On the ballot in Alaska: transparency

from Stateline.org

In Alaska, a state that has had more than its share of political scandals, it’s no surprise that an initiative aimed at cleaning up government made it onto the ballot this year. What's surprising is how many respected groups have lined up against it...

The reasons have as much to do with the ballot initiative process itself as they do anyone's feelings about corruption. Proposition 1 is a classic case of a confusingly worded measure that would have broader consequences than its label suggests.

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To some Alaskans, the fight against Proposition 1 has morphed into a fight to guard their state's initiative process from those who would take advantage of its loopholes. Those loopholes already are beginning to close. The Legislature, responding to the fallout from other controversial initiatives, passed a law this year intended to bring more transparency to the initiative process.

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Alaska Judge Rules in Favor of Palin; State Business May Be Conducted through Private Email Accounts

An Alaska judge ruled in favor of former Gov. Sarah Palin in a lawsuit that urged that Palin and the governor's office had a responsibility to save email messages related to state business, even if they were sent through private email accounts.

In the ruling, Judge Patrick J. McKay of Anchorage Superior Court writes that, "The language in our case is clear — the Legislature simply chose to give state agencies some discretion in determining which e-mails are worthy of preservation and which are not." McKay noted that the statutes as currently written allow Alaska's state business to be conducted through private email accounts.

Read more here.

Palin Used Personal E-Mail Account for Public Business

The Alaska Dispatch has published a two-part series on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's attempt to divide her public and personal life by using two different email addresses while in office. Except, it turns out the dividing line wasn't so clear-cut; for example, she discussed hiring for public positions with other government officials on the Yahoo e-mail account because "everyone and their mother will be able to read emails that arrive via that state address."

For more, click here.

Alaska's "Going Rouge" in Responding to Palin Administration Records Requests

Alaska Governor Sean Parnell wants even more time to respond to records requests pertaining to Palin administration e-mails and other information, even though some requests have been pending for more than a year.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, the excuses range from too many requests, too complicated requests, and too voluminous requests to requests that require an attorney to review the documents individually for privacy and executive privilege issues.

For more on the delayed records response from the Alaska state government, click here.

One Year and Waiting... Palin's Emails Still Not Produced

Records requests for Sarah Palin's emails made by the Alaska Democratic Party remain unfilled, even though it's been more than a year since the request.  

Alaska officials say they are working on the large request, which requires lawyers to review each email to determine if it should be withheld for privacy concerns or to protect the "deliberative process," an executive privilege granted to the governor and close advisers.  

More here. 

Ala. lawmakes can use private e-mail as Palin did, judge rules

A Superior Court judge ruled that Alaska state law doesn't prohibit the use of private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, the AP reported.

This is why states must look hard at outlawing the use of private e-mail by elected officials to conduct public business. This is a fairly straightforward legislative fix, no? No g-mail to discuss public business! Note that the court here is all but calling for the legislature to fix this.

A judge ruled Wednesday the Alaska governor's office can use private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, as former Gov. Sarah Palin did.

Superior Court Judge Jack W. Smith said in his ruling there is no provision in Alaska state law that prohibits the use of private e-mail accounts when conducting state business.

The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Anchorage resident Andree McLeod, who contended such use of private e-mails denies citizens the right to inspect public records.

More here.
Also, Court: Palin's e-mail practices not a violation of open records law, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

New twist in Palin hacker case

Defense lawyer Wade Davies has asked a federal judge to dismiss the four federal charges pinned on David Kernell , the Tennessee college student who allegedly hacked into Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account, Wired reported. Davis argues that in Tennessee, an act must expose something inherently private and place the victim in a false light for it to be considered an invasion of privacy. This wasn't the case, he says, because "an Alaska court has issued an order requiring Ms. Palin to preserve the correspondence in her private e-mail accounts on the grounds that the e-mails are public records."

A surprise legal maneuver by the defense in the Sarah Palin hacking case could undermine key charges carrying the stiffest potential penalties.

A lawyer for the Tennessee college student charged with hacking into the Alaska governor’s Yahoo e-mail account last year says his client couldn’t have violated Palin’s privacy because a judge had already declared her e-mails a matter of public record.

“He’s not suggesting that e-mail can’t be private,” says Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department cybercrime prosecutor. “He’s saying this particular e-mail was not private or personal because of who she is and because it wasn’t intimate communication.”

More here.

Alaska Democrats fed up waiting for Palin records

The request for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's schedules, calendars and specific e-mails was filed by the Alaska Democratic Party more than four months ago. However, the state has notified the Democrats that they won't receive the records until March, maybe later, because of the bulk of requests Palin's office is trying to sift through.

The Alaska Democratic Party says the state's repeated delays in providing public records it has asked for involving Gov. Sarah Palin are "excessive and unwarranted."

The state notified the Democrats earlier this week that it would likely need until the end of March if not longer to provide records first requested more than four months ago, on Sept. 22, during the heat of the presidential campaign when Palin was the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate.

In the request, Alaska Democratic Party chairwoman Patti Higgins sought Palin's schedules and calendars between Jan. 1, 2007, and Sept. 15, 2008.

More here.

Records show Palin pushed for millions in earmarks

A lobbyist's report that had not been previously disclosed reveals that Sarah Palin helped get nearly $27 million in earmarked federal funding for Alaska.

As a vice presidential candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin has railed against federal earmarks, or congressional funding for pork-barrel projects. "In our state, we reformed the abuses of earmarks," Palin recently boasted to a rally in Lancaster, Pa. "We championed earmark reform up there," she said, "to stop Congress from wasting public money on things that didn't serve the public interest."

But musty records culled from the archives of the Wasilla, Alaska, city government reveal that Palin was directly involved in soliciting millions of dollars in earmarks for Wasilla when she was mayor. And she got help from a well-connected Washington lobbyist.

In a monthly status report to the city on March 7, 2000, newly hired "City Lobbyist" Steve Silver describes how the Palin administration had requested $6.6 million in federal earmarks for water and sewer improvements for Wasilla, and another $1 million for police equipment. Mayor Palin reviewed and signed the lobbyist's report, dated April 5, 2000.

More here.

Palin's Yahoo e-mail practices echo Bush practices, expert says

Bush's White House personnel often use e-mail accounts controlled by the Republican National Committee. Now open government advocates wonder about Palin's use of a Yahoo account for official business and what her intentions were.

It's not a great idea to run a government using Yahoo! e-mail accounts.

That's the word from experts, anyway, reacting to news that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo! e-mail had been hacked earlier this week. McCain's vice-presidential pick reportedly used the accounts to communicate with key aides about government business.

The practice is dangerous, said experts, and can run counter to laws ensuring government is open and accountable -- a tough point for Palin, who has made "open government" a catchphrase of her political identity.

More here.

Open records request denied for e-mails between government aides, Todd Palin

The reason for the secrecy? The e-mails deal with policy deliberations and could also reveal more controversy surrounding Sarah Palin. The decision is currently being appealed.

An open records request was initially filed in June for copies of the incoming and outgoing e-mails of two top Palin aides suspected of using business hours to engage in political activity. The documents Palin's office turned over to Andree McLeod, an independent government watchdog in Alaska, revealed possible ethics and hiring laws violations but also raised an interesting question: Why were 1100 e-mails, many of which were written by or sent to Palin, withheld?

Dozens of e-mails exchanged among several government employees and Todd Palin, the husband of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin who has no formal role in her administration, are not being turned over in response to an open records request in the state.

The e-mails are being kept secret ostensibly because they deal with policy deliberations between the governor and her staff, the contents of which do not have to be disclosed to the public. However, Todd Palin's presence in the e-mail chains seems to belie concerns that their contents need to remain strictly in the domain of the state government.

Read more.

More coverage of this issue:

• Appeal filed in the case of Sarah Palin's secret emails; Mother Jones
• Sarah Palin's secret e-mails; Mother Jones
• Anchorage activist seeks Palin records; Star Tribune (Minn.)
• Governor is asked to release e-mails; Washington Post
  
• Palin e-mails show intense interest in trooper's penalty; Washington Post