She's Not Exactly Penelope Pitstop

[rayboyusmc]

Little Sarah has some baggage she brought with her. Despite what the one lobbyist said that they won't let her be interviewed until the press shows her some "deference". What a bunch of crap. They didn't show any to anyone else running.

Watch Charley softball his interview. They are afraid to have here go out on her own.

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate sent a signal that he would end business as usual and cronyism in government. Her record shows the Alaska governor engaged in some of the same practices she and McCain now condemn.


Palin's office approved a state job for a friend and campaign aide with whom she shared a land investment, financial records and interviews over the past two weeks show. She hired a former lobbyist for a pipeline company to help oversee a multibillion-dollar deal with that same company.

She named a police chief accused of harassment to head the state police. And she sent campaign e-mails on her city hall account while serving as mayor of Wasilla -- conduct for which she later turned in an oil commissioner on ethics charges.

These incidents raise ``some serious questions about her judgment and serious questions about her standards of ethics in public service,'' said James Thurber, director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies in Washington. Suggesting a real estate investment partner for a job ``may be acceptable in Alaska; it would not be acceptable in Washington, D.C., a place whose norms she wants to change.''

Palin defeated an incumbent governor, a fellow Republican, in 2006 charging that her party's old guard had committed ethical lapses and become too cozy with special interests, including oil companies. A central theme in this year's presidential campaign has been that Palin's record demonstrates the change a McCain administration would bring to Washington.

Recent statements by the governor may erode that claim. In her acceptance speech last week, she suggested that she opposed the infamous ``Bridge to Nowhere,'' a $223 million earmark for a bridge to an island where only 53 people lived.

For It, Against It

When Palin, 44, campaigned for governor, however, she said she was in favor of the bridge. In 2007, she canceled the project in the face of national outrage. The state never returned the money allocated by the federal government, with some of the funds going toward other state and local projects.

And as mayor of Wasilla, a job she held for six years until 2002, Palin hired lobbyists to get federal funding for local projects. Wasilla secured $27 million in earmarks for the town of about 9,000 that included a rail project and a youth center.

Shortly after she was elected governor, Palin's office signed off on hiring Deborah Richter -- who attended college for a year then worked in bookkeeping and finance jobs -- as director of a division that distributes dividends to Alaskans from the state's oil-wealth savings account.

Richter, who said she's known Palin for 13 years, was Palin's gubernatorial campaign treasurer and ran her inaugural committee.

Sharing an Investment

The Richters and Palins also shared an investment: 30 acres of rural property near a lake in Petersville, Alaska, worth $47,300, according to Matanuska-Susitna Borough data.

``It sounds like a patronage deal for someone who ran your campaign; that's pretty normal,'' said Bill Buzenberg, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington. ``What's not normal is that they have business dealings together.''

No evidence has emerged to suggest that laws were broken in the appointment, and Richter said she ``didn't go in there with any promises from the governor or the chief of staff or anybody. I turned in my resume'' to the governor's transition team ``and I didn't know if anyone was going to call me.''

``She was qualified,'' said Pat Galvin, commissioner of the Department of Revenue and Richter's boss. Galvin said he also interviewed other people for the job and that Richter has done well. He said Palin's office approved his selection of Richter.

Not Palin's Decision

Palin's gubernatorial spokesman, William McAllister, said the decision to hire Richter was Galvin's. ``I have no knowledge of land ownership or college degrees,'' he said.

Deborah Richter gave up her share of the property last September in a divorce settlement that followed an affair with Palin's legislative director, John Bitney. Bitney and Richter both acknowledged the affair in interviews. Bitney said Palin fired him over it; Richter is still on the job. They are now married.

Last month, Palin signed a law granting TransCanada Corp., Canada's largest pipeline company, an exclusive state license and up to $500 million in subsidies to proceed with work on a $27 billion pipeline, which would carry natural gas from Alaska to other U.S. markets.

Once a Lobbyist

Marty Rutherford, the chief coordinator behind Palin's pipeline effort, once worked as an Alaska lobbyist for a TransCanada pipeline subsidiary, according to state records. Rutherford, deputy commissioner at the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, earned $40,200 as a lobbyist for 10 months in 2003 working for Foothills, the subsidiary.

Rutherford said in an interview that she only did consulting work for the company, including reviewing natural gas legislation. She said the work had no bearing on her future job as coordinator of Palin's pipeline team.

``I intended to leave state government when I went to Jade North, but as time went on I realized my heart was in government,'' she said, referring to the firm she briefly worked for.

Palin told the Anchorage Daily News last December that Rutherford's work with Foothills wasn't a conflict because it had been five years earlier.

Trooper Investigation

The governor already has triggered an investigation by the Alaska legislature into whether she fired the state commissioner of public safety, Walt Monegan, for not removing a state trooper involved in a contentious divorce from Palin's sister.

Palin has denied exerting any pressure on Monegan and said she dismissed him because she wanted to take the department in a new direction.

Since McCain picked Palin, seven Palin aides have declined to be interviewed on the matter by an investigator hired by the Alaska legislature, according to the House and Senate Judiciary committees.

Earlier this year, Palin found herself apologizing for her handling of Monegan's replacement. About six weeks before she learned McCain wanted her to be his vice president, she named Kenai, Alaska, police chief Charles Kopp to replace Monegan.

On July 25, two weeks after being appointed, Kopp resigned amid scrutiny over a 2005 sexual-harassment complaint against him while he was chief in Kenai. The complaint resulted in a letter of reprimand from the city, which Palin told reporters she never knew about and had believed that the allegations were unsubstantiated, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Not a Harasser

In a July press conference, Kopp denied any harassment. ``I've always done every job I've ever done with honor and integrity,'' he said. ``There is one thing I am not. I am not a sex harasser.'' Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

Asked about these episodes in Palin's career, McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds lauded her reform efforts. Bounds said Palin has allowed the public to scrutinize state financial information, ``cut wasteful spending by a quarter of a billion dollars just last year and ushered in landmark ethics legislation.''

The moment that crystallized her image as a reformer came when she turned in state Republican chairman Randy Ruedrich after discovering he was using his state e-mail account to conduct party business.

Palin and Ruedrich were serving together as commissioners on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a state regulatory agency, at the time. Ruedrich resigned from the commission in November 2003, and was later fined $12,000, according to a 2004 article in the Anchorage Daily News.

In 2006, Palin found herself asking forgiveness for a similar offense from her past, according to a July 28, 2006, article in the Anchorage Daily News. She had sent campaign e- mails from her Wasilla mayor's office in 2002, when she made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor.

Palin's Ethics Scrapes May Undercut Pledge to End Old Politics - Yahoo! News

 

[editec]

Palin is the perfect candidate to represent today's Republican cause.

She has exactly the same moral standards that we've all come to expect from this crowd.

 

[glockmail]

.....

Watch Charley softball his interview. They are afraid to have here go out on her own.....

I can see that you're hedging your humiliating defeat.

 

[CSM]

Palin is the perfect candidate to represent today's Republican cause.

She has exactly the same moral standards that we've all come to expect from this crowd.

Yep...about the same morals as libs/Dems...

Oh I forgot, infidelity in the Oval office is ok. Cocaine use is acceptable. Abuse of power is just fine. Not that Dems would EVER do such things!

 

[Silence]

Yep...about the same morals as libs/Dems...

Oh I forgot, infidelity in the Oval office is ok. Cocaine use is acceptable. Abuse of power is just fine. Not that Dems would EVER do such things!

correct me if I'm wrong but which party preaches constantly about morality and family values? yeah, that's what I thought....hypocrite thy name is republican.

 

[CSM]

correct me if I'm wrong but which party preaches constantly about morality and family values? yeah, that's what I thought....hypocrite thy name is republican.

The point is, you either have principles or you do not.

Perhaps the party that believes principles (or morality) don't matter should not be so concerned with the morality of others. Either they matter or they don't.

On a side note, thanks for pointing out that non-republicans don't think morality or principles or family values matter.


As one lib poster told me on this board, "hypocricy is ok as long as it is your side practicing it".

 

[strollingbones]

okay i am gonna say this right out loud...sarah palin is not trigs mother. i have now looked thru 15 google images pages. I cannot find one picture of her that looks like she is 7.5 months preggies.....nor can i find a picture of her preggies with any of the other kids...why suddenly have the pics of her frist preggies disappeared....o ...would it show how she really looks preggies...look at her face in the 7.5 months pics....no fat...i dont care how much you work out....at that stage your body is a fat building machine....you breath air...you get fatter....

another thing....no woman in her right mind....has a "leak" and flies 3000 miles than drives another few hours to buck f*ck egypt to have a child she knows already has problems.

so either she was not preggies...or she is f*cking stupid...which is it?

btw at 6.5 lbs ....trig was not premature.....and now she is tossing her daughter to the wolves...by announcing her kid is preggies...making it look like for the first time....isnt it just strange her daughter was out of school this entire time of trig's preggies?

come on ...if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...its a duck

 

[strollingbones]

Yep...about the same morals as libs/Dems...

Oh I forgot, infidelity in the Oval office is ok. Cocaine use is acceptable. Abuse of power is just fine. Not that Dems would EVER do such things!

if mccain can walk out on his first wife for rich cindy...you do realize mccain has a first wife...one that was loyal to him...but disfigured in a car wreck...he dumped her like a hot tater...for the rich cindy....so mccain is a ho dog just like clinton...where are your moral values now?

 

[glockmail]

okay i am gonna say this right out loud...sarah palin is not trigs mother. i have now looked thru 15 google images pages. I cannot find one picture of her that looks like she is 7.5 months preggies.....nor can i find a picture of her preggies with any of the other kids...why suddenly have the pics of her frist preggies disappeared....o ...would it show how she really looks preggies...look at her face in the 7.5 months pics....no fat...i dont care how much you work out....at that stage your body is a fat building machine....you breath air...you get fatter....

another thing....no woman in her right mind....has a "leak" and flies 3000 miles than drives another few hours to buck f*ck egypt to have a child she knows already has problems.

so either she was not preggies...or she is f*cking stupid...which is it?

btw at 6.5 lbs ....trig was not premature.....and now she is tossing her daughter to the wolves...by announcing her kid is preggies...making it look like for the first time....isnt it just strange her daughter was out of school this entire time of trig's preggies?

come on ...if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...its a duck

Wow Bones you've gone off the deep end here gal.

 

[strollingbones]

the point is none of them have priniciples....to get where they are they have sold out....

 

[strollingbones]

no deep end glock ...just not stupid....why suddenly are there no pics of her earlier preggies? and why does she not look preggies....why the lie about the kid being premature when he weight reflects a full term preggies? why all the lies glock?
do you really think this is all conincidences...her daughter being out of school....

"dont piss down my back and tell me its raining" one of the clint eastwood movies...high plains drifter i do believe...

something just aint right....all i want to see is a pic of her 8 months...note how its gets shorter..now its 7.5 months....with one of her first four kids...lets see how she looked then?

HUMPTY DUMPTY WAS PUSHED

 

[Silence]

The point is, you either have principles or you do not.

Perhaps the party that believes principles (or morality) don't matter should not be so concerned with the morality of others. Either they matter or they don't.

On a side note, thanks for pointing out that non-republicans don't think morality or principles or family values matter.


As one lib poster told me on this board, "hypocricy is ok as long as it is your side practicing it".

so to you, if a person isn't constantly harping on morals and principals that means they don't have any?

but if they ARE constantly harping on morals and principals, even while committing the same acts they are condeming they DO have principals...

I get it... it's the words NOT the actions that matter... makes sense to me now... dumbass

The difference beteen the Republicans and non-republicans when it comes to morals and family values...we believe it's up to each person to decide for themselves what those standards should be... it's called personal freedom and responsibility. It's not our job to police the morals of those around us.

 

[strollingbones]

glock it boils down to this.....

who you gonna believe...me or your lying eyes...?

show me the pics of her earlier preggies and then of her with trig...you do realize a woman gets fatter with each one...not skinner... working out will not stop nature....your face gets round....round and fat....

 

[CSM]

the point is none of them have priniciples....to get where they are they have sold out....

Exactly!!! Yet the good citizens of this country continue to elect unprincipled, power hungry idiots to office. Political campaigns run by both sides have been focused on nonsense rather than REAL issues for decades now.

Where the heck are the candidates with REAL integrity, REAL desire for progress and prosperity for this country and its people? Between the media and extremists of all political parties we get this caricature of a democratic republic in action.

 

[Silence]

Exactly!!! Yet the good citizens of this country continue to elect unprincipled, power hungry idiots to office. Political campaigns run by both sides have been focused on nonsense rather than REAL issues for decades now.

Where the heck are the candidates with REAL integrity, REAL desire for progress and prosperity for this country and its people? Between the media and extremists of all political parties we get this caricature of a democratic republic in action.

ummm newsflash...we have a candidate right now who is TRYING to talk about real issues...instead he's being forced to talk about how his comment about putting lipstick on a pig.

It's ridiculous.

 

[CSM]

so to you, if a person isn't constantly harping on morals and principals that means they don't have any?

but if they ARE constantly harping on morals and principals, even while committing the same acts they are condeming they DO have principals...

I get it... it's the words NOT the actions that matter... makes sense to me now... dumbass

The difference beteen the Republicans and non-republicans when it comes to morals and family values...we believe it's up to each person to decide for themselves what those standards should be... it's called personal freedom and responsibility. It's not our job to police the morals of those around us.

Well, shit for brains, if the libs/Dems such as yourself are not responsible for policing the morals of others, why do you advocate doing just that? Why even make an issue of the supposed hypocrites of your opposition? It's because such things do matter to you or you are just as hypocritical! Which is it in your case?

 

[strollingbones]

Exactly!!! Yet the good citizens of this country continue to elect unprincipled, power hungry idiots to office. Political campaigns run by both sides have been focused on nonsense rather than REAL issues for decades now.

Where the heck are the candidates with REAL integrity, REAL desire for progress and prosperity for this country and its people? Between the media and extremists of all political parties we get this caricature of a democratic republic in action.

hmmm could it be real integrity etc...comes with age...when you learn from life mistakes? now if you are a moral man or woman....are you really gonna open you kids and family and friends...to this type of mess....i mean lets drag everything out of your closet and see how you like it?

i mean think about it...we all have done things we would prefer to remain private......when you run for office it doesnt....unless you are running as a republican (sorry couldnt resist)

 

[Silence]

thanks for the neg rep CSM...you're still a dumbass

 

[strollingbones]

Well, shit for brains, if the libs/Dems such as yourself are not responsible for policing the morals of others, why do you advocate doing just that? Why even make an issue of the supposed hypocrites of your opposition? It's because such things do matter to you or you are just as hypocritical! Which is it in your case?

lol Palin is policing the morals of others...just not her own daughter lol....damn i hope you meant that as a funny....cause its the best one of the day

 

[CSM]

ummm newsflash...we have a candidate right now who is TRYING to talk about real issues...instead he's being forced to talk about how his comment about putting lipstick on a pig.

It's ridiculous.

In that we can agree, though the Obama campaign has had its moments trying to force their opposition into defending themselves against flat out spurious claims. Heck, there are threads and sub threads on this board about Palins religion and pregnancies that have absolutely NO bearing on her capability or lack thereof.