This is not an isolated incident for Palin. She also hire Tom Lamal, who once hosted a fundraiser for Palin, circumventing the state's hiring process.

There is an ethics complaint on this hiring, filed by a former state employee.

I suspect that, as more rocks are turned over, more shady deals will be exposed.

PEACE

Following appointment to that position, Debbie's stewardship of the Permanent Fund began with a very rocky start. In 2006:

Alaska Permanent Fund dividend checks barely made it out on time last year after a computer technician accidentally wiped out a data file containing hundreds of thousands of dividend applications.

After desperately trying to recover the file with help from Microsoft Corp., the Permanent Fund Dividend Division of the Department of Administration went to the backup tapes.

Then things got worse.

"The problem was, there was some file that linked information wasn't backed up," said Debbie Richter, division director. "That was an essential piece of the puzzle."

snip

Eventually, the reports were released - minus the explanation of what had happened at the Permanent Fund Division.

snip

"No other governor in my experience has ever kept those reports confidential, and certainly never censored them in the way the Palin administration did," he said.

snip

Recovering from the Permanent Fund Division data loss involved calling in temporary workers to reconstruct lost data. Applications from the increasing number of applications filed online were able to be recovered; but paper applications had to be reconstructed by hand.

Three thoughts:

Excuse me, but "manually reconstructing" thousands of several hundred dollar payments from a state royalty fund? That sounds like it could be prone for abuse.

Who was the "contractor" hired to help sort it out? How much were they paid.

Why did the Governor refuse to allow disclosure of the mandated state audit report on the computer failure?

Will Elle Woods please step up to a microphone and answer a couple questions? Enough hiding.

Pufferfish

IT JUST HIT THE FAN, SOMEONE GO AND PROTECT THIS KID... HE'S GONNA DIE WITHIN TWO WEEKS FOR THIS POST...

BREAKING NEWS: BRISTOL PALIN'S FATHER IS ACTUALLY A YOUNG BLACK MALE!!! SEE
http://ec2-75-101-218-88.compute-1.amazonaws.com/

THIS IS TRUE.... GOV PALIN IS A RACIST.....

IT JUST HIT THE FAN, SOMEONE GO AND PROTECT THIS KID... HE'S GONNA DIE WITHIN TWO WEEKS FOR THIS POST...

BREAKING NEWS: BRISTOL PALIN'S FATHER IS ACTUALLY A YOUNG BLACK MALE!!! SEE
http://ec2-75-101-218-88.compute-1.amazonaws.com/

THIS IS TRUE.... GOV PALIN IS A RACIST.....

Funny how when I go to another computer with a different IP address, the "Send" button appears in the usual place, but on my home machine, no matter which browser I use (FF or IE), and no matter whether the cache or the cookies are cleared or not, it doesn't.

This has been a long-running (abt. 8 days) problem.

Does anyone else have it? If so, find a different computer (since by hypothesis you wouldn't be able to use your own) and post your fun experience.

If McSame and Palindrone are elected they will fit nicely in the well worn, shit filled boots of the current Grand Marshall of the Republican Hack Parade.

It has never been about merit for McSame (affirmative action via admiralty) or Palindrone (5 colleges in six years) and a trail of bodies all the way to governors office. Cronyism is rampant in her administration.

NOTHING will change. The Hack Parade of Hypocrisy rolls on.

Is there no end to the Sarah scandals?

I've been looking into the $200 million+ Mat-Su prison project which is a joint project sponsored by the Mat-Su Borough Assembly and the state of Alaska.

Although the Mat-Su project has been in the works for awhile, the Mat-Su Borough only announced in June 2008 that it was hiring Rise Alaska to manage the project for $225k.

Rise Alaska is a subsidiary of Rise Interntaional in Illinois.

Ted Stevens fans will recognize the names of a couple of other projects that Rise Alaska managed:

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
Alaska SeaLife Center

Other Rise Alaska projects include:

Fairbanks International Airport
Alaska Dept of Corrections - Anchorage Jail
Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation - Kodiak Rocket Launch Complex
Knik Bridge & Toll Authority - Knik Arm Crossing Project
Anchorage Civic & Convention Center
Anchorage Museum
Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center - Fairbanks

Alaska Railroad Corporation - Northern Extension

God help us if she gets to appoint the head of FEMA! Can you say "Good job Brownie!"

None of this may stick. She's just what the people are looking for, white, not too smart, supposedly middle class. And McCain has a battalion of lawyers in Alaka putting out fires, suing people, and intimidating people. People might talk if they don't have to give their name, but as you've seen, few people are stepping out on a limb to tell what they know and name names.

Please stop referring to Bitney's relationship with Debbie Richter as "an affair." That is pro-Palin spin. Richter was separated at the time, and free to date whoever she wanted to.