Alaska

Only Three Palin Ethics Complaints Were Still Pending

Zachary Roth | July 8, 2009, 3:01PM

If you had to pick out a coherent explanation given by Sarah Palin for her decision to quit as Alaska governor, you'd probably have to settle on the notion that she felt her agenda was being paralyzed by frivolous ethics complaints, and that she only foresaw additional ones. So she stepped down so as not to continue to drag Alaskans through the process.

"Palin Says Ethics Complaints Were Paralyzing" reported the Anchorage Daily News after the governor's round of beachside interviews Monday. And Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, who'll soon replace Palin as governor, had given that line over the weekend, saying on Fox News that Palin had talked to him about the toll the complaints had taken.

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Alaska

Stevens Prosecutors Messed Up Other Alaska Corruption Cases

Zachary Roth | June 4, 2009, 6:19PM

It looks like it wasn't just the Ted Stevens case in which Justice Department prosecutors screwed up.

Attorney General Eric Holder has found similar missteps in the convictions of two former Alaska state representatives, Victor Kohring and Peter Kott, and has asked that the two be released from prison, reports the AP.

Those convictions sprang from the same wide-ranging probe of corruption in Alaska politics. It was also the same DOJ prosecution team. Five of the six prosecutors in the Stevens case -- William Welch, Joseph Bottini, James Goeke, Nicholas Marsh, and Edward Sullivan -- ran the Kohring and Kott prosecutions.

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Ted Stevens

Justice Picking Up Tab For Stevens Six Defense

Zachary Roth | April 23, 2009, 11:39AM

Guess who's footing the bill for those fancy lawyers the Stevens Six have hired? We are.

The Justice Department confirmed to TPMmuckraker that the prosecutors -- who are being investigated for criminal contempt in connection to misconduct in the Ted Stevens case -- requested representation under a DOJ provision that applies to employees who run into legal trouble while doing their jobs, and that the request was authorized.

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Alaska

Report: Stevens Prosecutor Hires Rove Lawyer

Zachary Roth | April 22, 2009, 4:40PM

The Stevens Six have lawyered up. And what lawyers they are.

Legal Times reports that Nicholas Marsh, one of the public integrity prosecutors, has hired Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, of Patton Boggs.

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Alaska

Justice Unit Being Probed For Contempt In Stevens Trial Brought Similar Case In 2006

Zachary Roth | April 15, 2009, 4:02PM

Are the Ted Stevens prosecutors in line to get a taste of their medicine?

As we've reported, six federal prosecutors from the Stevens case -- members of DOJ's Public Integrity unit, including its head, William Welch -- are now being investigated for knowingly withholding evidence, a potential criminal act.

Prosecutions for this offense -- known as a Brady violation -- are exceedingly rare. But it turns out that in 2006, an Assistant US Attorney was tried on the charge -- and acquitted amid allegations that his prosecution was over-zealous. In fact, the prosecutors who argued the case against the AUSA were with -- you guessed it -- the Public Integrity unit. And for part of that time, they were supervised by Welch himself. (For more on the Stevens Six, go here.)

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Alaska

Stevens Rejected No-Jail Plea Deal Last Summer

Zachary Roth | April 14, 2009, 1:40PM

You can say one thing for Ted Stevens -- he's got cojones.

Court records that were just unsealed show that the former Alaska senator last summer turned down a plea deal with prosecutors that would have resulted in no jail time.

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Alaska

Who Are The Stevens Six?

Zachary Roth | April 9, 2009, 4:25PM

Earlier this week, Judge Emmet Sullivan formally dropped the charges against former Alaska senator Ted Stevens, thanks to prosecutorial misconduct. And Sullivan also announced that he's appointed a special prosecutor of his own to investigate contempt charges against the six Justice Department lawyers whose string of missteps -- the most serious of which involved withholding key evidence -- doomed the case. That misconduct is also the subject of an internal DOJ probe.

Since then, there's been a tangle of competing claims from all sides. We've seen some critics of the Bush administration suggesting that Justice intentionally sabotaged the prosecution, in order to let Stevens, a Republican, off the hook. Meanwhile, some of the more paranoid figures on the right are arguing that the entire prosecution was an (ultimately successful) effort by liberal DOJ bureaucrats to use bogus charges to create a cloud of suspicion around Stevens and thereby win another Senate seat for Democrats.

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Alaska

Alaska Lawmakers Want Government To Apologize To Stevens

Zachary Roth | April 9, 2009, 10:00AM

The Ted Stevens pity party continues.

The Associated Press reports:

Alaska lawmakers want the U.S. government to apologize to former Sen. Ted Stevens, whose corruption conviction was dismissed this week by a federal judge.

...

The Alaska House passed a resolution Wednesday calling for the apology to Stevens.

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Alaska

Did Mukasey Ignore Evidence Of Misconduct In Stevens Case?

Zachary Roth | April 8, 2009, 12:58PM

Buried in the news about charges against Ted Stevens being dropped, there's an additional serious indictment (as if more were needed) of the Bush Justice Department -- and specifically, of Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

Reporting from yesterday's hearing, at which Judge Emmet Sullivan formally announced that the charges would be dropped, the Washington Post notes:

When the judge heard that Stevens's attorneys sent three letters about prosecutorial misconduct to former Attorney General Michael Mukasey but received no response, he called it "shocking -- but not surprising."

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Alaska

Keying Off Stevens Decision, Siegelman Steps Up Push To Have His Own Charges Dropped

Zachary Roth | April 7, 2009, 2:23PM

In the wake of the charges being dropped agaisnt Ted Stevens, is pressure building on the Justice Department to make a similar decision on behalf of Don Siegelman?

A lawyer for the former Alabama governor -- who last week told TPMmuckraker that the misconduct in his own case "dwarf[s]" that in Stevens' -- sent a letter Friday to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking that Holder review the evidence of "serious and pervasive" prosecutorial misconduct in Siegelman's case.

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Alaska

Stevens Judge Seeking Contempt Charges

Zachary Roth | April 7, 2009, 1:37PM

It looks like Judge Emmet Sullivan didn't just leave things at a few harsh words for those government prosecutors who botched the Ted Stevens case by failing to hand over evidence.

Politico reports that the judge will seek contempt charges against the six-person prosecution team for their misconduct. That team includes William Welch, the head of the Public Integrity Section, Brenda Morris, the lead prosecutor in the case, and trial lawyer Nicholas Marsh, all of whom were replaced earlier this year, as a result of the missteps.

Sullivan also appointed a lawyer, Henry Schulke, to investigate the Justice Department in relation to the contempt issue. DOJ has said that its Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting its own probe of the misconduct, but clearly Sullivan wants an independent inquiry.

This could get interesting...

Alaska

Dismissing Charges, Stevens Judge Slams Government Misconduct

Zachary Roth | April 7, 2009, 12:51PM

The judge in the Ted Stevens case has granted the government's motion to drop the charges against the former Alaska senator -- but not before slamming the government prosecutors on the case.

"In nearly 25 years on the bench, I've never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I've seen in this case," U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said at a hearing on the government's motion, reports the Associated Press.

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Eric Holder

Stevens Judge Weighing Sanctions Against Prosecutors

Zachary Roth | April 6, 2009, 9:14AM

The charges against Ted Stevens may be about to be dropped -- but the fallout isn't over.

The judge in the case yesterday ordered the Justice Department to hand over documents relating to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the case, reports the Washington Post.

It was because of this misconduct that Attorney General Eric Holder last week decided to ask the judge, Emmet Sullivan, drop the charges against Stevens.

Read more »

Alaska

Palin Jumps On Begich-Should-Resign Bandwagon

Zachary Roth | April 3, 2009, 9:00AM

Looks like Sarah Palin agrees with the Alaska GOP:

The Anchorage Daily News reports:

Gov. Sarah Palin and the head of the Alaska Republican Party said Thursday that Sen. Mark Begich should give his Senate seat up to a special election now that prosecutors have abandoned their case against Ted Stevens. "Alaskans deserve to have a fair election not tainted by some announcement that one of the candidates was convicted fairly of seven felonies, when in fact it wasn't a fair conviction," Palin said in a Thursday interview with the Daily News.

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Alaska

Begich To Alaska GOP: Yeah, Right!

Zachary Roth | April 2, 2009, 5:29PM

We told you how the Alaska Republican party earlier today reacted to the news that the Justice Department is dropping the charges against Ted Stevens by absurdly calling for the resignation of Sen. Mark Begich, the Democrat who beat Stevens last fall.

Well, now Begich has put out a statement in response:

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Alaska

Alaska GOP: Stevens Decision Means Begich Should Resign

Zachary Roth | April 2, 2009, 3:48PM

Here's the logical (read: nuts) conclusion to the fast-growing Poor-Ted-Stevens movement:

Via Think Progress, a press release from the Alaska GOP:

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Alaska

Siegelman: Stevens Case Is Dropped, So Why Not Mine?

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2009, 7:04PM

For Don Siegelman, DOJ's decision on Ted Stevens just adds insult to injury.

"There seems to be substantial evidence of prosecutorial and other misconduct in my case, that would dwarf the allegations in the Stevens case," the former Alabama governor told TPMmuckraker in an interview moments ago.

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Alaska

MSNBC's Matthews Goofs On Stevens Decision

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2009, 6:03PM

Chris Matthews says a lot of things. So it's to be expected that sometimes they're smart and insightful, and sometimes they're embarrassingly wrong.

Just now, the MSNBC anchor, opining on the news that DOJ is dropping the charges in the Ted Stevens case, declared that the decision means "the charges should never have been brought, there should never have been a prosecution."

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Alaska

Decision To Drop Stevens Case Was Triggered By Latest Government Fumble To Emerge

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2009, 12:10PM

It sounds like the decision to drop the charges against Ted Stevens was prompted by a new example of prosecutorial misconduct, which only came to light recently.

Here's the key excerpt from the Justice Department's motion:

The Government recently discovered that a witness interview of Bill Allen took place on April 15, 2008. While no memorandum of interview or agent notes exist for this interview, notes taken by two prosecutors who participated in the April 15 interview reflect that Bill Allen was asked about a note dated October 6, 2002, that was sent from the defendant to Bill Allen. The note was introduced at trial as Government Exhibit 495 and was referred to as the "Torricelli note." The notes of the April 15 interview indicate that Bill Allen said, among other things, in substance and in part, that he (Bill Allen) did not recall talking to Bob Persons regarding giving a bill to the defendant. This statement by Allen during the April 15 interview was inconsistent with Allen's recollection at trial, where he described a conversation with Persons about the Torricelli note. In addition, the April 15 interview notes indicate that Allen estimated that if his workers had performed efficiently, the fair market value of the work his corporation performed on defendant's Girdwood chalet would have been $80,000. Upon the discovery of the interview notes last week, the Government immediately provided a copy to defense counsel.

Defendant Stevens was not informed prior to or during trial of the statements by Bill Allen on April 15, 2008. This information could have been used by the defendant to cross- examine Bill Allen and in arguments to the jury. The Government also acknowledges that the Government's Opposition to Defendant's Motion for a New Trial provided an account of the Government's interviews of Bill Allen that is inaccurate.

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Alaska

DOJ's Motion To Dismiss Stevens Case

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2009, 9:31AM

Here's the Justice Department's undated motion to dismiss the case, which lays out the rationale in detail, and was presumably filed yesterday or this morning.

Eric Holder

Holder: Withholding Evidence Was Key Factor In Decision To Drop Charges

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2009, 9:21AM

So which of the many well-documented prosecutorial missteps was most important in leading to the Justice Department's decision to drop the case against Ted Stevens?

The initial read, based on DOJ's statement, is that it was prosecutors' withholding of evidence from the defense.

Holder:

After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial.

We'll have more on the details of this soon.

Alaska

DOJ Statement On Stevens Case

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2009, 9:10AM

The Justice Department has released a statement on the decision to drop the Ted Stevens case:

STATEMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER REGARDING UNITED STATES V. THEODORE F. STEVENS

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PERMALINK | COMMENTS (10) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (10)
Topics: Alaska, Justice Department, Ted Stevens

Alaska

Justice Department To Drop Stevens Charges

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2009, 8:43AM

NPR:

The Justice Department will drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, NPR has learned.

It added that Attorney General Eric Holder decided the conviction could not be defended thanks to problems with the prosecution.

The news of the case being dropped has now been confirmed independently by the AP and CNN.

Read more »

Alaska

Another Guilty Plea In Alaska Corruption Probe

Zachary Roth | March 12, 2009, 5:38PM

Oe of our favorite wide-ranging probes, the one into corruption in Alaska state government, grinds relentlessly on.

The Justice Department just announced that Beverly Masek, a former member of the state House of Representatives, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bribery, in connection with cash payments she received from oil-services contractor Bil Allen, in exchange for using her position to take actions that benefited Allen's company.

Masek faces a maximum of five years in prison, and is due to be sentenced in May.

The wide-ranging probe, of course, has already netted Ted Stevens -- the Republican former U.S. senator, who was convicted last fall of making false statement on his Senate disclosure forms in connection to gifts he received from Allen. -- as well as several Alaska state lawmakers in addition to Masek.

Alaska

Justice Department Replaces Stevens Prosecution Team

Zachary Roth | February 16, 2009, 5:03PM

Talk about ironic.

Amid concerns over the integrity of their work, the Justice Department has removed the head of the Public Integrity Section and several other prosecutors from the Ted Stevens trial, according to court filings examined by The Politico.

Late last week, the judge in the case, Emmet Sullivan, ruled that four of the prosecutors, including William Welch, the Public Integrity chief, were in contempt of court for failing to turn over documents as he'd ordered them to do.

The documents at issue relate to allegations by an FBI agent in the case that another agent had an improper relationship with a key government witness, and that the prosecution concealed this from the defense.

Along with Welch, the lead prosecutor on the case, Brenda Morris, as well as several other prosecutors, are being ousted. They're being replaced by Paul O'Brien, chief of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, David Jaffe, the deputy chief of the Domestic Security Section, and William Stuckwisch, senior trial attorney in the Fraud Section.

Stevens the Republican former Alaska senator, was convicted last fall of failing to report gifts on his Senate disclosure form. But defense lawyers have appealed, questioning the legitimacy of those proceedings, citing, among other things, the claim of withheld evidence.

Justice Department

Judge To Stevens Prosecutors: "Isn't The Department of Justice Taking Court Orders Seriously These Days?"

Zachary Roth | February 13, 2009, 4:42PM

This just gets worse and worse...

Last week, as we told you, defense lawyers for Ted Stevens formally asked the judge in his case to hold the prosecution in contempt, after a string of incidents in which the government was found to have withheld information from the defense.

And now Judge Emmet Sullivan has done so, reports the Associated Press.

Last month, Sullivan ordered prosecutors to turn over FBI documents concerning a whistleblower complaint against the agent leading the investigation into the former Alaska senator.

But they didn't, provoking the wrath of Judge Sullivan:

"That was a court order," he bellowed. "That wasn't a request. I didn't ask for them out of the kindness of your hearts. ... Isn't the Department of Justice taking court orders seriously these days?"

He said he didn't want to get "sidetracked" by deciding a sanction immediately and would deal with their punishment later. But he ordered them to produce the material by the end of the day.

"That's outrageous for the Department of Justice -- the largest law firm on the planet," he said. "That is not acceptable in this court."

This is just the latest embarrassment for the Justice Department in the case. In late January, the head of the department's Public Integrity Section admitted in writing to Judge Sullivan that he erred when he said that a group of government employees, who were cited in the FBI agent's publicly-filed complaint wanted their story to be made public. Some didn't, it turned out.

Stevens, the former Alaska GOP senator, was convicted last fall of filing false disclosure reports to hide gifts from an oil-services contractor. He is appealing the conviction.

Alaska

AK Lawmaker On Trooper-Gate AG's Resignation: "The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost"

Zachary Roth | February 10, 2009, 3:56PM

We just talked to an Alaska state legislator to get a handle on the news that Attorney General Talis Colberg, a key Sarah Palin ally during Trooper-Gate is resigning.

"The weight of Trooper-Gate finally got to him," said the lawmaker, a Democrat, who made clear that they weren't speaking from direct knowledge of Colberg's decision, but rather on the basis of involvement in the issue as a legislator.

The lawmaker said that Colberg's decision, during Trooper-Gate, to sue to quash subpoenas issued by the legislature to key Palin administration witnesses was now widely viewed as "a bad call." That move helped delay the witnesses' testimony, and limit its scope, meaning that the legislature's report on Trooper-Gate, released just before the election, remained incomplete.

"The advice he gave to members of the Palin administration not to appear was very bad advice," said the lawmaker. "He's gotten a lot of bad press over that, and so has the governor."

"You can't ignore a legislative subpoena," the lawmaker went on. "By doing so they had some short term gain ... now, the elections over and the chickens have come home to roost on that issue."

The lawmaker, who stressed that they wished Colberg well, and bore no ill will toward him, continued: "Everyone was caught up in the moment of the presidential election, and there were some political decisions that were made that people are ultimately regretting today."

The lawmaker said that after the nine witnesses, including Todd Palin, were found in contempt last week, many in the legislature publicly expressed the view that Colberg needed to answer more questions. Colberg had appeared before a contentious House committee, but might well have been forced to appear before the Senate as well.

"He's hoping that by stepping down, he'll be able to put the whole issue behind him," concluded the lawmaker.

Trooper-Gate

Palin's AG, A Key Trooper-Gate Ally, Resigns

Zachary Roth | February 10, 2009, 3:17PM

Talis Colberg, who was plucked from the obscurity of a small-town Alaska law practice by Sarah Palin to become the state's Attorney General, has resigned, reports the Anchorage Daily News.

Colberg, who had been a GOP assemblyman and Palin backer, was criticized during the Trooper-Gate scandal last fall for often appearing to represent the interests of his patron, the governor, rather than the Alaskan people. Although he himself had led an internal investigation designed to help Palin get out in front of Trooper-Gate, Colberg ultimately dismissed calls to recuse himself from any involvement in the matter. He then helped Palin stifle the probe into the matter by trying to block subpoenas, issued by the legislature, to state officials.

It's unclear as yet what prompted Colberg's move. He said in a statement:

I determined that it was in the best interest of the state of Alaska to move on and pursue other opportunities.

Something tells us there's more to this story...

Trooper-Gate

Sarah Palin: Blast From The Past

Zachary Roth | December 26, 2008, 10:40AM

Remember Sarah Palin?

Governor of Alaska? Republican vice-presidential nominee? Expensive wardrobe? Can see Russian from her house? Gets her news from a vast variety of sources?

Yeah, that's the one.

Here at TPMmuckraker, we've kind of been steering clear of her since the election. But lately, who'd have thunk it, we started missing her. So, given the prominent role she may yet play in national GOP politics in the future, we thought we'd check in on what she's been up to since returning to her day job. And from the looks of it, her familiar penchant for eye-catching if ill-advised media stunts, and her impressive ability to deny on Tuesday what she had passionately affirmed on Monday, appear to be in good shape.

Of course, we all saw the interview she gave -- and her unfortunate choice of backdrop for it -- right after pardoning a turkey just before Thanksgiving.

OK, for those of you who can't get enough, here it is one more time...

But it hasn't been all fun and turkey slaughterhouses for Palin. First, earlier this month, Palin, who marketed herself during the campaign as a maverick-y exemplar of reform-minded openness and transparency, filed disclosure reports for free trips she had taken as governor. Nothing wrong with that -- except that the trips took place in 2007, and according to Alaska law, reports must be filed within 30 days of the trip. A spokesman attributed it to staff oversight.

That's just the beginning. Remember that second Trooper-Gate investigation, conducted by the state personnel board -- whose members, of course, are appointed by the governor? The one that found, in contrast to the independent probe conducted by the legislature, that Palin broke no laws in connection with the affair? Well, back in October, while Palin was still a candidate for vice president, her lawyer said publicly that she wanted a transcript of her testimony released.

But it appears that position is "no longer operative." Palin has now changed her mind, and is refusing to release the transcript. In an email to an Anchorage Daily News reporter, her press secretary wrote: "This matter is closed. We see no public purpose in artificially prolonging this controversy."

And speaking of panels whose members Palin appointed and which then issued favorable rulings for her...

You might remember that during the campaign, the governor took some heat for boasting about enacting a pay cut for herself while mayor of Wasilla, without mentioning that the cut was soon exceeded by a raise, leaving her making more than when she started.

Well now the issue of her pay is back in the news. Last week, a special panel charged with looking at the question of pay raises for the governor, other senior administration officials, and legislators -- -- whose members were appointed by, you guessed it, Palin -- released its recommendations. And, surprise surprise, it advised raising Palin's pay by 20 percent -- as well as boosting that of the others under consideration.

After some lawmakers pointed out that the governor's pay had been raised by a whopping 46 percent as recently as 2006 -- the year Palin was elected governor -- her spokesman, Bill McAllister, tried to tamp down the complaints. "Her view is, it's just not appropriate to accept a pay raise in the middle of the term," he told the Associated Press -- but appeared to be leaving open the possibility that Palin might see her way to accepting the pay hike after her first term ends in 2010, when she'll likely seek reelection.

Which reminds us ... only another year to wait, in all likelihood, before we get to see Palin running for office again! Now that's something to look forward to.

Alaska

Sen. Stevens Fights On

Kate Klonick | November 5, 2008, 3:16PM

Though the race is still too close to be called, Sen. Ted Stevens' slim lead over his Democratic contender, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, has many wondering what exactly would happen if the convicted felon (and perhaps seven term senator) succeeded in his bid for re-election.

Assuming he wins re-election, Stevens with have a two-front battle to wage: one with his colleagues in the Senate, and the second with an appellate court.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has already said that "a convicted felon is not going to be able to serve in the United States Senate" shortly after the Alaska Republican's conviction. He has promised that Stevens will face an ethics committee investigation and expulsion, regardless of his appeals process. With Democrats holding a strong majority and many Republicans -- from John McCain to Mitch McConnell -- calling for his resignation, it's unlikely that Stevens would last long after a January swearing in.

So what will happen to Alaska's second senate seat if Stevens is sent back to the wilderness of AK? ProPublica has your answer:

So what happens if the Senate gives Stevens the boot? Under Alaska state law, the current governor--perhaps you remember her--would appoint a temporary replacement. Then a special election would be held to choose a senator to serve out the remainder of Stevens' six-year term. With no primary election in the near future, a special election would need to be held within 90 days of Stevens leaving office.

Could Stevens actually run again via the special election? After all, Alaska's voters and Senate leaders could theoretically end up playing a game of ping-pong--where Alaska votes him in, the Senate expels him and then Alaska votes him back in. We're looking into it.

ProPublica consulted an Alaska law expert in a later article and discovered that it wasn't quite that simple (is it ever?) -- in 2004, Alaska voters approved an initiative that stripped the governor from the power to appoint a replacement to the U.S. Senate, and which conflicts with current state law. It looks like it'll come down to the Alaska Supreme Court -- with nothing even starting to be resolved until the legislature meets in January.

After covering Alaska for the last five months -- and staying up until 4 a.m. refreshing State Election Board results -- I would have to say you shouldn't put anything past Alaska.

As for Stevens' appeal, it hasn't been filed yet, but we can already hypothesize what it will entail: prosecutorial misconduct and perhaps grounds related to the jury.

Alaska

Palin's Emails Reveal a Habit of Bringing Up Troubles With Wooten

Kate Klonick | November 3, 2008, 9:15PM

Today's new Trooper-Gate report (pdf), shows a number of the emails between Gov. Sarah Palin and fired Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan that discuss Trooper Mike Wooten. While the report finds that Palin did not violate any ethics code in firing Monegan, it's worth looking at the emails between the governor and Monegan -- many of which seem to go out of their way to bring up the governor's grievances against her former brother-in-law Wooten.

An e-mail sent on Feb. 7, 2007 from Palin to Monegan with the title "CONFIDENTIAL cop bill" actually spends little time discussing the cop bill at all. While the email briefly touches on the bill -- which addressed jail time for police officers after killing someone -- the governor spends a full three paragraphs discussing her family's history with Wooten.

It was a joke, the whole year long "investigation" of him - in fact those who passed along the serious information about him to Julia Grimes and Tandeske were threatened with legal action from the trooper's union for speaking about it. (This is the same trooper who's out there today telling people the new administration is going to destroy the trooper organization, and that he'd "never work for that b****, Palin")

Three months later, after a flair up with another state trooper, Palin used the incident as an excuse to mention Wooten again to Monegan:

[B]etween this and the message I received the other night where an Ak [sic] State Trooper recently told a friend of family [sic] that he could further "mess with the governor's sister" by claiming falsehoods about us. . .

In July of that same year, Palin emailed Monegan about a legislative proposal on guns. Again, Palin used the opportunity to bring up Wooten:

The first thought that hit me when reading Gara's quote about people not being able to buy guns when they're threatening to kill someone went to my ex-brother-in-law, the trooper, who threatened to kill my dad yet was not even reprimanded by his bosses and still to this day carries a gun, of course. We can't have double standards.

And in Sept. of 2007, Palin brought up Wooten as the "trooper we've talked about before" in an email to Monegan relating to a state settlement with another trooper.

The take-away on Palin's emails to Monegan listed in the exhibits, is that she didn't shy away from inserting her personal history into her official dealings. Whether or not it was Monegan's failure to pay deference to these (not-so) subtle hints that led to his firing, is still unknown -- but this report would have you believe it didn't.

As we noted before, this report is the result of the investigation at the behest of Palin herself -- so it's not any kind of big surprise that it exonerates her.

Alaska

Report: Palin Not Responsible For Todd's Acting Out

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 8:19PM

The key finding of the new Trooper-Gate report is that the earlier report, conducted by the state legislature, erred in finding that Sarah Palin broke state ethics laws by pressuring subordinates to fire Mike Wooten.

The new report finds that:

The Branchflower Report ... states that violation of the scope of code provision may be based on the governor's inaction as opposed to the governor's affirmative acts.

...

But ... the Ethics Act does not require a person subject to its provisions to police the behavior of third parties who are not subject to its provisions. To find that the Governor violated the Ethics Act by failing to control her husband's behavior would require one to add language to the Ethics Act that does not exist.

In other words, Sarah Palin can't be held legally responsible for Todd Palin's actions.

It bears repeating: this was a report that Palin herself initiated, so, despite some other breathless reporting in the press, it's no surprise that it exonerates her. The only independent report into the matter found that she broke state ethics laws.

Alaska

Trooper-Gate Report Initiated By Palin Clears Her Of Wrong-Doing

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 7:45PM

The Alaska State Personnel Board's Trooper-Gate report has been released, and it clears Sarah Palin of any wrong-doing.

CNN reports:

"There is no probable cause to believe that the governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters," Timothy Petumenos, the Anchorage lawyer hired to conduct the probe, wrote in his final report.

Of course, this was an investigation that Palin herself initiated, by filing an ethics complaint against herself. The three members of the Personnel Board are appointed by Palin, and she cooperated with the investigation.

By contrast, the only independent investigation into the matter -- which was conducted by the state legislature and with which Palin did not cooperate -- found that Palin had violated state ethics laws by pressuring subordinates to fire Mike Wooten, a trooper with whom she was embroiled in a family dispute.

The report's "Summary of Public Findings and Recommendations" follows after the jump...

Read more »

Alaska

AP: Second Trooper-Gate Report To Be Released Tonight

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 6:43PM

The Alaska State Personnel Board will release its report into Trooper-Gate tonight, reports the Associated Press.

From the AP:

Timothy Petumenos, an independent investigator hired by the Alaska Personnel Board, says he will release the report during a news conference 7:30 p.m. EST Monday.

A separate legislative panel earlier found that Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, abused her office by allowing her husband and other staffers to pressure the public safety commissioner to fire a state trooper who went through a nasty divorce from Palin's sister. She fired the commissioner, but denies it had anything to do with the trooper.

Alaska

Missing Stevens' Juror Lied About Father's Death

Kate Klonick | November 3, 2008, 12:03PM

And it gets better. . . she lied so she could attend a horse race.

From Roll Call:

The juror who was dismissed from the criminal trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to attend the funeral of her father in California admitted Monday that her father had not died, and that she went to California to attend a horse race.

We'll have more on this as it develops.

Late update. . . 12:55 pm: Roll Call expands on the story coming out of the hearing today. The juror, who had been replaced by an alternate, appeared "disheveled and confused" and held a "thick stack of dog-eared papers" when she appeared before judge Emmet Sullivan this morning, telling him that she had purchased tickets to the horse race in the spring:

Hinnant then began to tell a convoluted story about criminal activity in the horse racing industry, alleging that her phone had been tapped and that someone she once worked with in the industry was involved in crime and drugs.

The judge attempted to dismiss her, but Hinnant continued to tell her tale, ultimately asking the judge, "Can I have a case of my own?"

Sullivan suggested that she take that up with the federal public defender, whom he had appointed to represent her at today's hearing.

Sullivan told her that he was simply concerned for her well-being, and that seeing that she was fine, he was satisfied that she would not have been able to complete deliberations with the rest of the jury. He did not suggest any sanction for her actions.

After Hinnant left the courtroom, Sullivan told the attorneys in Stevens' case that he had dismissed her because she was unable to continue to serve on the jury, and "what you heard today just reinforces the correctness of the court's decision."

Robert Cary, one of Stevens' lawyers, said "we don't necessarily agree with the court's findings," and the judge invited both sides to file briefs on the issue.

Alaska

Stevens' Law License in Limbo

Kate Klonick | November 1, 2008, 1:11PM

The Alaska Bar Association has sought a suspension on Sen. Ted Stevens law license, pending completion of his appeals.

Stevens has claimed that he's not a convicted felon until his appeals are complete, but by state bar association rules, a felony conviction is effective as soon as the jury rules, association counsel Steve Van Goor told the Anchorage Daily News.

From the ADN:

There's no deadline by which the Supreme Court has to decide such a license challenge, said chief deputy court clerk Lori Wade. Stevens has a right to file legal memoranda in his defense.

. . .Any final decision on Stevens' license would wait until his appeals have been finished.

Stevens is not actively practicing law in Alaska now, Van Goor said.

Alaska

Alaska is a State of Denial

Kate Klonick | October 31, 2008, 2:30PM

Sen. Ted Stevens: Convicted or not convicted? That is the question.

And apparently one whose answer changes depending on who you ask.

In most people's minds, there's little to argue. On Monday, a jury returned a verdict of guilty on all seven counts of false statements. The charges against Stevens were felonies, making the senator -- by most counts -- a convicted felon.

But Stevens, back in Alaska campaigning for his eighth term in the Senate, met his opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, in a debate last night and denied that he had been convicted at all.

"I'm not gonna step down. I have not been convicted," the 84 year-old senator stammered. "I have got a case pending against me. And probably the worst case of prosecutorial. . . misconduct by the prosecutors."

It might be worth noting that Stevens has a history of denial.