Palin Sued for Private E-Mails About State Business

[maddezmom]

Source: WaPo

Palin Sued for Private E-Mails About State Business
By Matthew Mosk
ANCHORAGE -- In a lawsuit filed in Alaska Superior Court, a Republican activist seeks to force Gov. Sarah Palin to produce copies of official correspondence she sent and received on private e-mail accounts.

Andrée McLeod filed the suit Wednesday and publicized it in a news release today. "Rather than using her state e-mail account, throughout her two-year tenure as Governor of Alaska, defendant Sarah Palin, as a matter of routine, has used, and, on information and belief, continues to use, (at least) two private e-mail accounts... to conduct official business of the State of Alaska," the suit alleges.

The suit is the latest front in a battle McLeod is waging over Palin's e-mail. In June, she filed an open-records request and received four boxes of redacted e-mails. But more than 1,100 others were withheld, an action Palin justified by claiming executive privilege. McLeod appealed that claim last month before going to court last week.

McLeod has questioned whether Palin was using private e-mail accounts to conduct state business in a manner that would skirt open-records laws. In one notable e-mail, a Palin aide apologized for discussing state business on a public account. "Whoops!" Palin aide Frank Bailey wrote, after addressing an e-mail to the governor's official state address. "Frank, this is not the Governor's personal account," a secretary reminded him.



Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/04/palin_sued_for_private_e-mails.html

[msongs]

1. does executive privilege apply to an insecured personal and secret private account?

who's got the ad showing her running these private accounts TO KEEP SECRETS from Alaska citizens/taxpayers?

Msongs

[pinkpops]

10. I don't think there is any such thing as "executive privledge" at

the state level.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

21. They don't seem to secret.

[Igel]

23. If the claim of executive privilege is valid

when it comes to state e-mail accounts and employees, it's valid with non-state e-mail accounts and people who aren't employees.

It's the communication with the executive that's covered, not the mode of communication or who it's with.

Think doctor-patient privilege. If communication with my doctor is privileged (although I can certainly divulge my personal information), then it doesn't matter if I call him on his office phone or his personal phone, it doesn't matter if I ask him a question in his office or when I bump into him at the supermarket.

We can even play with the chain of communication. I don't talk to the lab running tests on me, but they're bound to keep the test results secret since they're functioning as proxies for the doctor. I might authorize a friend to get the information from the doctor on my test results if I'm unable to be around when they come in, yet the test results are still confidential: The conversation between the doctor and my friend, or the doctor and the testing lab, are covered by *my* claim to privilege.

Same for lawyer-client privilege, with more paperwork.

[uppityperson]

2. Good. She's going to have a really difficult time when she returns to AK.

[kestrel91316]

3. I love how it's a REPUBLICAN activist suing her. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Lubernaut]

6. Sarah got out-mavericked.

Hee hee.

[intheflow]

7. I know!

That's the part that tickles me, too. I doubt moderate Republicans in Alaska like her at all. :)

[sattahipdeep]

4. Lawless Arrogance

But now, with the heavy involvement of the McCain campaign, Gov. Palin has embraced core GOP "principles" -- political officials can unilaterally exempt themselves from the rule of law and the people, through their elected representatives in the legislature, are powerless to learn what their political leaders have done. That, of course, has been the guiding principle of the Bush administration -- as one Bush official after the next has simply refused to comply with Congressional subpoenas as part of investigations into serious allegations of lawbreaking and other wrongdoing -- and the McCain campaign and the Palins are leaving no doubt that they are full-fledged believers in these corrupt and lawless prerogatives.

This sort of lawless arrogance doesn't merely insulate political officials from any accountability, though it does do that. It also destroys the crux of representative democracy. The ability of a legislature to investigate what the Executive Branch is doing isn't some ancillary Congressional function, but is as important -- arguably more so -- than the legislative power to enact laws. It's how the people ensure that Executive Branch officials are accountable and are required to adhere to the law.

That compliance by political officials with legislative subpoenas is a linchpin of how our government was designed to function was explained quite clearly long ago by the Supreme Court in its 1927 decision in McGrain v. Daugherty:

We are of opinion that the power of inquiry -- with process to enforce it -- is an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function. It was so regarded and employed in American Legislatures before the Constitution was framed and ratified. . . . . Experience has taught that mere requests for such information often are unavailing, and also that information which is volunteered is not always accurate or complete; so some means of compulsion are essential to obtain what is needed. All this was true before and when the Constitution was framed and adopted. In that period the power of inquiry, with enforcing process, was regarded and employed as a necessary and appropriate attribute of the power to legislate-indeed, was treated as inhering in it.

These are the vital safeguards, the core democratic functions, which the Bush administration and now the McCain/Palin campaign are flagrantly subverting.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/19/palin/

[ShockediSay]

9. More of Bushy neoconFascism than even McCain. Give her more air time

and she'll hang herself right next to Dubya.

[Lugnut]

5. Sarah will have a lot on her plate on Nov 5th

:kick:

[TooRaLoo]

8. Pleased to K&R

[Ronbeaux]

11. I think someone needs to let the public know.

If she is found guilty of abuse of power or covering up the same (or other violations via hiding it in personal correspondence) that she would be forced to step down as VP, if elected.

No one should run for high office if under investigation simply because they may be found guilty. We may all have a presumption of innocence however, in such a position, she should be suspended from the race until a formal ruling has been made.

At least, that is my opinion.

[bjobotts]

12. Read more: one says "let's see Obama's emails" missing the point of official gov. bus on private ema

I wonder how many more idiots post at the WP. We got marionette spouting (against all the poll results and public opinion) how Palin is loved and McCain now owns the mantle of change for picking her because Obama ignored 18 mil Hillary supporters...another full of shit idiot ignoring reality to make herself appear right. Most comments were what you'd expect...not fooled by the Palin pretense and insulted by her hypocrisy...we won't get fooled again.

[varun]

13. She probably has erased all emails from her private accounts

by now.

[taddles]

16. Good

Then when that is proven she can spend a fews years in jail for committing a felony.

[Hugin]

14. What do you expect from someone who avoids subpoenas?

Just like Rove.

[supernova]

15. Official Repuke strategery?

This is the same shit the WH pulled, doing official business via Gmail and Yahoo mail.

Now, Wailin Palin's been caught doing it too. How many other state and local officials are out there across the country using web-based email to conduct business?

[Occulus]

17. It's the end of the world

a Republican activist seeks to force Gov. Sarah Palin to produce copies of official correspondence

The sun is rising in the west, and dogs and cats are living together. I believe I hear a turtle singing.

[superconnected]

18. Wow, behind the pig with the lipstick face is... cheney.

I see she was vetted after all.

I mean that this woman beast and cheney think alike.

[Bensthename]

19. "one notable e-mail, a Palin aide apologized for discussing state business on a public account."

In one notable e-mail, a Palin aide apologized for discussing state business on a public account. "Whoops!" Palin aide Frank Bailey wrote, after addressing an e-mail to the governor's official state address.
--------
Unfortunately, this will just be another negative story on Palin we are all getting used to. It doesn't seem big enough if above is all they have. But it may cause a day or more of bad publicity for Mac and team.

[progressoid]

20. She'll probably cite the precedent the White House set

[maddezmom]

22. AP: New lawsuit seeks to force preservation of e-mails from Palin's private account

New lawsuit seeks to force preservation of e-mails from Palin's private account
Associated Press

Last update: October 5, 2008 - 7:58 AM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A critic of Gov. Sarah Palin is suing to try to force preservation of any government-related e-mails that Palin sent from private accounts.

Andree McLeod, a former state worker, filed the lawsuit against Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, in Anchorage on Thursday. Palin's gubernatorial spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow, said Saturday she could not comment on pending litigation.

Palin's e-mail account with Yahoo Inc. was compromised last month by a hacker who revealed as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.

more:http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/30473939.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7EaDiaMDCiUT

[sattahipdeep]

25. McLeod also has submitted an open records request

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/04/palin_sued_for_private_e-mails.html


"The extent of the use of these private e-mail accounts demonstrates the extent of deception that the governor is operating under," McLeod said in an interview today. "The process is corrupt. The overall question now becomes, how did it become so broken that nobody could tell her, 'Don't do that.' That's why I'm going to the courts."

....
"Palin's decision to conduct state business in such an unprofessional and secretive manner suggests that her promise to have an ethical, open, honest and transparent administration is pure bogus," McLeod said in a statement Saturday.

....
"Equally troubling is the fact that most of Palin's private e-mail accounts have recently been shut down," she said. "I'm seeking the court's help by requesting them to tell the governor to obey Alaska's public record laws."

McLeod also has submitted an open records request with the state of Alaska seeking copies from Palin's private e-mail accounts as well as one belonging to her husband, Todd. The Associated Press has submitted similar requests.



Pro-Palin rally gets surprise guests
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/mccain-palin-rally-vs-obama-biden-rally-in-anchorage-the-blow-by-blow/

[pleah]

24. K&R n/t