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.