for ANY reason. However, Gov. Palin fired him because he opposed her budget priorities.

Posted by: James Danley | Sep 16, 2008 9:07:01 PM

What McCain and Palin are
saying is that they are
liars and they are going
to keep telling lies to
American people.

So what's anybody going
to do about it?

Lies or not, millions of
Republicans will vote for
the pair. And they will
keep on lying.

Posted by: anon | Sep 16, 2008 9:04:02 PM

"As I said, most of them must have been done under wraps in the middle of the night,......"

No, nearly every single one was broadcast live on TV, from cspan to cable networks to quite a few on network TV.

Since you repeated what you said even though you were informed it was wrong, now I have to call you a liar.

"or on channels unavailable to us lowly folk here in Illinois where we suffer through the highest taxes in the country!"

If you can't afford cable, you're not paying the highest tax rates in the country.

Posted by: Ryan C | Sep 16, 2008 8:40:46 PM

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