ADN Confirms: Palin's Story Doesn't Hold Up

Yesterday evening, Greg Sargent reported on The Plum Line that one of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's key reasons for resigning -- that ethics complaints against her were draining the state of money -- appeared to be false.

In response to our questions, the Governor's office provided us with a detailed breakdown of the millions Palin has claimed has gone to defending against ethics complaints. It does list roughly $1.9 million in expenditures.

But Murrow, the spokesperson, acknowledged to our reporter, Amanda Erickson, that this total was arrived at by adding up attorney hours spent on fending off complaints -- based on the fixed salaries of lawyers in the governor's office and the Department of Law. The money would have gone to the lawyers no matter what they were doing. The complaints are "just distracting them from other duties," Murrow said.

In other words, while these lawyers might have been free to do other legal work for the state, the ethics complaints have apparently not had the real world impact Palin has claimed, and didn't drain money away from cops, teachers, roads and other things.

The Anchorage Daily News did a thorough analysis and backed up the spokesperson. The ethics complaints took up time that staff could have spent doing other work, but they did not cost Alaska any money.

"Is it a check that we wrote, no, but is it staff hours, yes," Sharon Leighow, spokeswoman for Palin, said of the expenses related to state employee work.

Those state employees would have been paid regardless.

A large chunk of that work went into the state personnel board's "Troopergate" investigation, which Palin herself initiated on the grounds that a legislative probe was politicized. Only three of the ethics complaints are still pending, a fact that makes Palin's explanation seem even less sensible.

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Comments

[ceedubya]

This is interestin­g...
Palin talking about criticism as it related to Hillary in March 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC-tOzXQOsk

[vant]

Good catch. Very telling.

[breezi]

Very apropos to the subject at hand. Ms. Palin plays the victim when it suits her. Otherwise, she's just a pit bull in lipstick.

[FallenAngelII]

Hypocrisy? No!

Anyone even remotely surprised? She cries and whines about how she's being treated badly by the media when it's not even close to being as bad as to how Hillary was treated (which she didn't think was unfair, apparently).

[jcsophie]

Best article I've read in a really long time:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/07/08/sarah-barracuda-palin-and-the-piranhas-of-the-press/

[TamPhi]

It's got a pretty conservative slant

[LemonMeringue]

If she resigns and the ethics complaints stop coming, what excuse will she have to ask for money on SarahPac?

[IhaveaDREAMwhitegirl]

Maybe she'll donate it to PlannedParenthood for a tax write-off?

[brendabfromfl]

why couldn't she recoup the millions by continuing to grossly overcharge for access to public records. I seem to remember an article where it was going to cost some newspaper something like 1.4 million for a public records search.

Also, I work for a govenment entity. It's not uncommon to keep attorneys on staff by paying them an annual salary. If and when they do have to do something, their hourly rate is much lower

Lastly, if she would have been transparent, she wouldn't be having all these problems.

[DesertRat09]

And thank goodness that Barack Obama has kept his campaign promise to be so transparent. In reality, the only thing transparent about Obama are the teleprompter screens and the fact that he has no intention of being transparent. Remember the promise to publish all major bills for four days before they are voted upon? Remember when reporters were allowed to ask their own questions and not be pre-screened? Remember when town hall participants could actually surprise a president with an unplanned question? Now THERE is a model example of transparen­cy........

So......wh­at exactly did Palin hide at this same level??

[Eris23Skidoo]

Remember when...whe­n what? You mean those people who asked Bush questions really *weren't* reading from a script?

[OfficeCandy]

Yes, I remember when reporters were allowed to ask their own questions, and when citizens weren't pre-screened at town hall meetings. It was when Bill Clinton was president.

[sreggie]

Bologna! The left hates Palin because she's conservative and pro-life. And what's the most offensive of all is she had the audacity (real audacity) to give birth to a down syndrome child.

As far as the left is concerned and just about everyone on this site, she made the wrong choice. Any one who is pro-life is systematically portrayed as a hillbilly loon. It happens all the time.

Palin's administration was transparen. The state's expenditures were on their website for all to see, unlike the White House site, which pretends transparency, but basically hides everything under broad cost headlines.

[KNUCKLEBUSTER]

Obama's policies were to be transparent too ... Now we're so far in the hole our children will be paying for it for the next 3 decades!

[zer0ne]

Palin's a loser. She's been a loser, she'll always be a loser. She couldn't even finish one term as governor. But please, PLEASE let her be the GOP's candidate for Pres. in 2012. It'll make it that much easier for Obama to win reelection.

[sreggie]

Don't count on Obama being president in 2012 with the economy and the deficit in the shape it's in. Remember "it's the economy stupid?"

[KNUCKLEBUSTER]

Well before I'd call her a loser I'd look at all she has done for Alaska and the pending Natural Gas pipeline to the lower 48 !

[Pussnboots]

Palinize: to connect cliches together with strings of words, used without regard to their meanings (intended as a substitute for exposition­.)

[zer0ne]

Spot on!

[MSMSucksCom]

And add to your defintion.­..

"... used without regard to their meanings or attention to context/su­bject."

[cimbri]

The gist of her speech, while rambling, is true. She did not want to play defense for the next year and a half. She knew everytime she left the state for campaigning, fund raising, etc., the liberals would find someone in Alaska to complain and more articles would be generated. We all know, especially the people here involved in the continuing smears, what is going on. She chose not to play along with the game and seize control of her own destiny.

[lisalovesamelie]

And seize the opportunity to get millions from a book deal, lucrative speech fees, and pay off the mounting debt of her legal fees.

[Alcove-One]

....and get elected President.

[RobAni60]

And seize the opportunity to get millions from a book deal, lucrative speech fees,

talk show,

and pay off the mounting debt of her legal fees.

[sreggie]

Gee and Obama didn't make millions on his book deals, not to mention the sweetheart deal he got on his home and property in Hyde Park, where his neighbors can no longer casually walk by his house.

"Not the Tony Rezko I knew. Not the Rev. Wright I knew. Not the Father Flagger I knew."

How skillfully Obama threw the above under the bus for his own political gain. Of course all these "bad" people couldn't have rubbed any of their "badness" on the president.

[FallenAngelII]

She doesn't have any legal fee debts! She created a (potentially illegal) sund (SarahPAC) for it! Yes, she told the press that she owes $500,000 in legal fees. But that's a half-truth! She doesn't owe anyone anything. It cost that much to defend her, but the costs are coming out of her supporters' pockets! Classic Palin. Lies and half-truths.

[FawkesNews]

Anchorage Daily News 7/10: It doesn't all add up to $1.9 million

There is some double counting and other apparent issues with the Palin administration spreadsheet outlining $1.9 million in state costs for ethics complaints, public records requests and lawsuits.

http://community.adn.com/adn/node/142302

[VinceAZ]

This writer has obviously never worked in an environment where she was responsible for employees.
The lawyers were obviously hired to do something that they are not doing because of fighting false accusations. So, either more lawyers had to be hired or the the work they were hired for is not getting done. I can't believe the lack of common sense in this article.

Palin Derangement Syndrome at its best.

[hunt49]

Palin Apologist Syndrome at best.

Sure, they may not be able to do other duties. But you assume that they have all been frivolous ethics complaints, which they have not; the governor has had to pay out of pocket to make restitution, no?

And the point of the article is that she is claiming that these are dollars coming right out of the general fund, preventing monies from going to other sources, when the truth is that these staff hours would have been paid anyway.

If you really think that's what scuttled Palin's governorship, you've believed just what she wanted you to. How does the hook/line/sinker taste?

[zyggy]

What money? Do you really think the lawyers would say, " Sure take my hourly wages and pay for something else"? lol BTW 75% of the cost or waste of that spreadsheet was to pay for Palin's own ethic complaint on herself.

[sreggie]

So, what's the real reason then?

The ethics charges are completely frivolous, just like the charges against the Clintons were back in good old days. Nothing more to distract and bankrupt the governor, which is exactly what happened to the Clintons. Remember, a friend shelled out the money for that million dollar + house in Chappaqua, New York.

[VinceAZ]

If she had been found guilty of any of the ethics complaints it would be headline news on all of the MSM's front pages. Tell us all what she did that was proven to be worthy of hearing.

It is just sad that a decent human being cannot be a politician without these smears, all because she is not a democratic elitist from the Northeast.

[Alcove-One]

A intelligent comment on a Palin story. who let you in?

[JustMyWords]

Obfuscation at its best. I can't believe the lack of common sense.

Palin has tossed out numbers as though the employees were doing NOTHING but working on ethics complaints - complaints that it must be pointed out have not been entirely frivolous.

If an attorney is paid $50K a year, and spends 15 minutes working on an ethics complaint, it's more than a little disingenuous to claim that attorney's entire salary as an expense of fighting complaints.

Why aren't the Palin supporters more concerned about the cost to the state involved with the ethics complaints that were found to be legitimate?

[Eris23Skidoo]

Are you sure those accusations are false? Maybe she is quitting to make the lawsuits go away? Getting thrown out of office *would* tend to make it a little harder to run for president, dont'cha know.

[zippy the cow]

Palin Derangement? Christ, some people make up stupid things to say. Nice job at that.

[sreggie]

If we have to make comments, can we watch the language?

[ssevngs]

The Pathetic Party is more appropriate! hopefully the ill's they suffer from are terminal..

[Alcove-One]

Karma may be listening.

[tatsvee]

I guess all you guys (Palin watchers) have nothing more important thing to do! Well, if you have so much time in your hands because you do not have a job, then find one, and not let hardworking people give you money in form of entitlements. And If you have a job, you better contemplate on how much of the money you are earning will be given back to the government as your effective tax rate ....(city tax, sales tax, state tax, school and property tax, federal tax, social security, telephone and wireless usage surcharge; electricity surcharge, highways and bridge tolls, gasoline tax, sin taxes=ciga­rette/alco­hol/tobacc­o/viewing internet porn; downloading music/ring tones; using water to brush teeth/flush toilet tax, healthcare benefits tax, owning a cow tax, tax...tax.­.tax...) will balloon to 60 to 70% tax level....g­et the point????

[conservatist2010-12]

After that I dont have to comment...­great response..­liberals suck......­on the gov teet

[zer0ne]

Lol. So does every old person on Social Security and Medicare, and everyone that's ever had to call the Police, or Fire Department. Get your facts straight, everyone sucks on " gov teet". M0r0n.

[JustMyWords]

Oddly enough, I find it quite possible to have time to read and comment on line while still working my two jobs.

I even have time to appreciate the irony of someone who has "nothing more important to do" complaining about others being on line.

[FallenAngelII]

Most college-educated people (or, if you're like me, a person who is currently studying at college) can go about their daily lives being productive citizens and STILL read a newspaper and/or blog or two.

I find it quite easy to peruse HuffPo daily because I happen to read pretty fast, despite the fact that English is my third language. Just because Palin can't even name a single newspaper that she likes to read doesn't mean most normal at-least-q­uasi-intel­ligent-per­son cannot read through an entire newspaper within less than 30 minutes (because I skip the articles that do not interest me.)

[FlyingEagel]

I guess the author of this article is suggesting that these lawyers had nothing else to do and they would have been paid anyways. Ridiculous. This is what undermines ones credibility.

[MoEls]

Actually it i more like a service contract. When there's nothin to do you earn your money on the tennis court. When things come up you don't see much sun. The first two years it was tennis, since the election they started workin.

[PalaceOfWisdom]

Yeah, the author has clearly never heard the term "opportunity cost". A freshman at any business school could debunk this one. Time is money.

[cowman]

Opportunity cost doesn't come out of tax revenue.

[cowman]

Her leaving isn't stopping them from being paid and therefore not saving any money so claiming leaving to save the state money is a lie at worse, misleading at best.

[MaryBob]

There's no "s" on the word "anyway". Undermines one's credibility.

[carolo]

What? Another lie from Sarah? She may as well stop with the lies since she keeps getting caught in them.

[Cybersquirt]

Ha! She's not smart enough to do that. Don't you remember when she lied about not being found guilty even after being shown the headline?

[gratonite]

Can't be cheap to raise a special needs kid, and 5 others and on a public servant and snow machine champion's salaries. Though I probably would've just served out my term. The money is going to be be huge for that book, or the Fox news show or whatever it is she has up her soon-to-be­-Armani-ag­ain sleeve.

[carolo]

No more expensive to raise special needs children than any other child unless they are unable to walk and may need leg braces, walkers or wheelchairs. They eat what we eat and wear what we wear and no medications are given to improve their conditions. What they do need is someone to care for them 24/7 all of their lives, however, and not pushed off onto family members.

[wdw505]

that is what MRDD in ohio is for

[mammamoop]

To Carolo: I must respectfully inform you that the notion that special needs children are "No more expensive to raise" than other children is simply not true. Special needs children require early intervention. Meaning they require intense one-on-one care for basic teaching of activities of daily living and therapy to facilitate optimal development, etc.

[nolabelle]

this author is promulgating the falsehoods -- what a joke;
-- since when is a lawyer's time on one's case not 'costing' something to his client,
-- since when is a lawyers time spent on extraneous and friviolous cases not costing (taxpayer) time ,which means money, that is better spent on more important priority legal items,
--since when is a barrage of constant ethics complaints and their required legal activities ( no doubt funded by state controlled statists like soros's move on, media matters and a host of other surreptitious groups and his huffy et all lemmings) not costing the time and money of others to scare,inti­midate,pus­h opponents out of the limelight? isn't that a tactic oft used by the mafia and the tyrannists­/fascists/­communists­?
--since when it is ok in the USA society to judge, condemn and denounce someone without allowing the time to learn all of the evidence first?

[cowman]

-A lawyer's time on one's case does not have a marginal cost when they're salaried not hourly
-Extraneous and frivilous is a point of view, to not investigate would degrade accountability
-You think the Mafia, Tyrannts, Facists, and Communists get their way by launching a barrage of ethics complaints? Who then are legitmate ethics complaints meant to stop?
-Since the first amendment. You can't blame people for forming an opinion. Thankfully the courts are held to a higher standard which is why we need lawyers.

[drumz]

Why do you feel the need to be an apologist? Oh, you think she's just great, you betcha, huh?

[leavond]

What a great gig...bein­g a lawyer for Palin.

[Alcove-One]

Or a dry cleaner for Lewinsky.

[mammamoop]

To nolabelle: Thank you for your comment. I agree with your honest assessment.

[FallenAngelII]

You're just unable to read an article without letting your bipartisan ship distort it.

What the article says is that Palin lied about how the money that was used to pay her state lawyers would've otherwise gone to public servants..­. something that simply is not true.