Yes he does!
Posted on 06/24/2010 6:28:16 PM PDT by DB9
(This is from the editors) Almost one year after the Obama legal team at the firm Perkins Coie concluded that Governor Palin’s legal defense fund failed to comply with Alaska law, a new investigator dusted off that report and essentially re-issued it. Why are we not surprised?
First, some context. Who is Perkins Coie?
The firm is counsel of record for the Democratic National Committee, and other political clients include nearly all Democratic members of the United States Congress, as well as several Presidential campaigns, including those of John Kerry and Barrack Obama. Well, we can’t see a problem with the DNC “counsel of record” and Obama’s personal law firm issuing a report on whether Sarah Palin’s legal defense fund is compliant—especially since most of those fees were incurred during the campaign against Obama. And the “ethics” complaints that were filed like clock work after Sarah Palin returned to Alaska—no connection there to the DNC and its cast of miscreant bloggers in Alaska. (Alaska Democratic Party official hate web site against Sarah Palin). No sirree.
(Excerpt) Read more at conservatives4palin.com ...
Important analysis. An obvious connection between Obama and the crazies attacking Governor Palin
To express what I feel when I read stuff like this would require pages and pages of ranting of which I’m just not capable of and no one would want to read. So I’ll just say —— SPIT.
Maybe they should check out Obama; but I am sure they already know.
funny obama doesnt have a birth cert and thats ok
Obama is non-compliant.
The communists party never give up. They are so strong now that all the old trash will once again surface. Personal destruction is the way of the Party.
Which tells me we are much too civil and law abiding to deal with the communists.
Not good
Yep, time to stop taking steps backward in the name of civility.
very interesting read. Thanks for the link.
I have lost faith in the American legal system. SOOO MUCH CORRUPTION. The swamp need to be drained
Obozo is trying to deflect the publicity of his own problems. So Perkins and Cole his legal team all stems from the agency. A conflict of interest. palin is innocent . The fricking mulatto is guilty of being a bastard child and has shit for brains that is why he attracts flies, and bees.
Yes he does!
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 5:02pm
First off, let’s keep in mind that this is about a legal defense fund. According to the Summary of Findings in the decision released today by the Alaska Personnel Board, nothing illegal and nothing unethical occurred because not a penny has been distributed. Governor Palin did nothing wrong. And in fact, everyone is in agreement that Governor Palin acted in good faith. Now, let me explain how we got here.
It is no secret that Governor Palin has been subject to political and legal attacks on an unprecedented scale. Since these attacks originate from her opposition, sometimes it can be a badge of honor to be the focus of such irrational hatred. But there is a cost to all of this.
Last year, those who willfully and excitedly violated or abused Alaska law showed they would do it again and again to either bankrupt Governor Palin or paralyze her success for Alaska. Governor Palin had a choice: plead guilty to things she didn’t do so that she could focus on the state and save money for the family – or defend her good name and reputation. She chose to fight back. In the end, Governor Palin and her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, successfully defended against well over two dozen complaints, lawsuits, and allegations. Time and time again during and after the 2008 Presidential election cycle, independent investigators proved that Governor Palin’s actions were sound, her judgment was proper, and her intentions were honest. In fact, the Personnel Board, the ethics board for the Governor of the state, never even had to take up a case as each was dismissed before making it to the next level.
But it did cost the Palins financially.
Seeing this nonsense, it was suggested to me from both sides of the aisle that one way to deal with the substantial financial cost these tactics were inflicting, was to create a trust fund for legal fees – just like all the other legal defense funds for prominent politicians who are targets.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, “Such funds have become increasingly common as scrutiny of politicians has intensified.” (“Palin Backers Set Up Legal-Defense Fund”, Wall Street Journal, p. A-3, April 24, 2009)
When I approached Governor Palin with the idea, she had one primary directive – if it can be done lawfully, then I will support it. She also asked that, if possible, we keep it Alaskan.
One might think that creating a trust fund to collect money to pay legal fees should not be that complicated, but it turns out, it is exceptionally complicated. You should know that as many as seven lawyers were involved in the process; some of whom were and are nationally prominent experts in creating legal defense funds, in evaluating federal and state election laws, state trust law, federal and state tax laws, state reporting requirements and state ethics requirements. It is a sad commentary on public life today when the legal system can be used as a political weapon against an elected official, and it takes a battalion of lawyers to figure out how to fund a defense and counter-attack.
In any event, the legal team concluded that the fund they had created was lawful in all respects. I relied in good faith on that advice and advised Governor Palin of that advice.
Ultimately, the Alaska Fund Trust was borne, and within a day or two, a complaint was filed against it challenging its legality. (And like everything else, the public knew because someone – likely the complainant – violated the law and publicly released the accusation.) And so started another prolonged legal battle – this time to determine if the legal fund created to defend Governor Palin against frivolous ethics complaints was itself ethical. Quite a circle really. We made it clear that no money would be paid out on until the matter had been resolved.
Thus, to this very moment, the money received was frozen and no one, not the Palins, not the Palins’ attorney, no one ever received a penny from the Trust on the Palins’ behalf.
The Personnel Board initially appointed an “independent” investigator. That investigator, we later learned, had connections with, and was associated with President Obama. The Personnel Board had hired President Obama’s personal law firm as an “independent” investigator to review whether a fund created to raise money to eliminate a debt incurred as a result of Governor Palin’s opposition to President Obama was appropriate. We objected to both the illegal leak and the blatant political influence, and a new investigator was appointed.
The new investigator spent considerable time reviewing the old information and collecting new, but I think it proved to be too difficult to reverse an already-public decision. He concluded that the Trust fund violated Alaska law in two respects. His biggest heartburn was that we used the word “official” on the website. And he was distressed that we turned down an offer from a former White House Special Counsel to serve as trustee and instead chose an Alaskan whom Alaskans would recognize – Kristan Cole.
Kristan sat on several state boards as a volunteer public servant. The investigator concluded that because she sat on such boards, Governor Palin as governor was technically her boss, and therefore she should not be the trustee of the fund. That is his conclusion and we respect that. The law is not clear on this aspect, and not one member of the legal team saw this as an issue, but again, we respect the conclusion here and it is not worth the time or money to dispute that. But we do want to thank Kristan for taking on that otherwise thankless task. What is it they say about no good deed?
The other conclusion needs context. There was a point where it appeared that people around the country wanted to start legal defense funds for Governor Palin. The support and good will the people of this country have shown to the Palins is inspiring. But a concern was raised whether all these other potential funds would comply with various laws, including donation limits, limits against contributions from lobbyists or contributions from foreign nationals. So we used the word “official” in the website to distinguish the Alaska Fund Trust from ones we were not sure would be compliant. In our view, that was a solid and common sense reason to use the word “official,” but the investigator believes that it made it appear that the website was sponsored by the State of Alaska, and thus would be a use of Governor Palin’s ”official” office to raise money. We are not terribly persuaded that really would be the case or that any member of the public could be confused, but we respect the investigator’s evaluation of this point and it is not worth fighting about. Again, Governor Palin’s prime directive was simple – if this fund could be set up lawfully, she would support it. If not, it would not have her support.
So Governor Palin has reached a point where she decided to agree to resolve this matter with the investigator rather than spend time and money fighting an ethics complaint about a fund that was created to reimburse her for the money she has spent fighting bogus ethics complaints drawn up by insiders and outsiders violating and abusing Alaska law. Really, this is simple pragmatism and common sense.
As you know, we love a good fight, but we must pick our battles carefully. As a chief executive, Governor Palin makes the calls, and she knows that this battle, though important to her personally, does nothing for the country. She has bigger battles to fight, battles to restore our strength internationally and stand by our allies, battles to stop the downward slide of our economy, and battles to take back control of Congress.
However, I know and you know that no public official should ever have to bear the financial brunt of these attacks. And Governor Palin can lawfully raise money now through a brand new – not official but let’s call it “real” – legal defense fund without any risk of offending an investigator or state law. And such a fund now exists at http://www.sarahpalinlegaldefensefund.org/donate.php.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Alaska Fund Trust. Your heart was in the right place. And Governor Palin and her family have been overwhelmed by your generosity. If you want to, you can contribute to the new fund. In the meantime, we will try to contact you to get your donation returned from the old trust.
Now – back to motherhood for me! And common sense.
P.S. One last thought as we approach the anniversary of Governor Palin’s “reloading,” thank God she had the fortitude and wisdom to look down the road and see what she did – the state’s bills would have amounted to millions upon millions more and her personal legal bills would be personally insurmountable. I don’t know who would want to hold office under these circumstances and with loopholes our Alaska legislators refuse to close.
- Meghan Stapleton, Mom, Wife, and Now More Knowledgeable Than Ever About Legal Defense Funds
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I'm afraid that The People are going to have to retake this Nation by force.
With the Constitution For the United States.
I'm really getting tired of the viscious attacks mounted by this administration. It seems like they are dismantling this Nation and turning everything upside down. The judicial system doesn't do anything for The People. It only attacks the opposition party. We are clearly entering a dark era in our Nation. This seems to be a quick slide into tyranny.
How do we stop this? A large portion of the voters are a major part of the problem. I sometimes think that like minded people must collect in some region of the Nation and then cede from the Union. At other times I think that open rebellion may be the only option; yet, that screams in the face of this Nation that I hold so dearly! I really can't figure out how to pull this great Nation out of the ditch. The collective leadership seems to have gone totally insane!
Help me out here!
By the way: Sarah ROCKS!!
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