Folks, chill. This is not going to take down Team McCain.
Gov. Palin has the bully pulpit, and she’ll have the ear of the nation in explaining this. I suspect her answers have been ready for some time, and will address what looks to me to be a twisting, if not outright betraying, the intent of the statute.
There is a clause saying that public officers retain the right to demand satisfaction for personal matters. An Ethics violation would be for personal profit from a lobbyist or something along those lines, in other words using the office to do a favor for a third party.
Clauses 1 and 2. The panel is wrong.