Palin Emails – Redactions = Zero

 

What a waste of media resources, and how predictable to anyone who paid attention to the fact that while almost 25,000 emails from Sarah Palin’s tenure as Alaska governor–but stopping before Election Day, 2008–would be made available for public consumption, almost 2,500 additional pages would be withheld.

And who decided what to withhold?  The state of Alaska.

And who is governor of Alaska today?  Palin’s fellow-evangelical Christian lapdog, Sean Parnell, who became governor only because Sarah quit in July, 2009.

Just the list of withheld emails was 189 pages long.

As conservative Paul Jenkins explained in the Anchorage Daily News last week:

It turns out state lawyers and folks in the governor’s office — where some, it turns out, worked for Palin but now work for Gov. Sean Parnell, who was Palin’s lieutenant governor — made the calls on those 2,415 emails. Not an impartial panel of citizens and lawyers, or folks lacking direct or indirect ties to the authors of the emails or any court. Just insiders.

Does anyone detect a smell of fish?

Notwithstanding that the state announced in advance that more than ten percent of the emails would not be disclosed, MSM–even including The Guardian, from England, descended on Juneau in a state of mindlessness that can only be likened to mass hysteria.

As readers of this blog will know, I don’t have much truck with Greta Van Susteren, but her description of this as a “colonoscopy” was apt.

Sarah can only be relieved by the result: no malignancy found.

Of course, in a colonoscopy, the patient doesn’t get to hide ten percent of the area under examination.

To me, the most disturbing aspect of this whole overblown farce is that those assiduous protectors of Palin’s privacy, who redacted ten percent of the emails, did not bother to cross out personal contact information for anyone who’d emailed the governor’s office with criticism of Sarah.  As first reported by PoliticusUSA,  Alaskan citizens who exercised their right of free speech now find their email addresses, telephone numbers, and home addresses made available to the same sort of vigilantes who came after me last summer for merely moving in next door to her.

Let us hope that no harm–even in the form of threat or harassment–comes to anyone whose privacy has been invaded by Palin loyalists who retain government positions in the Parnell administration, and who were responsible for setting critics up as targets.

Will MSM call Parnell to account for this lapse?

Don’t hold your breath.

Now that they’ve come up empty in their frenzied quest for scandal, representatives of MSM will retreat as quickly and quietly as possible, asking the editors who put them on this cold case, “What were you thinking?”

The answer is, they weren’t thinking. They were hoping for a quick hit, a tabloid headline that could parlay the public’s ongoing obsession with all things Palin into website hits that equal advertising dollars.

It used to be only the supermarket tabloids that operated in such a fashion.

Now we witness the singularly unedifying spectacle of The New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Daily Beast, MSNBC, and even the Guardian hanging out their tongues in the hope that a tasty crumb might fall from Sarah’s table.

Sorry, folks. Move along, nothing to see here except a governor who was sensitive to criticism and worried about her public image as (see CNN) “she pushed to get landmark oil and gas legislation through the statehouse; [while] demanding that Exxon finish paying damages for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.”

There could be no stronger validation for the point of view (which, by the way, I don’t agree with) expressed by Joshua Green in the current issue of The Atlantic that Sarah was a strong and progressive governor before being blinded by the national limelight and running off the tracks.

The emails bolster Green’s argument in “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin” that:

“As governor, Palin demonstrated many of the qualities we expect in our best leaders. She set aside private concerns for the greater good, forgoing a focus on social issues to confront the great problem plaguing Alaska, its corrupt oil-and-gas politics.”

Or, as Molly Ball writes in Politico:

The emails from her governorship, released Friday, brought back the memory of a long-lost Palin: the popular, charismatic, competent woman of the people.

That’s like going in for a colonoscopy and being told that not only is your colon fine but you’ve got no cavities.

Nor could there be better advance advertising for Steve Bannon’s upcoming cinematic hagiography, “The Undefeated,” which will receive national release on July 15.

Note to MSM: Be careful what you wish for. Especially if it’s going to be redacted.

45 Responses to “Palin Emails – Redactions = Zero”

  • Thanks for the link, Joe. Couldn’t agree more re the Atlantic post, and these emails just sell, sell, sell that narrative except that I found very little policy in these emails. I see her writing high school cheering of her AGIA branding for her political future, but I don’t see any indication that she grasped the complex issues behind drafting policy (as her ethics laws plainly demonstrate), so as this new narrative is passed off as the “new Palin story”, I have to ask why they aren’t looking into her history in Wasilla.

    Media blackouts? You betcha. That goes way, way back as I’m sure you are well aware. But most importantly, once again, we have “detractors” (aka: citizens exercising their right to address their government with grievances and free speech) put in the line of fire and that is an abhorrent, unaccpetable abuse of power.

  • Ratfishtim:

    http://juneauempire.com/local/2011-06-10/alaska8217s-public-records-capability-called-8216behind-times8217-use-paper-copies

    Two of the architects of the serial Palin abuses of the system- Linda Perez and Sharon Leighow- are continuing on in their merry ways. These are the same people who knew about, hid, and when exposed then tried to justify Palin’s family travel (like Palin taking Bristol to NYC for a 1/2 day conference and then staying at public expense in a $700/night Waldorf suite for 4 days so they could shop); living at home and getting per diem, and not reporting it to the IRS (until caught), etc.

    The reason the state doesn’t have the capability to electronically sort and redact emails is simple: because Palin and then Parnell made a decision- or let people like Perez and Leighow make a decision- to not have the capability. During the Palin years they even turned down an offer by a software company to DONATE the capability to the state.

    Why? Because they do not believe in either the letter or the spirit of the public records disclosure law.

    Leighow: “We don’t have the software to transmit them electronically.” A lie. Think about it for a moment. These are emails we are talking about. They took documents that were ELECTRONIC to begin with, and converted them to paper. Even the paper copies could have been converted into pdf’s and then transmitted electronically. I’ll bet the state has Adobe Acrobat or Reader.

    Perez refuses to name a printer who has been given a public contract. She says to file a records request, so she can stonewall for 3 years. Absurd.

    “Perez said the printer who produced the copies could not produce digital copies of them for the media because they’d been given a contract to make paper copies.” And who was responsible for that decision? Perez. Pathetic.

    The bottom line is that the state is employing people who keep George Orwell’s 1984 on their desk as their operating manual, and use 1984 technology to fulfill public records requests.

    Sean Parnell should know better- and probably does. Shame on him for not doing something about it.

  • Disgusted in AK:

    Over 300 emails concerning Matanuska Maid dairy redacted. The coverup continues. Sean Parnell….you are despicable to continue this corruption!. You know about the money laundering that Palin and Kristan Cole carried out to get money into the hands of 4 dairy famer friends. What about the money the state paid for private farmers for milk they had to spill on the ground while Sarah’s new dairy was months past their estimated opening? What about the nearly million $ in loans they don’t make payments on? What about Franci Havemeister, daughter in law of largest dairy farmer, appointing herself to handle all dairy loans and handouts? What about the gag order she has placed on all Division of Agriculture employees to not speak to any members of the press or anyone from the Legilsature? What about the emergency meeting to allow another $300,000 to be given to the new dairy which now wants to move because they can’t afford the rent at their current location? What about this dairy being allowed to rent the old Mat Maid building in Palmer for $1 a month for 5 years? Admit it, this state is still deep into the dairy industry. We are propping up and subsidizing two people who have already defaulted on over $4 million in dairy loans in the past. There is a blatant sense of entitlement just because they have cows. We all owe them a living at the espense of Alaskan taxpayers. Time to stop the bleeding, Sean.

  • serena1313:

    Although I have not paid much attention to the e-mail story, I did read the piece you mentioned in PoliticusUSA. I was unsurprised, but shocked, moreover disgusted that Sarah Palin has again found a way to exact punishment on her critics. Palin’s quest for revenge knows no bounds. Of course I doubt the MSM will be reporting any of that — unless god forbid one or more of her vigilantes take action and even then, it is possible the connection will be simply ignored if there is an incident.

    Note too that the media seems to be shaping its narrative around the statement released by SarahPAC: the emails show Sarah Palin, as governor, was engaged in day-to-day activities. But as PoliticusUSA points out it was clear from the emails Sarah Palin was not governing the state of Alaska. She was a CC on emails between other people who, without input, guidance and/or direction from her, were governing for her.

    The aforementioned coupled with Sarah’s army of loyalists who are all over the web defending their Sarah against what they allege as prosecution, in-addition to the propaganda film about to be released suggests Sarah Palin may have once again undeservingly emerged unscathed. Astonishing!

    More importantly, the public has a right to know what our government officials are doing. Otherwise we cannot hold them accountable.

    If Sarah Palin cannot handle public scrutiny, then she should she do what she does best, pretend to be a celebrity and get out of politics altogether.

    PS: I highly recommend reading the article in full:

    http://www.politicususa.com/en/sarah-palin-critics-info

  • carollt:

    The media do look like fools. Hats off to those who stayed away; you are the true journalists. I heard that Sarah’s lawyer was given the emails for review prior to the release. I guess the Fox is still guarding the chickens.

    I hope that Sarah’s minions do not bother those who wrote to Mrs. Palin expressing their point of view. Not redacting the email address of those who disagree with the Queen is a deliberate act. It was also very junior high school – classic Palin.

  • Linda1961:

    The only thing I disagree with you on your post is that Palin and Parnell are Christians. They do claim to be Christians, but their actions say otherwise, so it would be more accurate to say that “they claim to be Christians”. They know the code words, but fail to follow through when it comes to acting as a Christian should. It’s all to get the evangelical Christian vote, those people are being used, but I don’t feel sorry for them. They blindly vote for whoever has the right codes, no matter what their policies are or how they live their lives.

    Sorry for rant, I’m not mad at you, but at those “blind” voters, many of whom are good people, but can’t be bothered to think seriously about who to vote for.

  • AlaskanatHeart:

    To be fair, most of the contact info for people who complimented or condemned something was left un redacted. Very little personal info was blackened. Must be fair.

  • AlaskanatHeart:

    btw, Since public officials emails belong to the public, can we please collectively petition for ANY emails related to HCR. that passed through Obamas BB and anyone else?

    THAT is the stuff America NEEDS to see. Every screaming email, every cuss word, every lie exposed regarding important legislation that was SUPPOSED to be transparent.

  • Linda1961:

    Go ahead and ask that they be made public. But understand that it won’t just be Obama’s emails or the Democrats’, but the GOPers’ too. It would be interesting to see how much the health insurance companies influenced the vote.

  • carollt:

    Is that you Sarah?

  • Nefer:

    You could start a blog of your own and crusade for anything you like.

    In the meantime here on this blog, in this post, the topic of discussion is Sarah Palin’s emails, and the uselessness of what was finally released after three years (longer than her aborted half-term) of stalling and stonewalling and review by those directly involved in the emails.

    This is about Palin’s lack of transparency.

  • AFM:

    Did anyone really have any doubt that this evil woman has something to hid? All these redactions only proved it. How sad. This evil woman is laughing at the media. She is smart cookie, however sooner or later people will finally have enough of her and they will say enough and drop her so fast. Sarah should look at Newt. They people that worked for him finally realized that he was only in it to sell videos and books and they left him. It will have to Sarah. Like Judge Judy says “beauty fades but dumb lasts forever”. How right you are Judge Judy.

  • carollt:

    Now I know it is you Sarah. When I write emails at work, I keep them professional. I use Dear XXX: I then say what I have to say, keeping my personal opinion out of it, and sign off with Sincerely. I always use the newspaper test; would I want this email in the newspaper? If not, I change the email.

    I can guarantee you that the emails of Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama have no smoking guns; they are too smart for that. Any emails written by them are sure to pass the newspaper test. But you can file a freedom of information act to obtain any emails you wish, just like any other citizen.

    And when you receive the information from your request, you can I assume, challenge any redacted pieces in a court of law. After all, no government can keep something secret just because it would be embarrasing. So Sarah, you can look forward to some media type challenging the redactions in the future. Then, it will be up to an unbiased judge, and not your attorney and the powers that be in Juneau, whether all the redactions stand. My bet would be that some of those redactions will not stand and will be released.

  • Nefer:

    “They were hoping for a quick hit, a tabloid headline that could parlay the public’s ongoing obsession with all things Palin into website hits that equal advertising dollars.”

    The shame of it is, there are plenty of tabloid headlines out there. Material that could have ripped her political aspirations to shreds (as has happened to others) and still could if there were any actual mainstream investigative journalists out there.

    Just a few that I think could fairly easily get the public’s attention, and to which Palin could not provide satisfactory answers; her house; its materials, funding, and construction (keeping in mind that Todd’s fence blew over in the first high wind), the MatMaid Dairy story; now evidently being pursued by the FBI, special needs issues; how much time, effort, money has she contributed, and how much she has actually charged (taken from) such organizations for her speeches.

    What all these journalists seem to forget is that emails are not the only available documents out there. Plenty of material has been available all along. They have just never ever pursued it.

  • nm:

    That’s funny because of the emails I read, the contact info of Palin fans was redacted.

    Besides, you (deliberately?) miss the point. It is the critics, not the fans who would be targets. The vindictive nature of Palin and crew is well-documented. That was the point to releasing any contact data. If contact data of friends was released, I suspect it was done with prior consent. Were critics afforded the same? I’ll bet not.

  • jk:

    How adorable tat you think Sarah and her bumbling short-lived Governorship is on par with Obama.

  • JDZ:

    Drinking a cup of joe….thinking of beer….thx for the inspiration!

    I think you all owe Sarah a bit of respect, she by just her ignorant self,
    remarkably keeping thousands of subpar journos employed, some are even
    writing books!

    In this time of obamanomics that’s got to be worth something, no?

    -jdz

  • carollt:

    Housegate is the one I am very interested in. The house looks too much like the sports center; many of the same materials were used and both were built around the same time. And like you Nefer, I also took notice of the poorly constructed fence that Todd built. The person who built that fence did not build that house.

    MatMaid Dairy sound like a good old fashioned case of cronyism, pure and simple.

  • AFM:

    Your right and she is getting away with it. You would think lawyers who are looking at all these emails would put their state and country first over the person who was elected. They forget they work for the people who pay their salaries. Sad I am sure democracts do these kinds of things but if this were a democrat governor you would be hearing them crying bloody murder on the right.

  • lilybart:

    Even though the crimes have been covered, she appears obsessed with what is said and written about her, to the exclusion of almost anything else. Small time, small town thugs, all of them.

  • lilybart:

    The Dairy story is the one I am interested in. Very simple case of transferring public funds to cronies, with no accountability. Govt bailout of private business….not very teabaggy.

  • lilybart:

    And while you are at it try to get the list of people who met with Cheney to draft energy policy.

  • msf:

    Great post. As George Dufus Bush used to try to say, but screwed up every time. “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.” How much more ridiculous does the media need to look before they have absolutely no credibility left. My last hope is O’Donnell & even he is marginal. Hoping Keith’s new show will bring relevant news back but I’m not holding my breath. Call me……disgusted & disillusioned.

  • msf:

    Yes, I agree. I’ve always thought too much time was spent on Babygate. Although, it proves she’s stark raving crazy, I doubt it’s illegal.

  • America is fortunate to have an elegant and brilliant president at the moment. We may descend eventually to the lowest common denominator but not yet, and it is good for those of us with mindful intelligence to be able to see what we would have if someone like Sarah Palin ever was in power nationally. I can think of no greater example of uneducated, incurious or lower based moral example than Sarah Palin……..and everyone knows that is true.

  • Cackling Rad:

    Oh, there are nuggets in these emails, only the press won’t take the time to find them. Here’s one about Blanchflower:

    http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/palin_troopergate_wife.pdf

    Here we have a sitting governor conspiring with another government employee to dig up information to smear or possibly even blackmail the official charged by the state with investigating her unethical conduct. Much of the information has been redacted, but what they are doing and why they are doing it still comes through quite clearly.

    What makes this stink even worse is that Sharon Leighow, the woman with whom this unethical and surely illegal exchange takes place, is one of the people who was in charge of redacting the emails!

  • carollt:

    Is that you Todd?

  • lilly lily:

    I’m not reading any more e-mails.

    I’ll wait till she implodes.

    Silly to waste time on the e-mails when they are wiped clean.

    I see on some of the right wing sites they continue to say her Briitsh being warned by Paul Revere is exactly what happened.

  • lilybart:

    I have read Todd’s emails…..those sentences are not Todd’s!

  • lilybart:

    It’s easy to talk like a Christian, and unless you are President Obama, no one questions you. BUT, acting like a Christian is HARD. I don’t see her even trying to be vindictive. No notes about seeing her Pastor to help with the negative feelings so she doesn’t act all UN-Christian.

    She is divisive and full of herself…just like Jesus.

  • lilybart:

    The two people Palin never mentions…..her mother and Jesus. She knows that Jesus would strike her down and people might remember what he said, so she only speaks of the god she has created in her image. And her mother…..guess didn’t protect her when she was a girl, is my bet.

  • Ottoline:

    Joe — I just heard something on Prairie Home Companion that me me think of you: some characters are arguing about a controversial public project that will be voted upon soon, and Garrison steps into the conversation and is asked if he is pro or con. He says he’s neutral. One of the characters screams at him: “Being neutral on this is like a NO vote!”

    And so it is with you and the other Trignostics: Remaining on the fence is like saying “no baby hoax here that I can see.”

    I’m not saying you should move beyond the bounds of your “heart and mind,” as you said earlier. No one should. But I just don’t believe that you think that you (or anyone who looks at the photo proof and immense amounts of circumstantial data) can believe she gave birth to Trig.

    And you are staying out of it because you fear being branded as a tinfoil-hat-person. I guess that’s okay. Your choice. Probably wiser to let someone else be the first to speak out in a MSM way. But I wish it would be you.

    Because as we see from the email release, SP’s minions in the corrupt AK political scene have checkmated the email request by their delays and redactions. We see how well SP and her enablers play the Telfon game. We see how many other SP-gates there are, and how little chance there is that she will be accountable for any of them. That’s why I’ve always wanted babygate to be revealed: it is the symbolic centerpiece of her lies and unethical behavior, and it goes beyond any such “dishonest politician action” in recent history. At least among those that have been revealed.

    I will buy and support your book; I am looking forward to it because I expect it to be as well done as your other books. I commend you for addressing SP at all. It is hard to do in this puzzling climate that keeps an SP viable. So you are a hero no matter what. I just wish you would take it up a notch.

  • Jo:

    I read an e mail from the first batch posted on-line, someone ripped her up one side and down another over the dairy mess. He suggested that the Palins and friends are doing something illegal and needed shut down now. He said they were losing $300,000 every month they stay in operation. She had been advised what to do, but they are keeping their friends in the money. It was quite detailed and he seemed to know a lot about the subject. What was really funny he said she had zero executive experience.

  • lftismygame:

    Whatever happened to Todd?

  • msf:

    I have always found Sally Heath to be a strange character. She seems completely detached from reality & if she speaks her mind or makes one false move (Chuck don’t you think we have enough dead things in our living room already?) he will beat the living crap out of her. Just a thought. Sarah Palin a woman wore cares about other woman…no way. I think she is a cunning survivor of a very sad & strange childhood & we are all suffering the consequences.

  • msf:

    Well, now there’s a good question. The Palin Family vacation dwindled down to one very grumpy (understandably so) kid. Where did Todd, Bristol & Willow go & where oh where are the Trigs? Inquiring minds want to know. MSM……..hello….hello.

  • Lidia17:

    Cackling Rad, you are right. I don’t know why Joe is on the “nuthin’ to see” bandwagon.

    The mail from April 26, where she instructs Janice Mason to register a bill signing on the 18th (the day she supposedly “gave birth” to Tri-G), assumedly so that she could collect her full pay for that day, is noteworthy. The bill was signed on the 19th as per the legislature’s database. Does no-one care about this sort of fraud? Is is too “small potatoes”?

    Isn’t ANYone interested in why the gov. wouldn’t want to take a single day of maternity leave off for the “birth” of her “son”????

  • Lidia17:

    ProChoice Grandma found Sarah’s mail from 4/17/08:

    Nuthin’ to see, right?

    ============================
    Just like Todd’s “kicked ass” email, here is an email from Sarah, heading home from Dallas, with no mention of contractions, leaking amniotic fluids, or asking anyone to get an ambulance ready:

    http://www.crivellawest.net/pa
    From: gov.sarah@yahoo.com
    Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 11:53 AM
    To: Colberg; Talis J (LAW)Subject:
    Re: Tina Otto
    What a goof he is… truly annoying.Thanks for the info- I’m headed home from Dallas.
    Sent from my BlackBerry® device from Cellular One
    —–Original Message—–
    From: “Colberg, Talis J (LAW)”
    Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:27:14
    To:gov.sarah@yahoo.com
    Subject: Tina Otto
    Dear Governor Palin,I just learned that our attorney Tina Otto (who was our Mat maid attorney) is leaving to become a Magistrate. I talked to her and she said it was not because of the Mat Maid case that she is leaving. However, she noted that apparently Andrew Halcro has learned of her new job and put it on his blog. This time, however, he has not added the commentary that he had before. He is not claiming she is leaving because of Mat Maid.
    This time he is just reporting it.Talis
    =================================================
    http://politicalgates.blogspot.com/2011/06/five-four-three-two-one-its-whacky.html#comment-224333918

    La di dah! I’m headed home from Dallas!!

    Nuthin’ to see!

  • Samantha:

    Not sure what the point is of Freedom of Information, when the State can sift through them and decide which to show you! It may take a long time, but even on principal, they should sue to get those withheld emails.

    And as far as the media, the media looks for a story and a narrative, not facts. Sarah provides that to them in reality show footage, propaganda films, crappy entertainment shows, and now cherry-picked emails. I’m sure if we looked at Hitler’s letters we’d find a loving husband, a veteran loyal to his country, a hard worker, a passionate speaker. It’s just those pesky letters about burning books and annihilating the Jews which might rub some people the wrong way.

  • notafaux:

    Brava, Ottoline!

  • B:

    My interest in Babygate is not because it is or isn’t illegal, or it will or won’t bring Palin down. I believe that voters and donors to public figures should have the information they need to make their decisions. Many of Palin’s base would not be there if they knew she faked a pregnancy and then continued to milk that lie for all it was worth. People have come to believe that the MSM tells us what we need to know, so Babygate must be untrue. Wrong.

    I’d love to see Dairygate, Housegate, Every-gate! exposed and covered by the press, but they are too busy with “more important” things like Weinergate.

  • Conscious at last!:

    Hey John Ziegler (?)-

    I thought even you were re-evaluating your views on Mrs. Palin. Surely you don’t think that Mr. Revere was “warning the British”…ahem…..

    Is this your idea of real journalism- coming here and making nasty remarks? Or perhaps, just perhaps, you realize the error of your ways and you want to join in here….. Well beginning a new relationship with insults is probably not the wisest move. Other than that— welcome to the party!!!!

  • that martha:

    Then and Now

    An email I wrote to express my displeasure about Todd Palin having access to State administrative functions was posted along with an unverifiable constituent’s email on the.politicususa.com blog on Friday after the Palin email release. The direction of the discussion then went off the tracks.

    As an Alaskan citizen, I expected that my entire correspondence was part of public record when I sent email to my government officials. There is evidence that emails from constituents which were not critical of Palin also had personal contact information included in the emails. There are people looking into this. Interestingly, mine was forwarded to the Governor’s Scheduler and the Executive Residence Manager. Other critical emails were forwarded to logical recipients for security and/or verification purposes. I would like to know why my email merited a forward to these recipients.

    I have not been threatened, but have received a lot of support. I have been here a very long time and I am friends with, or family to many folks all over the state. I will not hesitate to take action if needed; including forwarding any negative contacts to the local press and blogs.

    The threatening email to Palin which appeared in the same post could have been written by any friend or foe. The email was sent through the Governor’s website and the physical address was falsified. I have no doubt that this email was looked into thoroughly at the time by Palin’s security staff, but there is no reason to conjecture any further since it could have been sent by ANYONE. The email is proof of absolutely nothing as it stands.

    Some media is reporting that combing through the state correspondence makes Palin appear endearing and engaged, which seems to be a big disappointment to many non Alaskans. It shouldn’t be. These emails reflect the Sarah Palin Alaskans thought they elected. I was actually a bit sad when I read Craig Medred’s article in the Alaska Dispatch which reminded me of (what we thought were) better days gone by:

    http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/palin-emails-show-governor-alaskans-once-knew

    “The Palin of 2007 appears, in retrospect, almost the opposite of the 2011 politician who keeps secret from the press something as simple as the itinerary for her “One Nation” bus tour.”

    I remember being approached by a visiting Wasillan who began to apologize for foisting their Mayor onto all of Alaska after a brief “Hello, where are you from?” exchange. I was in a hurry and did not have the time to speak with her more, forgetting about it till much later. Alaskan press was mostly translating Palin’s interviews into favorable, readable articles. I am very typical of a non partisan, doing-too-many-things-at once Alaskan. Would I make the time now after this lesson? You betcha.

    It is now well known that Palin controls her image very tightly – whatever she wants it to be at the time. I recommend using this perspective to your advantage by releasing some unjustified anger toward faceless Alaskans and redirecting it into positive action. It’s time to move on.

    The Next Email Batch

    The entire records request has not yet been fulfilled. This batch of email ends somewhere during or at the end of Sept 2008. As an Alaskan, I am the most concerned about the months of emails not yet released which cover her return to Alaska after she lost the election to the time she abruptly self aborted her term.

    When Palin returned to Alaska she was a changed person and was found by most to be combative, obstructionist and dishonest many times during the following Legislative session. She must have received thousands of emails during this period. This was the period in which her pro groups mobilized and sent a barrage of emails to the official Governor email address, and we can easily conjecture that she received lots of correspondence from people nationally and worldwide because of her new found notoriety. She most certainly received many times more than the average amount of emails from Alaskans because of everything we were finding out about.

    This period is when 1) most or all of the ethics complaints were filed, 2) her attempted appointment of AG Wayne Anthony Ross was denied, 3) she blocked the Senatorial replacement for Juneau out of an obvious vendetta, 4) she lied about a meeting conflict between Legislators and a personal mission in Anchorage, 5) Alaska media and blogs were writing about her daily, along with numerous other dramas. She became hostile, suspicious and secretive. This is the time frame where our Governor and her ethics and reliability were really put to the test.

    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0611/Sarah-Palin-emails-Treasure-trove-or-waste-of-paper

    “…as Molly Ball at Politico.com describes the woman sketched in nearly 24,000 emails released this week, “Palin comes across as neither an airhead nor a prima donna.”

    “She is warm and supportive with her staff, who are loyal to her in turn,” Ball writes. “She frequently misspells in haste or phonetically … but her writing is fluent and grammatical. Nor is she a figurehead. She is active in guiding policy, a self-assured politician who knows where she stands.”

    But as Ball also notes, the email archive ends in September 2008, before Palin became so polarizing. “It reflects a period before she gave up governing to become a freelance sharp-tongued partisan…”

    Civility

    When I heard that one of my emails to Palin was posted on a blog, I was a little concerned at first. I had no idea which of the several emails I’d written was posted. However, I knew that my content was specific, sincere and for the most part polite. No one commenting on the blog post seemed to notice that, especially in comparison with other constituent emails (and comments on the blog post itself). I am proud of myself for not falling down the rabbit hole – it’s not always easy for me but it’s always important to me.

    If we are writing anonymously, are we writing from our hearts and doing the best we can to be civil about it? Or are we being jerks a lot of the time, and getting worse by the day because we don’t have to answer for what we say? Are we protecting our identities for good reason, or giving ourselves permission to be less than reasonable, maybe worse?

    Speaking of courtesy, authors Jason Easley and Sarah Jones, you had my email address. Maybe you could have contacted me to let you know you were doing a blog post using my personal information? The way I found out was a little disconcerting, even if supportive. A little heads up would have been the right thing to do… especially since you seemed quite concerned about the consequences. I know that one of you does not use your real name in authoring posts, so this should be something on your mind when you write posts about others who do.

    Outcome

    I’m pretty sure this isn’t what many expected to hear out of this blog post. A valid question was raised in the article, but assumptions and conspiracies followed rapidly with no confirmation from anyone or anywhere that I was able to find. The need to find fault overcame the desire to get solid information.

    I’m writing this to remind us all that things are not always what they seem. Don’t make assumptions – it’s counterproductive even if it’s convenient. Check your facts; be honest about the difference between conjecture and outcome. Don’t lose heart or stop working for what you desire the most in society, but don’t lose the ability to have an open mind and to adjust your thinking when needed. When all else fails, find whatever humor you can in the situation and rest up to fight the metaphorical battles another day. This is from the perspective of someone who has had their imagined fate bandied about for a couple of days by complete strangers. Maybe each of us should experience this at some time in our lives to see what we learn from it.

  • Ottoline:

    Why no maternity leave for SP? I always assumed it was because that would be breaking the law, falsifying her time accounting. Because she had NOT just delivered Trig. Legally adopting him? Maybe she didn’t do that because any adoption record would contradict her pregnancy story.

    Hoaxing the electorate is not illegal. Faking a pregnancy is not illegal. Passing a child off as your own is not illegal. Lying during a political campaign is not illegal. But dealing with insurance and time accounting issues is different.

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