Levi Johnston Quits Job; Palin Denies Involvement

The Anchorage Daily News reports that Levi Johnston, the father of Bristol Palin's new baby, has quit his job:

Levi Johnston, the teenager planning to marry Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, has quit his North Slope oil field job over questions about his eligibility to participate in an electrical apprenticeship program, Johnston's father said Monday.

Johnston this fall began working at the Milne Point oil field through the ASRC Energy Services apprenticeship program.

In a Sunday editorial in the paper, Dan Fagan questioned whether Gov. Sarah Palin helped Johnston skirt requirements to get the gig.

The governor, in trying to dispel rumors the father of her grandchild is a high school dropout, released this statement this past week,

"Levi is continuing his online high school work in addition to working as an electrical apprentice on the North Slope."

But federal regulations require all members of apprentice programs, union or otherwise, to first obtain a high school diploma, something the governor's soon-to-be son-in- law does not have. Some apprentice programs even require the completion of high school level algebra or the post-secondary equivalent.

Palin, in an interview with the paper, said she considered Fagan's column "a political potshot taken at me," one that threatens to "destroy a young man's opportunity for work."

Read more of Palin's statement on Levi and Bristol here.

Comments

[kvpoland]

09:09 AM on 01/17/2009

i wish all this business of levi being " future" son in law would stop. it only takes 5 minutes to go to a justice of the peace and make an honest woman out of bristol. my guess is he already got the milk for free, no need to own the cow. this is all a fraud just as sarah palin is nothing but a fraud to the nth degreee. crawl back into the woodwork, these people aren't worth all the talking about. there are much more important things.

[labman57]

05:09 PM on 01/11/2009

Whether intentional or not, the young man was enrolled into a program for which he was not eligible. (It matters not whether he would have been eligible for some OTHER program; he was NOT eligible for this one.)

Some would prefer that everyone just looked the other way and let him break the rules. They claim that he was singled out because of his association with the Palins, yet the same can be said for the opposite--allowing him to stay in the program simply because of his association with the Palins. If he had not fathered Bristol's baby, the Palinbots would not be the least bit concerned about Levi's quitting the ASRC apprenticeship.

Celebrity cuts both ways. It can both provide undeserved privilege as well as result in extra scrutiny.

[sunnybunny]

07:24 AM on 01/10/2009

Wow, when I was real young like that (even when I was alittle older and had kids) I quit my job a lot just because I didn't like it. I don't do it now because now that I'm more mature I cling to that stability. Give this kid a break.
On a different note, do you think the Johnstons are Palin supporters or not? My guess is that they aren't vocal Obama supporters because they still need to live in their world and don't need further persecution, but isn't it interesting how Levi just "didn't get around to" registering to vote?

[MustangMike07]

07:09 AM on 01/10/2009

Oh boy, news from Alaska. Man I sure am glad to get this info. Wow, this really will change things that are going on right now.

Who cares?

News flash, they lost the election, what possible interest is this now?

[Seaglass]

07:33 PM on 01/09/2009

I am shocked!

Just shocked!

(yawn)

[JulieSA]

09:34 PM on 01/09/2009

This story has been updated with a correction in the ADN.

ADN was wrong.

"Dan Fagan's column on Page B-4 Sunday mischaracterized federal regulations regarding apprenticeship programs. Those regulations do not require all apprentice candidates to have a high school diploma; an apprenticeship program may decide for itself whether its admission criteria mandate a diploma. There are more than 90 electrical apprenticeship sponsors in Alaska, not three as stated in Fagan's column."

[Irish55]

10:00 PM on 01/09/2009

Ok. So why then, did Levi quit his job?

[Pragmatus]

01:57 AM on 01/10/2009

Are you one of the Bush daughters, or perhaps one of Palin's extended family? You certainly seem to have an ax to grind here.

The upshot of this story is that Levi Johnson doesn't seem to have much interest either in a minimum of education nor learning any kind of useful trade.
.

[CNNGuy]

07:31 PM on 01/09/2009

Now Levi is free to either take over his Mother's successful business or run for governor of Mooslaska.

[TerryDArc]

06:29 PM on 01/09/2009

Man, that family is soooo crooked they have to screw their socks on in the morning...

[JulieSA]

07:03 PM on 01/09/2009

This story has been updated with a correction in the ADN.

ADN was wrong.

"Dan Fagan's column on Page B-4 Sunday mischaracterized federal regulations regarding apprenticeship programs. Those regulations do not require all apprentice candidates to have a high school diploma; an apprenticeship program may decide for itself whether its admission criteria mandate a diploma. There are more than 90 electrical apprenticeship sponsors in Alaska, not three as stated in Fagan's column."

[JulieSA]

06:19 PM on 01/09/2009

Please do an update, HuffPo. ADN has made a correction, DAYS later. Good journalism requires that you do the same.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/647664.html

[JulieSA]

06:12 PM on 01/09/2009

UPDATE:

Oops. The ADN has released a correction today. Their write was wrong about what the qualifications are.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/647664.html

"Dan Fagan's column on Page B-4 Sunday mischaracterized federal regulations regarding apprenticeship programs. Those regulations do not require all apprentice candidates to have a high school diploma; an apprenticeship program may decide for itself whether its admission criteria mandate a diploma. There are more than 90 electrical apprenticeship sponsors in Alaska, not three as stated in Fagan's column."

So the kid lost his job because of a nasty l ying stalker reporter.

[WenJ]

05:20 PM on 01/09/2009

What this article does not mention, but was in the Anchorage Daily News, is that Gov. Palin wrote a letter of recommendation for Levi. She called it 'generic' but some of the contents of that letter made it obvious that it was written personally for Levi and clearly shows that she did, indeed, assist him in obtaining that position. When Mayor of Wasilla, Palin also wrote a letter of recommendation for Trooper Mike Wooten (Troopergate), so if I were Levi, I'd watch my back.

[Erin7373]

05:05 PM on 01/09/2009

hm..

[whateverlolawants]

04:33 PM on 01/09/2009

Levi should realize how much this family has screwed up his life and run in the opposite direction! He might not be the brightest bulb in the bunch, but he is cute, so I agree that he should see about modeling...

[donveylindsey]

03:29 PM on 01/09/2009

man this guy better run donvey lindsey

[brocko]

02:52 PM on 01/09/2009

Why do you keep reporting on this family? It's ridiculous. I can understand your interest in Sarah Palin, but to keep reporting on her in-laws is just ....extreme nastiness.

[Riani]

02:18 PM on 01/09/2009

Palin reminds me of OJ Simpson. They both know the rules, understand them, and believe they should be applied. But somehow, neither of them can understand why on earth we would think that it should also apply to them.

[JulieSA]

06:14 PM on 01/09/2009

The newspaper article lied about what the job rules are, so your comment is false.

[darrinthedemocrat]

08:46 PM on 01/09/2009

maybe you are the stalker julie. you sure are interested in levi's welfare.

[Irish55]

10:03 PM on 01/09/2009

Ok. So why did Levi quit his job? One would assume then that whoever is running this apprenticeship program that Levi was part of who have come forward when the article came out and said something like: in this program no HS diploma is required. Did that happen? Why did Levi quit his job?