It is the only way she can get a more friendly review by a three person panel as a personal review…than the scathing she is expecting her legislature to follow up with…
Her lawyer asked the legislature to drop their investigation, citing that the Personnel Board has jurisdiction over ethics… The Senator handling the investigation, immediately refused. “That investigation isn’t just examining potential abuse of power by the governor, but also others in her administration”, said Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat and former state prosecutor.
But there was another problem. The Ethics board, (appointed by Sarah herself) could not investigate the governor, because no one had filed an ethics charge against her…. Today she solved that problem.
And so it was; the beginning of the Sixth Day.
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September 4, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Shirley
There’s a view from the other side. Blogger Wolf Howling reports that the legislator in charge of the ethics investigation, Democratic Senator David French did an interview with ABC commenting on the state of the investigation and speculating on its findings. This is in and of itself a breach of ethics.
And Senator French is of course listed as an Obama supporter.
Conflict of interest? Dirty politics?
I admire the fact that Palin made this filing so the investigation could continue.
The constituency of the Personnel Board:
“The Personnel Board’s three members were first appointed by Gov. Frank Murkowski, whom Palin unseated in a Republican primary in 2006. Palin reappointed one member, Debra English, in 2008.”
Not sure exactly how “friendly” they may be. Two of them were part of the good old boys network.
Other references:
http://wolfhowling.blogspot.com/2008/09/palin-ethical-lapses-troopergate.html
http://wolfhowling.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-slime-oozes-from-abcs-troopergate.html
September 4, 2008 at 8:47 pm
kavips
Shirley.
First thanks for the links… But….
Here is the premise of Wolf’s Howling’s argument:
The commission investigation into this ethics complaint is another matter entirely. This is an ongoing investigation. As such, I can assure you that commenting on the state of the investigation is a serious ethical breach.
AS SUCH I CAN ASSURE YOU is the only reference we have in his statement as to whether this is an ethical breech or not…
THe problem with his assurance, is that it is not valid…. The core of his argument is that one should not talk to the media during an investigation. Of course, for that argument to carry, it must make the assumption that one is guilty, as in “if you are guilty, do not talk to the media…”
However, in an open society we assume that by shining the light on things we will reveal the truth as it is. If that is our underlying philosophy, then our ethics would preclude that one DOES talk to the media about these items. Bring everything out into the open, positive and negative, and let the chips fall where they may…
The blogger to whom you sent us to, obviously feels the need to counter this openness perhaps because of his fear that something he wants to remain invisible, may come to light.
There is no ethics breech. Talking during an investigation is not illegal, Depending upon the case it is actually sometimes encouraged by one’s lawyer, or often as not, it is otherwise sometimes discouraged by one’s lawyer.
There is no clause in any volume of standard ethical behavior that says one should not talk to the press during an investigation. In fact if we had more of such openness in Dover, we would not be in the mess our “Desk drawer” General Assembly has put us through…
Case dismissed.
September 17, 2008 at 7:53 am
Republicans Suing Republicans….. « kavips
[…] to love a party that is so desperate to win, that first they file ethics charges against themselves, and then…they sue […]
March 25, 2009 at 9:40 am
bruce
??
kavips, you are claiming that there is no clause in any standard volume of ethical behavior that says one should not talk to the press during an investigation – please tell me you are being sarcastic. Just that is one of the things that tripped Nifong up.
http://books.google.com/books?id=swJlObg0cSMC&pg=PA601&lpg=PA601&dq=“prejudicial+to+the+administration+of+justice”+and+of+engaging+in+”conduct+involving+dishonesty,+fraud,+deceit,+or+misrepresentation.”&source=bl&ots=L5Rs-2_UXG&sig=XNqTWbYEWt3d8uc_wk9wDEYy08Y&hl=en&ei=z0HKSZyBFOfvnQeHl4mOAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result
I agree that Palin is scum, but we need to get the facts straight here because you really risk making us look clueless.
Now her sl*t daughter, that’s a different matter.
March 25, 2009 at 10:05 am
Bruce
Ok, I came across too strong though, I was just reading conservative blogs and that always gets me in an angry mood. But I stand behind the general assertion.
March 25, 2009 at 11:36 am
kavips
Bruce,
I am perplexed by something you said…
“there is no clause in any standard volume of ethical behavior”
I have yet to see any volumes of ethical behavior.. do they exist? There are rules for individual functions, but I have never seen something that comes close to be a “standard” of ethical behavior.
These standards are all relative.
As for talking during an investigation, there is no “standard” that says one should or can not… Usually that is done only on the advice of one’s lawyer, and sometimes it is purposefully violated if and when it helps their cause….
I think it came about as an acceptable way to show pesky reporters they were “talkin’ to the hand…”
March 25, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Bruce
http://books.google.com/books?id=swJlObg0cSMC&pg=PA601&lpg=PA601&dq=
That comes pretty cose to a volume for ethical behaviour, true, it’s really legally acceptable behaviour, but giving an interview – by itself – if you’re leading an investigation could easily be considered biasing the Jury/implying a pre-determined outcome. I have no love for Palin but we need to hold ourselves to a high ethical standard to keep people’s faith. For example, we rightfully excoriated Bush for the prosecutor firings, but we need to be sure we also hold justice to a high standard… not just toe the line.
Also the accused can say whatever they like, I’m talking about the investigators.
I’m not against calling a spade a spade thouh, Palin is scum.
This is all my opinion though, I’m not saying Hollins ever did anything illeagal of course. Palin probably did though.