Palin's Contempt for Legislature Makes her UNFIT for Office

On Oct 10, 2008, the independent legislative Branchflower investigation concluded that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin violated ethics laws and abused her power as governor. Patti Higgins, Alaska's state Democratic Party chairwoman probably expressed the sentiments of many when in reference to the report's findings she remarked, "Gov. Palin has violated Alaskans' trust" and "I hope that in light of this finding, Gov. Palin will stop playing partisan politics to the detriment of Alaska's future" (as quoted by Charles Piller and Kim Murphy in the Los Angeles Times, October 11, 2008).

What does Palin say about the findings? On Oct 12, 2008, in a conference call with Meg Stapleton of the Anchorage Daily News, and local TV stations KTVA, and KTUU, and without being prompted or 'set up' by these journalists, Palin herself asked to address this issue and said, "Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there." (emphasis added).

(?!Sorry?!)

Stapleton then asked Palin her first question, "Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case? To which Palin replied, "Not at all and I’ll tell you, it, I think that you’re always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving."

According to Sen. Kim Elton, the Juneau Democrat chairs the Legislative Council, which authorized the investigation (one that began prior to becoming McCain's running mate), Palin's characterization of the report is wrong. "Finding No. 1 says she violated the ethics law," Elton said, adding that "Anybody who suggests that the report does not say she broke the law, they just need to read the report. They don't even need to read all 300 pages of it, just page seven or eight" (see LISA DEMER's story for the ADN on October 12th, 2008)

At this point, it does not matter if Palin was within her legal right to fire Monegan and it does not matter it she thinks the legislative investigation had turned into "a political circus" (Palin, in the 10/12 phone interview). Even the FIRST finding that she HAD breached the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act might not matter that much in and of itself. And, that she did not do so for money does NOT matter, because there are infinite types of personal gain. In this case, she seems to have done it to indulge and abet an unethical and illegal personal vendetta. Palin's acts demonstrate that she is unethical and vindictive. That is bad enough, yet she might have been able to get away with such character flaws because of her popularity.

Instead, Palin's Orwellian response to the findings takes the Alice-in-Wonderland cake. Now we know once and for all - even without being set up by the 'gotcha' media - that in addition to being unethical and vindictive, she is a compulsive liar. Her latest distortion is not poli-spin. It is such an obvious and self-defeating falsehood that it crosses over the line to pathology. A competent politician would not have so freely offered such an abnormal and unnecessary lie.

It demonstrates abject CONTEMPT for the Legislature and the American people.This is nothing new. Time and time again, Palin has indulged in a LaLaLandish total disregard for the truth - so much so as to incite violence against a US Presidential candidate. This time her venture from reality is not even directed at her opponent. All the same, like many of her other lies, it undermines the rule of law and the commonweal. The Alaskan Legislature could charge her with contempt; some Alaskans are preparing to file a recall and others are discussing impeachment; Trooper Wooten intends to sue Gov. Palin (et al) for defamation of character and civil rights violations (see http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com). New and unusual Palin Problems surface every day. What is next? Primetime - why not? Sanctioning by the GOP? I should hope so (and maybe even poor McCain for selecting such a disgraceful character). VP? Clearly Palin is unworthy of the position.