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Palin Fired Aide Who Dated Wife of Todd's Friend
The Politico reported Friday that a longtime associate and former gubernatorial aide to Sarah Palin says he was asked to leave the governor's office after the Palins discovered that he was dating the soon-to-be-ex wife of a close friend of Todd Palin.
John Bitney, who grew up in Wasilla with Palin, told the paper cum website:
I wanted to stay with the governor and support the governor -- we're talking about someone who's been a friend for 30 years -- but I understood it, and I have no ax to grind over the whole thing."
Today, the Wall Street Journal added more to the story, reporting that seven weeks after publicly praising Bitney, Palin fired him for what her spokeswoman now describes as "poor job performance."
During that time, Palin had found out from Scott Richter, a friend of Todd Palin's, that Richter's wife, Debbie, was having a relationship with Bitney.
The Journal notes that Palin's office seems to have had trouble keeping its story straight on the reason for Bitney's departure.
At the time, the governor's office cited "personal reasons" for Mr. Bitney's "amicable" departure, according to contemporaneous news reports. Last week, Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman for the governor's office, said "John Bitney was dismissed because of his poor job performance." She declined to provide further details.
Josh
Zachary
Is this the ACTUAL story to the affair rumor that The Enqirer exposed last week? They said that Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband's business partner. Guess they were off a little, huh?
September 9, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is getting more Jerry Springer all the time.
Let's break this down. The cast of characters:
Sara and Todd Palin
Debbie and Scott Richter (Scott is Todd's B-partner)
John Bitney, childhood friend turned governor's office employee (apparently cronyism is nothing new)
So anyway...Bitney has an affair with Debbie. Just how they know each other is uncertain. But according to the quote in the post it was Sarah, not Todd, who found out first. But then Todd gets pissed because Scott is his bud and business partner.
The enquirer is trying to tie Sarah to Scott Richter in an affair. That would be an interesting twist. Man, who needs "Desperate Housewives"?
It is just too screwed up for words. Where is Jerry Springer? He can straighten this out for us.
Oh BTW this is my new theme song for Sarah Palin. You know she is just a down home girl...not one of those elitists. I this this song sums it up nicely don't you?
September 9, 2008 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
oops, I think this song sums it up nicely.
My kingdom for a preview box!
September 9, 2008 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nope. My money us on the Female Chavinist pig in lipstick also doing the horizonal bop. Palin knows no boundries between what pleases her and her duties and obligations to those whose votes were stolen to put her in office.
September 9, 2008 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait - slow down. Can someone please update the scorecard?
The lies are coming out of Alaska and Senator McCain's campaign headquarters SO fast that I simply cannot keep track of them…
So, the Governor was 'for Bitney' before she was 'against him?'
September 9, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm confused too. Was he bit in the knee by a barracuda, or by a pit bull in lipstick?
September 9, 2008 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
The denouement of the story is that Bitney landed on his feet, perhaps because Palin didn't want another firing scandal coming just after Troopergate. He was hired by Alaska House Speaker John Harris:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/108942 .
According to Harris' web site, Bitney works there still.
Harris' constituent, political contributor and good buddy Larry Reynolds is the guy who ended up buying the "eBay" plane. You can read my post on the whole plane debacle here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/6/13842/71239/755/589099
September 9, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ooo boy. I'm willing to let these romantic firings slide. Let's just focus the MSM on Troopergate and Bridging the Bridge to Nowhere.
McCain's VP selection process: http://tinyurl.com/5zr47h
September 9, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aw, the plot thickens. See, I told you people this conservanazi scumbag b!tch is corrupt. Not only does she have a problem lying, but she seems to have a vendetta against people who won't do as she pleases.
Can you imagine this conservanazi with her finger on the BIG BUTTON?
If this woman is a 'real' christian, she'd be at home being the pretty wife and raising her kids.
Obviously, she can do neither.
BTW, is all those kids by the same father? ;0
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag carrying a cross." Sinclair Lewis
September 9, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
It wasn't Palin that fired the adulterer.
It was an offended Christian Lord, who reached down and chose Palin as His instrument of righteous retribution.
September 9, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
It really is a small world in Alaska. Only last week we were reading about Sarah Palin and Scott Richter:
This particular storyline seems to have died.
September 9, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
It wasn't Palin that fired the adulterer.
It was God. As He later guided McCain to Palin, a vengeful Lord had earlier tested her as His instrument of righteous retribution.
Here endeth the lesson.
September 9, 2008 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Richters and the Palins are intertwined.
Debbie Richter, the alleged adulterer, was Sarah Palin's campaign treasurer. Richter now runs the Alaska Permanent Fund checkwriting operation. The Alaska Permanent Fund writes a free money check to every Alaskan every year.
Debbie and Scott Richter along with Sarah Palin and her husband hold joint title to several properties in Wasila and Big Lake, AK. The Richters even own part of the Palin family house.
Someone should really check out the rest of this "relationship" between the Palin family and the Richters.
Where did the Palin family get so much money to make investments?
Under Sarah and Debbie’s leadership in 2006, all Permanent Fund claims from residents (you have to make a claim for your check) were lost in a computer data entry failure and had to be manually reconstructed at significant cost. Gov Sarah buried the government report about what happened.
Did Debbie and Sarah steal from the Alaska Permanent Fund during the data failure and the manual reconstruction?
From 2006:
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.
September 9, 2008 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Palin-Gate (copied & edited from another blog on firedoglake.com):
1.Troopergate/ currently stalling the investigation and refusing to turn over 1100 emails.
2. Replaced the guy she fired in troopergate with someone with a sexual harassment complaint who lasted 10 days – and then gave him a $10,000 severance package in exchange for not suing the state.
3. Todd’s Alaska Independence Party connections
4. Used a state site to promote mining interests over clean water.
5. Bridge to nowhere: being for it before she was against it – and still lying about it!
6. For earmarks before she was against them
7. Pumping money into a bankrupt Alaska dairy and then selling it off to cronies
8. Firing employees as mayor over loyalty issues
9. Attempting to ban books from the library and fire the librarian
10. Involved in the 527 for Ted Stevens
11. As mayor hired a lobbyist to secure $27 million dollars in pork for town of 6,000 residents.
12. Her own still dubious pregnancy/flying 3000 miles after her water broke and then back at work 3 days after the “birth”.
13. Her expensive ($25 million) screwup with building a sports complex in Wasilla as mayor
14. Anti-abortion, even in the case of rape & incest. Alaska has one of the highest rates of rape and incest in the country!
15. Anti-gay marriage
16. Pro-abstinence education only - and Alaska has one of the highest STD rates in the country!
17. Pro-gun
18. Anti-environment (wolves and polar bears & beluga whales)
19. Pro-drilling, including ANWR.
20. Global warming denier
21. Creationist/wants it taught in schools
22. Thought the Pledge of Allegiance dates to the founding of the country (it was penned in 1892 and “under God” was added in 1954)
23. She states on her stump speech that she cut her own salary as mayor (she did by $4,000) – but the city had to hire an administrative assistant to help her – a position that did not previously exist.
24. Attends a church with an anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic pastor that believes you can “pray away the gay”
25. Charged the state nearly $17,000 in per diem travel expenses when she was living at home
26. Fannie & Freddie gaffe.
27. The troopers union is filing suit because Trooper Wooten’s personnel records were looked into.
28. Supports killing wolves from helicopters.
29. Sequestered from the media.
30. That personal chef she fired from the mansion, Stefani Marnon, is still on the state payroll – now cooking at the Legislative Lounge.
31. Attended 5-6 colleges in 6 years.
32. Son Track involved in juvenile incident where he and 3 other kids stole vodka, then vandalized fifty school buses. He may have enlisted in an “either jail or military” deal.
33. Firing her friend and legislative aide, John Bitney, because he was dating the wife of one of her married friends
34. Still lying about selling the plane on E-Bay for a profit.
35. Not a “hands on” executive & lacks follow through. One of those executives who doesn’t read much beyond the executive summary. Not unlike Bush.
36. Vindictive & mean. Does not like dissent. If you are not perceived as loyal, she’ll crush you. Not unlike Cheney, Bush, & Rove.
37. Video showing her stating that she doesn’t know what a VP does. The rest of us learned this in the 3rd grade.
38. Palin promotes Alaska National Guard general three days AFTER he indorses her.
Update and pass along.
September 9, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are a couple of loose ends to the story.
Bitney got fired, but not Debbie Richter Bitney.
Bitney's comment about the episode: "They were, you know, professionally my bosses, but they were my friends," Mr. Bitney said of the Palins. "And so what caused them to want me to leave the governor's office was my relationship, my divorce, my dating a woman with whom they had a personal relationship."
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB122092043531812813.html
How was Todd Palin John Bitney's boss?
September 9, 2008 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
And why is Sarah Palin claiming executive privilege on emails that were cc'd to Todd? Todd is just a regular citizen, he holds no office. I find it interesting that Todd was in the middle of the trooper-gate scandal as well - putting pressure on officials.
Sarah Palin is to Bush as Todd Palin is to Cheney.
He has a lot of power behind the scenes as 1st dude.
http://community.adn.com/node/127769
September 10, 2008 12:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bitney was fired for "poor job performance."
Yet Bitney had been a star performer...
Let's see, where have we heard that excuse before? Oh, yes, in the Bush Administration Department of Justice - when the US Attorneys were fired.
Maverick, indeed. Sounds more and more like Washington establishment.
September 10, 2008 12:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if publicly saying Bitney was fired for poor job performance qualifies as slander (or libel, if it was a written statement). I guess if they can produce evaluations that back them up, they'd be on safer ground, but . . .
September 10, 2008 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Have you seen Debbie Richter? Definitely not a hottie.
September 10, 2008 12:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Have you seen Debbie Richter? Definitely not a hottie.
September 10, 2008 12:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh God,.. does this Neo-Pentecostal Dominionist Fascist religious zealot ever tell the truth ???
The wrath of the Lord God Almighty and Sarah Palin will be cast upon you - if you deviate slightly from their will, words, and instructions.
September 10, 2008 12:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
First, is Todd Sarah's Chenney?
Second, I always assumed the eight men to one woman ratio in Alaska was a 'Log-cabin' Republican haven thingy . . . BUT perhaps it points to poly-andry and a G-I-ant animal-slaughtering sex romp on the tundra . . .
September 10, 2008 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Cookie '08,
Great list of (t)reasons for the Rapturian Right and fascist plutocrats to vote FOR Palin.
Are there any that would make them shy away from the female chauvinist pig in lipstick?
Ever inquiring,
RLA
September 10, 2008 9:19 AM | Reply | Permalink