Ethics Complaint Filed Against Palin Over Fox News Interview

"As Sarah Palin settles back into her job as the state's chief executive, a new ethics complaint filed Tuesday says she's already improperly mixing her official duties and broader political ambitions," the Anchorage Daily News reports.

The charge: That Palin broke state ethics rules by holding national television interviews about her run for vice president from the governor's office.

The complaint comes as Palin's personal life, her prospects as a future presidential candidate and everything she says and does continues to draw headlines.

Zane Henning, a North Slope worker from Wasilla, said he filed the complaint with the attorney general. He says Palin is promoting her future political career on state property, pointing in particular to the governor's Nov. 10 interview with Fox News Channel host Greta Van Susteren.

"The governor is using her official position and office in an attempt to repair her damaged political image on the national scene," Henning wrote.

The Palin camp, besieged by interview requests, said the governor was no longer a candidate at the time of interviews, but otherwise had little to say about the complaint.

"The consideration of complaints under the executive branch ethics act is a confidential process, by law," wrote Palin spokesman Bill McAllister.

Here's video of Palin's appearance with Greta van Susteren. The wide-ranging interview covered such familiar topics as the $150,000 spent on Palin's wardrobe for the campaign, as well as the report that she was unable to name all the countries in North America and did not understand that Africa is a continent rather than a nation. Palin denied any knowledge of the RNC's extravagant clothing bills, going so far as to say that she's never set foot in a Neiman Marcus (one of the upscale stores where the RNC racked up a $75,000 bill). Palin also denied the report that she was unaware Africa is a continent.

Comments

[canow]

We linked back to this in a post on the CA NOW blog, "Sarah Palin: Scapegoat" at http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2008/11/sarah-palin-scapegoat.html

[dramaunfolding]

A compliant from a North Slope Worker? This is news?

You are showing you are looking over your shoulder. If she really isn't a threat quit writing about her.

[Bubba Gump]

Sarah said she didn't understand how these rumors got started and took off with a life of their own. I submit that any politician will encounter rumors (an occupational hazard), much like a fireman will encounter burning embers. If a fireman hides from the embers of one burning house, the neighborhood will be set on fire. I don't know why John McCain chose to hide Sarah Palin from the media, but he allowed those rumors to torch Palin's credibility -- and retroactively McCain's, because he picked Palin. If McCain and Palin had learned anything from the 2004 Swift Boat scandal and John Kerry's mistake, it would have been this: when anyone launches a damaging rumor, much like a torpedo attack -- give a clear, public, decisive response! When you are under attack, that is the time to show you are ready to command! Hiding behind phony press statements with no questions allowed, from the public's perception, sounds like an admission of guilt.

[jazzartkitty]

SARAH GO AWAY!!!

[RiggsMD]

It's time to let her go as for as all the coverage she's been getting. She should still be reported on but not to the degree she is now. It's perfectly understandable that she does enough dumb sh*t to fill a phone-book, but the fact is, she's set of the Women's Movement back a bit with the way she's allowed men (and women) to depict her a figure of gender only. I now hear men refer to women as a 'Sarah Palin', meaning something demeaning and shallow. I love the Huffington Post, however, I would love to see them give her much less press.

[avon96734]

Relax, people...Palin's appeal is that of a train wreck. How is it that she will run in 2012, when it is SHE, with the media's help, that helped McCain lose the election?

[user20092009]

Gov. Sarah Palin will be President of USA soon.
We, the people of America, love Gov. Sarah Palin.
God bless you, Sarah!

[GKHaley]

You should seek help.

[RebelAlliance]

Go back to the Bizzaro World.

[brandon102]

Good deeds, evil, twisted turkey killing, Sarah's going to keep herself in the headline and in the hearts and minds (as they have no brains) of the oogidey-boogidy right wing of the Republican party. I can't wait to see what happens when she runs for national office, again, because I think it will be a very start question of 'Do we want this country to be a theocracy.'

The strangest thing about her, to me, is that she tells the same lie over & over (first the jet sale on e-bay, then saying she wasn't Governor when Harry Potter books were out and she clearly was, insisting on having them taken out of the library among others). Someone should let her know that once you've told the same lie 15 or 16 times, and it's been debunked every time, it's time to get new lies. Like Bush, Cheney and Rove did it every time one of their reasons for going into Iraq was shown to be false. Now THAT'S how you lie!

[MaximMaximus]

So the committee she appointed which consists of her loyalists found her not guilty in stark contrast with the ethics committees findings -a bipartisan entity! What a surprise! (Note the sarcasm). The definition of smartness seems to be as wide as the state itself in Alaska and is likely to surpass Texas!

[Kassandra]

Palin is so stupid, it hurts

[RiggsMD]

I feel the same way. She had become a little better, but now it's like she really doesn't make sense again.

[SohoSisyphus]

Alaska is the new Texas, complete with arrogance, ignorance, oil and corruption. And that Palin is one dangerous varmint (oink-oink, wink-wink).

[HST]

Sarah Palin is like a train wreck. It's horrible horrible, but I can't look away!

[fahie]

I am surprised that the Huffington post seems to be keeping Palin in the spotlight and feeding her ego. Why dont you let her go

[bardgal]

AH..... my daily present from the Sarah Palin Trainwreck Express! It's the gift that keeps on giving!

[NMO14]

This bunk will be tossed out in a millisecond.