Todd Palin refuses to testify in ‘Troopergate’ investigation.
Todd Palin refuses to testify in ‘Troopergate’ investigation.
As part of the abuse of power investigation — known as “Troopergate” — against Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Alaska state lawmakers voted last week to subpoena her husband Todd because, as investigator Stephen Branchflower said, he is “such a central figure.” But today, the AP reports that Todd Palin is refusing to testify:
Palin’s lawyer sent a letter to the lead investigator saying Palin objected to the probe and would not appear to testify on Friday.
“The objections boil down to the fact that the Legislative Council investigation is no longer a legitimate investigation because it has been subjected to complete partisanship and does not operate with the authority that it had at the time of its initial authorization,” McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan said.
Gov. Palin initially welcomed the legislature’s investigation but has since argued that the state Personnel Board — which is appointed by the governor — should have jurisdiction over the case. But the McCain campaign has sent O’Callaghan to Alaska in an attempt to shut down the investigation all together.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
sorry… didn’t mean to double PEACE y’all!
September 18th, 2008 at 8:54 pmAbove the Clouds: Boy does it ever! Actually, this crop of Retuglicans make Agnew and his ilk look like pikers. Small timers.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:59 pmTHis is disgusting. This is the kind of crap that happens when you let the Pres. do whatever he wants. Congress (mostly during Repub. leadership) really did this country a disservice by not standing up to Chimpy, CHeney, Gonzales, Rove, Meiers, et al. No respect for the authority of the other branches of government. Pathetic.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:02 pmGreat new Obama economics ad. Hits Fiorina, Gramm and Bush – POW POW POW!
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1185304443?bctid=1803307744
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 9:06 pmOK maybe I am naive when it comes to some of this stuff, but this dude can blow off a subpoena? I mean don’t they usually come and get you after that? Who does he think he is, Capt Karl Rove?
Maybe I’m not the brightest bulb in the lamp here. Question: is this just a tactic to try to stall/supress whatever will eventually come out of “Family Feud” until after the election(?)
I read this, it’s funny: http://www.moderateindependent.com/v6iAug292008ashtonpalin.htm
What a mess…
September 18th, 2008 at 9:21 pmAnd when constitutional scholar Barack Obama takes office we need new laws to make sure all government officials need to testify when subpoenaed.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:24 pmI wish the McCain campaign would explain to me how they have power over the Alaska state legislature. How does any campaign anywhere have power to… Oh, I get it. It’s called deception and corruption.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:35 pmBut here’s the kicker. They are too arrogant to realize just how stupid they are. They are only making it look like Sarah Palin has something really shitty to hide. My guess is that she probably does.
It doesn’t matter how “partisan” it is. That’s not how the law works. You could claim this for literally anything under the sun. The husband of a governor has no innate authority.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:05 pmNot to worry. There will be plenty of time for a full investigation starting on November 5th. And after all the obfuscation, new obstruction charges may be added on. Impeachment probably won’t be too far off!
Again I’ll say, after Palin exposing Alaska’s Welfare State status to the entire nation, when she returns to her job as governor, she may not be the most popular gal in the room.
No more earmarks, Sarah! Maverick that!
PEACE
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 10:17 pmThere’s a report on Josh Marshall’s blog, Talking Points Memo that McCain’s lawyers up there are giving the local press a very hard time about there reports of the Scandal. Trying to suppress the reporting. Rethug censorship tactics at their worst.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:18 pmWhy is it Republicans think the law doesn’t apply to them? They truly have contempt for out justice system.
Palin and McCain promise transparency and accountability, and then do this. If this is what they’re like on the campaign, just imagine how they’ll abuse power if they get into office.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:19 pmDoes the name “Spiro Agnew” come to mind here?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:20 pmi think we need a nation-wide rash of refusing subpoenas,
refusing to testify, objecting to probes…
citing rove, meiers, now palin, et al…
just, “no, i don’t have to… executive precedence”
afookinmazing.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:25 pmAnd I’ll ask the question again… While Princess Wasilla and the First Dud are out lying, er, campaigning around the nation, who is home watching the Palin children?
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 10:26 pmHe’s afraid that they will ask him about her extramarital affairs – macho dude like him won’t want to admit he has a pathological liar and tramp for a wife.
Besides, the whole family will be able to steal boatloads of money from the US treasury just like cheney if they can somehow steal this election and provide a plausible enough explanation for the MSM to “catapult.”
September 18th, 2008 at 10:28 pmTime to send the Federal Marshall service in to cuff him up as they take him to the big house.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:28 pm“Todd Palin, who participates in state business in person or by e-mail, ”
I thought he had a union job. What kind of position did he have in the Alaskan government? What kind does he intend to have if his wife wins? Co-VP or VP alone?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:28 pmspencers mom – no problem there – the youngest is actually the sarah’s GRANDDAUGHTER, the love child of her daughter. She just pretended to be the mom so that they could continue to catapult the lies of the religious right.
Besides, palin’s teenage daughter is knocked up again anyhow with a second child, so its no big deal to stay home now and take care of her first illegitimate child.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:31 pmHave they begun the auction for next year’s Speaker of the House position yet?? And will they be bidding in denarii?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:31 pmdid anyone notice todd checking out the blond babe next to him?
and she was so AWARE of his hunkiness that she couldn’t look…
but it was E-LEC-tric…
(heh)
September 18th, 2008 at 10:32 pmWhat are the legal issues here?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:37 pmThe old pardon man has his political team send a political team to mess with a state ivestigation and get it shut down because it is political?
No amount of lipstick can hide this one.
Do ak people put up with this dc flavor sewage spill?
It’s all a distraction anyway.
If she was/is clean there would be no reason to send in toxic waste management teams.
Besides, ak has their own waste management system.Don’t they?
wisinski – who are you kidding – the dems let the head figurehead for dur chimpfurher’s criminal cabal off the hook when they did not enforce a subpoena for rove.
The “opposition” has actually been part of the problem all along. Why would they hold palin accountable when they let meirs, bolton, and now rove skate free when they refused to testify?
People forget – the spineless dems not only took “impeachment off the table” immediately after running in 2004 on an “accountability” platform, they have stood down after one of their own, Don Siegelman, was railroaded into prison under trumped up charges by the justice department.
Who can blame the criminals for refusing to cooperate when the “good guys” just nudge, wink, and say no more.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:37 pmThere are really no cowards quite like Republican cowards.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:47 pmSure there are, scytherius – how about the “opposition” that gives them all a “free pass” and “get out of jail free card”.
The best they can do is have conyers send a nasty letter…
September 18th, 2008 at 10:53 pmLet them refuse the subpoenas all the way to the election. It just makes them look guilty. If there was nothing to worry about they’d both go and be done with it.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:54 pmI guess if I get a subpoena, I can just say: “But I can see Russia from my house?” Spencers mom says what I think,thanks
September 18th, 2008 at 10:54 pmHas the Bush Administration started a trend?
You don’t have to answer a subpoena if you don’t like it?
IOKIYAR.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:56 pmContempt for the law, as practiced by the “Party of Accountability”. Perhaps Flippy’s Chippy should wear a sign that says “untrustworthy” to match the giant, flashing, “LIAR” sign she wears on her face?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:57 pmCheney in lipstick.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:58 pmSounds like the Republican team of lawyers squashing the Florida recount. It’s state jurisdiction, not federal.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:58 pmCoverup! Coverup!
Why is Palin stonewalling the Troopergate investigation?
What is Sarah Palin hiding?
Also, why won’t Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?
WHAT IS SARAH PALIN HIDING?!
Where is this “Open and Transparent Government” she keeps talking about?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:59 pmI thought the committee was 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats? That doesn’t sound very partisan to me. Am I wrong?
September 18th, 2008 at 11:00 pmIt all makes sense when you realize that McCain’s thugs got involved with Troopergate.
You see, they are Republicans and Repubs hate/don’t want/don’t believe in Government.
From regulation to obeying laws, Republicans think those are things that should be shunned.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:04 pmIBTunion4obama Says:
I thought the committee was 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats? That doesn’t sound very partisan to me. Am I wrong?
Of course it is partisan! One of the Repubs didn’t vote according to the party line!
We cannot even begin to imagine the level of torture, er, enhanced interogation that poor man endured until he finally complied with the Dem’s demands that he vote his conscience!
It was hell, I tell you, HELL!
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 11:08 pmAnd the Alaska AG is now saying the State Senate as a whole has to vote for the subpoena.
How about it Alaksan Senate? Are YOU for rule of law and separation of powers in your state, or just a flock of spineless sheepshit?
September 18th, 2008 at 11:14 pmShayne Says:
Let them refuse the subpoenas all the way to the election. It just makes them look guilty. If there was nothing to worry about they’d both go and be done with it.
__________
Yeppppp! When yer right, yer right, and let’s face it, Shayne, yer right.
I hope the GOOP keeps making a bigger and bigger stink about it. The more they complain and stonewall, the worse it looks. For all we know, the real problem is some tangential issue worse than Troopergate.
Perhaps in the course of investigating, they found something much more damaging and THAT’S what they are so desperately trying to hide.
I have to wonder… ***droll pause*** … are the GOOPers still so pleased w/ their, uh, choice? Perhaps they now wish they had thought this thru a little better and picked a REAL candidate, instead of their Great Big August Surprise, whom they’re now stuck with.
Any bets they’re not feverishly hunkered at GOP headquarters, frantically looking for some legal rationale that would justify Botch throwing his Magic Cape of Executive Privilege over the whole affair?
Any takers?? they could justify torture, endless wiretapping… they forge each other’s signatures… laws??? We don’t need no stinkin’ laws!!!
September 18th, 2008 at 11:32 pm“… the Legislative Council investigation is no longer a legitimate investigation because it has been subjected to complete partisanship and does not operate with the authority that it had at the time of its initial authorization,” McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan said.”
_________
And… ***cough***… is Ed O’Callaghan the one empowered to make this decision?
Complete partisanship? Meaningful definition, and some proof, please.
“Does not operate w/ the authority…” WTF??? Any lawyers present who’d care to decipher THIS bit of BS?
Talk about bizarre legal gyrations…
September 18th, 2008 at 11:36 pmSpencer’s Mom…thanks for that link to the new Obama ad…Good one!
September 18th, 2008 at 11:47 pmWhat are they hiding? WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?
September 18th, 2008 at 11:53 pm“The objections boil down to the fact that the Legislative Council investigation is no longer a legitimate investigation because it has been subjected to complete partisanship and does not operate with the authority that it had at the time of its initial authorization ,” McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan said.
Who determines what authority a legislative council operates under? Surely the legislature and not a political campaign hack?!?!
September 19th, 2008 at 12:01 amTRoS, didn’t read your thread before steaming up my screen with my post!! Boyds uffa fedder…
September 19th, 2008 at 12:02 am“I don’t like the questioners” is not a legal objection.
Cheers,
September 19th, 2008 at 12:26 amOkay, here is what you do if you’re an Alaskan legislator:
1. Find out which state Palin will be in the most in a given day
2. Call those state authorities
3. Issue a warrant for Todd Palin’s arrest on the charge of obstruction of justice and put him on a plane back to Alaska
The last time I checked, Todd Palin wasn’t married to anyone who had any legitimate power (yet). Plus there are consequences for not showing up to testify, yes? We’re not talking about the GOP’s version of the Kennedy’s for crying out loud and this isn’t like not showing up to answer for a speeding ticket.
Time to wash the lipstick off all the pigs!
September 19th, 2008 at 1:24 amTenebrae Says:
Why is it Republicans think the law doesn’t apply to them? They truly have contempt for out justice system.
Everyone misses the point.
The Repubicans HATE this country. Read what they say of government/governing and in it you will see they do not beleive in a government By the People, For the People, and Of the People, because they are ELITISTS at their core. They are the TORRIES.
ALL REPUBLICANS NEED TO ROUNDED UP AND THEN PUT IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
After that, I would use them for newly formed “helicopter huntin’” industry.
Listen to them when they open their mouths. They have utter contempt for the concept of law. They are criminals in the womb.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:14 amTestifying is for the little people.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:32 am~Dood Leona Helmsley Palin
Alaska is a cesspool of corruption. While there is some squabbling over who gets the spoils there is no crusader in sight to close down the cesspool. Think not, then just look at what is going on up there right now. Sarah Palin may talk the talk but when it comes to walking the walk she is nowhere to be found so the stay at home dad simply thumbs his nose at the law.
September 19th, 2008 at 4:10 amIf you ignore a subpeona, shouldn’t you get arrested and sent to jail?
I can only imagine how swiftly the law would act if I ignored a subpeona!
September 19th, 2008 at 4:19 amCan I do this too? Can I just refuse the next subpoena I get served, on the grounds I think it’s politically motivated?
September 19th, 2008 at 4:22 am@thomthum
If you had secret service protection wouldn’t you think you were invincible? How’s a rinky-dingy State level Sargent-at-Arms gonna anywhere near him to arrest him?
I think it’s gotten to a point where the Alaska legislature needs to sit down and draw up charges of impeachment against Palin. Otherwise, the rest of the lower 48 is gonna think they got pussy-whipped by McCain.
September 19th, 2008 at 4:30 amThe following was posted to Andrew Halco’ s blog
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/
This was submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-09-18 08:21, and it pretty much sets Palin up for a fall. The fun part is … they’re her words used to get elected governor. Now if the Alaska legislature hadn’t gone into hibernation so early this could be a done deal by now.
September 19th, 2008 at 4:42 am
New Rules …. Take your subpoena and wipe your … with it.
Where have we seen this before ???
September 19th, 2008 at 7:51 amWho are the laywers? Shouldn’t their names and photo’s be splashed across the net and tube as part of the McCain team?
September 19th, 2008 at 8:06 amThere’s no executive privilge here,the campaign is paying them? Let’s see how they like to be indentified for stopping a state investigation that involves a VP candidate? Make the next few days all about the attorney’s!
I wonder if any of this group headed to Alaska?
September 19th, 2008 at 8:59 ampoliticalhumor.about.com/library/blfloridagopmob.htm
Wouldn’t it be great to have officer Wooten serve the bench warrant for Todd Palin for failure to appear???
September 19th, 2008 at 11:00 amSubpoenas are for the little people, not HRH Princess Sarah of Pork or her royal consort the First Dude…?
*eyeroll*
Spare me.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:41 amHow is it that when the non-neocons refuse to even comment, they have something to hide, but when the neocons violate the law by ignoring a subpeona it’s just protecting their rights or the right of executive priviledge?
I’m willing to put a pot smoker on the street to make room in prison for these fascist scofflaws.
September 19th, 2008 at 2:31 pmThe worst part of this fiasco is that if there isn’t anything to hide, why don’t they get it over with. That would probably boost their campaign if nothing is found. They could spin the episode a million ways.
But now they have made it a tremendous liability. The have sent numerous lawyers (from the party that doesn’t like litigators) to obstruct the investigation, creating a news event, creating doubt,distrust-all from the candidate that speaks of reform!!!!
The McCain election committee are showing themselves to be truly inept. Keep up the good work!!!
September 19th, 2008 at 5:42 pmStreisand effect?
September 19th, 2008 at 6:36 pm