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

[mdn]

I'm with Levy, she did it for the money.

[jfrye]

It's a good thing she had the taxpayers pay her all that per diem to offset her legal expenses. Otherwise, she might have had to actually pay that "personal" legal debt personally.

[Alcove-One]

Taxpayers are busy footing the bill of Michelle Obama's shopping sprees to London.

[zer0ne]

Proof? Oh that's right, you're just making this stuff up aren't you?

[FallenAngelII]

Can you find a single shred of proof that Michella Obama has used taxpayer money for her shopping sprees? Meanwhile, we have ACTUAL PROOF that Palin at least TRIED to do it last year.

[batmanindy]

I have never heard anything uttered by this woman hold up. she is just a narcisstic celebrity-wannabe. A truly not respected person in my book.

[Alcove-One]

You hear what you want to hear.

[zer0ne]

What's your point?

[NOV42008]

Maybe Sarah has stolen $1.9 million, and when they discover it's gone, she was going to say, I had to pay the lawyers.

[colorperdaughter]

how muvh is sanford costing?

[geaaronson]

Most estimates of taxpayer costs run along the same lines. They are just so much figures tabulated with disregard with actual costs. A salaried person does not get paid overtime, so there would be no additional expense to the state, so this article is so much hogwash. These reporters have an axe to grind, but instead of going after more salient issues that Palin provokes, they`re going after silly, impertinent issues.
Palin is history. She is finished as a pet rock, which she closely resembles in mentality. She has no traction whatsoever in the GOP party, despite the polls. Her star has faded, it`s now Huckabee vs. Romney and it would not surprise me if we see a Huckabee-Pawlenty ticket.

[FallenAngelII]

It's not hogwash to go after Palin when she LIES. What better way to hurt someone's credibility than to simply expose them when they lie (repeatedly)?

[Parade]

OK Let's see if I understand. A newspaper says Palin lying? Who would have seen that coming?
Let's see how this all happened in the first place:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2009/07/10/reporter-we-took-sides-straight-simple-against-palin
Carl Cannon: "What I am saying is that we simply didn't hold Joe Biden to the same standard as Sarah Palin, and for me, the real loser in this sordid tale is my chosen profession."

Why don't you Palin-Haters get the facts instead of listening to gossip? For example:

By Joseph Russo

The News-Miner reports:


ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin's office has released a nearly $2 million cost breakdown detailing what the resigning Alaska governor says the state has paid tackling ethics complaints against her.

The spreadsheet compiled by the governor's office totals more than $1.9 million reportedly spent by various state agencies to handle the complaints as well as public records requests.

Palin, who steps down July 26, has racked up more than $500,000 in personal legal debts on top of that.

[lifesucks]

Oh, so Joseph Russo has the facts?

[Parade]

No wonder you people are ignorant, you can't read...
The News-Miner reports:

[laocoon]

if you are going to get all mavericky and fight that pork and corruption you should expect a lot of "frivolous" counterattacks as a prominent office holder. so is it just not worth it Sarah-- the good you intend to do is less important than the costs of defending against the bad guys. didnt you know that in the beginning. shouldnt you now realize that it will be even more so if you gain national office. clearly it will cost the country too much if you were President.

[fireW]

Her story this time doesn't hold up? What else is new? How often in the past has she said anything that was even remotely true? Now her sycophantic apologists will attack the newspaper for daring to expose her latest lying clown act.

[pepenero]

No one is certain of exactly what she is up to or why. But one thing is certain and that is that every time she appears on camera she is wearing a different outfit (I have yet to see her in the same outfit twice) . Now that takes dough and lots of it. Where is that money coming from?

[ctman47]

Where did all the clothes from the campaign go to?
They were never donated to charity.

[Baudacious Buccaneer]

A trail of evidence leads to the personal profit derived by the Palin empire from secret deals and negotiations that occurred beneath the level of public awareness--Federal infrastructure money, private residence investment and embezzlement, and wardrobe enhancement.

If it weren't for taxpayer money, the Palin empire would have no money at all!

[mammamoop]

To Pepenero: Clothes? You'er watching what she wears? Since you are the fashion police, what do you think of "Shelly's" clothes? I actually like both Sarah's and Michell's clothes. Happy now? Can we move on? Are we done with the whole clothes, fashion thing. Feel better now? Good - me too.

[FallenAngelII]

Michelle Obama is a millionaire. Michelle Obama is not infamous for trying to use taxpayer money to pay for outfits she tried to keep despite pledging to eventually donate to charity. Michelle Obama isn't claiming to be a middle class family with $500,000 in "personal legal debts". Michelle Obama isn't trying to support a 5-children family on a public servant salary + a scooter champion salary.

You're just trying to change the subject because an uncomfortable fact has been brought up. Either she's embezzling money or she's not as badly off and she's trying to make herself look and sound (i.e., she has lots of wealthy people donating money and goods to her). She's hardly a struggling middle class soccer mom.

[takeusaback]

This is an excellent article. However, I beleive it would have been more effective to have placed the last paragraph earlier in the article and/or in one of the highlighted boxes . It is a key point that clearly debunks Palin's eroneous claims.

[kozy]

She should not let herself drift into obscurity. Instead, she she should capitalize on her talent at right wing parody. While the right wing would be furious if she gave a serious speech (or interview) in front of an audience paying for parody entertainment, she should be able to make a lot of money at it. Just some thoughts.

[Annette truth teller08]

Legendary White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, who retired from full-time work in February after 41 years with ABC News, talked with POLITICO’s Michael Calderone about reporting on presidents and early coverage of the Obama administration. Here are edited excerpts:

How Washington has changed under the new administration:

“It’s like lifting a dark cloud. Let’s face it, I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on — toward the end of the Bush administration, it was grim. It was grim. And I think George W. Bush, although he seems to sleep pretty well at night, understood how grim it was. So it is a new day. And that’s great. And here’s a young, exciting family — not since JFK have you seen this kind of excitement in Washington; different crowd, beautiful wife, children. I think there’s great promise in this presidency.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24572.html Read the rest of the story here

[ctman47]

I have seen many posts on this and other blogs that express the opinion that progressives consider Palin a threat. So all sides need a method to be constantly aware of the threat level posted by her.
Get your Winky Terror Alert Color Coded Chart here:
http://www.zazzle.com/winky_threat_sticker-217750959346981576

[FallenAngelII]

She's only a threat if she actually gets power. "Progressives" don't perceive her as a threat because we know that most rational people with a grasp of the facts and, oh, logical thinking, will see through her BS.

However, if she WERE to come to power, we fear she'd be a destructive force the likes of which the U.S. has never seen.

[butlerman]

Ok, she says she is going away now. Why don't we let her?