The Voice Speaks – Van Flein Whiffs
6 07 2009The source of all the RUMORS about strange dealings with the Palin family, the Wasilla Sports Complex and the Palin house in Wasilla that was built by Todd Palin and some contractor “buddies” all sourced back to an article last October that appeared in the Village Voice. Well now….the Voice speaks. (I love that) There reflections on the latest Palin flailin’ is an article entitled: Palin’s Team Takes Swing at Voice, Whiffs.
Sarah Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein spent his July 4 in Fairbanks, Alaska, issuing a four-page statement warning news organizations not to investigate allegations printed by the Voice last October.
Talk about waving a red flag in front of a bull.
Van Flein’s famous client had announced her upcoming resignation as Alaska’s governor the day before, and the attorney wanted everyone to know that Palin’s sudden and unexpected withdrawal had nothing to do with our story, ‘The Book of Sarah‘ [October 7] which, of course, made many wonder just the opposite.
It’s the exact same phenomenon that happened the week before when Meg Stapleton issues a press release talking about how mean people were about photoshopping Sarah Palin holding a baby with a head that belonged to something other than her baby. In the first instance, it was the image on a local Alaskan blog that published Palin with a conservative radio talk show host head. But after Stapleton’s ridiculous press release, the internets were ablaze. There were photoshops of Palin with a baby Kim Jong Il, a baby Bat Boy, a baby Meg Stapleton, and my favorite, a baby…herself.
This silliness, and Palin’s incredible overreaction to it was gaining traction and about to blow up all over mainstream media sources, and then…. Michael Jackson took over the news cycle, and the news cycle after that and so on. But did the Palin people realize that they’d dodged a bullet? Did they lay low and thank their lucky stars? Did they see the folly in trying to blow up little ol’ local bloggers and looking like giant crazy hysterical bullies? Oh, no.
The Palin PR death spiral was to be rekindled anew just one short week later. After the bombshell resignation, and the weird 4th of July screed from Palin’s attorney which was directed at The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, and yes… another local blogger, the media feeding frenzy has begun again.
Shannyn Moore, the aforementioned blogger has now, courtesy of the Palin numbskullery, appeared on The Thom Hartmann Show, The Ed Schultz Show, The Ron Reagan Show, Alan Colmes, Countdown with Keith Olbermann. She’s also been written up on the Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Crooks and Liars, Brad Blog, Think Progress, Daily Kos, and dozens of others. The Associated Press has picked up the story, and so has KTUU and the Anchorage Daily News. Way to squash that rumor.
Not only this, but now there are Palin “rumors” cropping up all over the blogosphere and progressive radio talk shows. She might be starting a new career as a fashion designer. Her battery pack might be running out. She might have to meet the mother ship and return to Planet Peep-Toe. She might have just played the state for suckers and just wants to collect her book royalties and speaking fees. And it might mean that there’s something to all these connections after all and will make people even more curious. And no, they probably never saw that coming. It’s like pulling out of your driveway and continuing to hit the same mailbox over, and over, and over. Most people either move the mailbox, or learn to pay attention. Not our Sarah.
The Voice article then goes on to discuss the web of connections between suppliers, contractors, a dentist/godfather, a steering committee, architects, building codes, the Palins, Iron Dog Sponsors and more. It’s like a human crochet square.
Van Flein dismisses this web of connections — to say nothing of the donations from contractors that he ignores — by saying that “people in a small town appear to know one another, support one another, and take on big projects together.” He says “apparently that’s uncommon in New York.” Actually, it’s quite common here, and journalists here write about these incestuous networks whenever we discover them, just like Alaskan journalists do. And there’s nothing that lawyers who threaten lawsuits without uncovering any substantive errors can do about it.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:28 AM
[...] the Sarah Palin front, here’s a great piece from Mudflats about how thin-skinned overreactions on the part of the Palin faithful keep the wires ablaze with Palin controversy. Is this their [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 3:03 AM
Thanks so much for posting these photos! I’ve gotten just a tad addicted to webcrawling for the very, very latest news on SP’s resignation…until I stumbled into these pix! Just what I needed to snap me out of it! Ah!
July 7th, 2009 at 4:19 AM
It is annoying that all the media is calling the ethics complaints frivolous. I bet the people that brought these complaints don’t think they are frivolous.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:35 AM
lovemydogs Says:
July 6th, 2009 at 11:38 PM
As to building codes in Alaska (or lack thereof). That is her excuse for not accepting stimulus funds for weatherization. She doesn’t want them. Won’t have those pesky building codes. Too many strings…
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The state of Alaska has a Building Energy Efficiency Standard program. Any project using Alaskan state financing must adhere to the ASHRE building codes. It seems Alaska’s got its own strings to the same industry standards group as the federal program.
The big kicker is that since Alaska is ( seems to be) a home rule state, and the state can’t enforce state wide building codes, it must use a ‘best effort’ / “do what you can” approach. Not very ’stringy’ at all.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:51 AM
Go back to her state of the state speech, once again with Piper standing up at the podium with her, what in the world is that all about? Then jibe that with her quitting. The whole mother grizzly bear and circle the wagons. And now we hear she has a higher calling. Who called? I am sure she can’t wait to tell us when the news cycle is right. Who is it that needs Sarah Palin for anything?
July 7th, 2009 at 5:25 AM
Why does all this BS remind me of Tonya Harding?
July 7th, 2009 at 5:45 AM
Mornin’ Mudpups,
Look at the situation going forward. Having read the great in-depth conversations going on here for the past number of days, look at it as learning tools — honing your skills!!
Now that Parnell has spoken a few times and reading the articles of his discussions about GINO, he’s definitely Gov Lite. Not knowing about him, I was hoping to hear better, but his appearance seem like business as usual.
Those tools, may be valuable and useful for the duration of the term! Ya know what I mean Jelly Beans!!
Bob Poe yesterday spoke on KUDO and made a comment that I choked when he first said it, the ordinance assembly meetings racing to the forefront of my mind — those dark corners of the assembly washrooms!! Eeek!! Upon further consideration, his comment now makes more sense to me. They were discussing damage control with the media. He said if Parnell wraps himself up in the same way as Palin with the media, it means it’s the same brush, same color, same dress. In other words, business as usual.
Should this be the case, that’s where these new tools and honed skills become useful.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:04 AM
Largo Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 5:25 AM
Why does all this BS remind me of Tonya Harding?
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Because they are two peas from the same pod! Buttercup just uses executive privilege instead of a crowbar. Same type of syncopantic “friends” though. Chins up, Mudpups. Look what eventually happened to Harding. Can you see Buttercup in the “Rassling” game?
July 7th, 2009 at 6:10 AM
Vicious. Please sir, may I have some more?
July 7th, 2009 at 6:23 AM
FBI denial = red herrring. SOMETHING happened or is going to. Iceberg? dunno, but 4 yeahs and 1 hell yes later shes done. (How can Trig vote at 15 months?”)
July 7th, 2009 at 6:42 AM
“Personnel board members spoke Wednesday about possibly pursuing changes in the law regarding their ethics complaint procedures — such as changing the “thresholds for investigations….”
“Apparently the board would support a lawsuit that we brought to court, challenging the constitutionality of the complaint procedure…”
Funny–my first thought on reading that was that the board wanted to RAISE the threshold.
I can’t find anything in the Ethics Act that gives a claimant the right to appeal the Board’s decision that a claim was not stated. It’s as if the whole state is under binding arbitration without the state’s residents ever agreeing to that.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:45 AM
I wish that the press would just give her space and not comment about her until she gives a serious prime time interview.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:54 AM
Perhaps the personnel board is getting a tad nervous. Maybe they know that they have done wrong by protecting their queen for all this time. I truly hope those 3 members are very nervous and very ashamed. I feel no pity for them. No matter how much they earned…is is worth their credibility and their sense of who they are? I trust not.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:57 AM
Mr. Parnell needs to have the same blogging criticisim as Palin did. Just because she will be gone…the head of state still needs to be held to account. That means you Sean…fasten your seatbelt. Oh…and please…someone teach him how to talk as well. I watched him on a couple of news shows and it was a very sad stammering performance.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:00 AM
Reader comment from HuffPo:
“I feel like McCain took the nation to bed, left us with an STD and didn’t even buy us dinner!”
LOL
July 7th, 2009 at 7:01 AM
Jhop…I have been reading your posts for days now. I am so excited to have you here. All mudpups are great, and we have many heros here…but you have become a hero too. Your info is invaluable, and I just wish you lived in Alaska.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:36 AM
It is 7:48 AM. I am at Kaladi Brothers downtown. There is going to be a press conference about the Gov soon right outside.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:39 AM
I agree with laurie, I think the press should take a cue from Letterman and not give her a prime spot on the news. Just ignore all this wacky palin bs until there is something of substance and sensible information. She’s jerking everyone around with her delusions of grandeur. The less I hear or see of her is best.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:58 AM
Celia Harrison
Very interesting. Do you think you could hop over to todays open thread and let us know what’s what?
July 7th, 2009 at 8:01 AM
What we know about Sarah is that she lies when it’s easier to tell the truth, always. No issue is to trivial or grave for Sarah to spin a fabrication around, she may even believe her fanciful stories after she tells them a few time, but we can leave that to the professionals to decipher.
With that in mind, some things can be learned from her tangled ramblings if one ignores what she says, but focuses on themes and settings. For example, today with Andrea Mitchell, she used Trig, Piper, Todd and other preteens as props, but none of her own kids who are old enough to fight back were anywhere in sight. The older kids didn’t mind the limelight until this week, but now they don’t want to be seen with their mother, huh. About the only take-away message from their absence is that they are embarrassed by whatever is brewing. Teens hate embarrassment.
The physical location is a no brainer, Sarah hopes to portray herself as the Everywoman Fisherlady with an up-do. Remember girls, you don’t have to look bad just because you are gutting fish for fun. Lest the visual message is too subtle, she explains it to the interviewer.
Then there is her verbalization, where it isn’t a dialect spoken elsewhere, it is possible to decode portions. Sarah is worried about another complaint, and her resignation is preemptive. Her attempt at spin is that what’s coming is just like the other 15 that they’ve “won” –but even her kids know that this time is different.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:11 AM
I truly don’t anticipate seeing her on any type of a tv or a talk show – not unless they allowed her to bring her children as her pawns to hide behind some more, again, too, also.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:13 AM
The Anchorage Daily News ran another of its pointless, insipid “all about Palin” stories today. However, it did contain an interesting reminder that Andree McLeod, named as one of Palin’s chief antagonists, got her start in politics when she couldn’t get a city permit for her falafel cart. So, She Who Would Be President of the most powerful nation on the planet is driven from office by a …..food cart vendor? Maybe we should send McLeod after Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-il.
There’s a story about an old-school politician who told a new intern to leak a story that the politician’s opponent had intimate relations with sheep. The horrified intern replied that he couldn’t do that. There was no evidence. “I know that”, said the old politician, “I just want him to publicly deny it.” Now, I’m not saying that any blogger or complaint filer made a false claim. (Quite the opposite. In many, if not all, of the Palin complaints, the facts alleged were found to be true – the Board then found ways to interpret the behavior as not-sheep-loving.) I am saying that Mr. Van Flein needs to think about this old story. Every time he sends out another blast to the national media blustering on about how builders of sports arenas in small towns always build free houses for the mayor (except in New York, of course), people who never heard of Mudflats, Moore or Celtic Diva and wouldn’t be caught dead reading the Village Voice are suddenly wondering, “What is all this about free windows and snow machines?”
I’m a retired attorney, and I can recall several very uncomfortable sessions having to advise very angry, big-shot clients that maybe the best thing is to just walk away. In my experience, guys like Van Flein are a dime a dozen. They confuse bluster for brains and volume for good legal work. That four page news blast he wrote probably cost Palin another $800 – $1000 in fees to write and however much more to deliver. All it accomplished was cementing in the public mind that yes, a falafel cart vendor and her computer-nerd buddies managed to intimidate a woman who wants us to elect her President of the United States. Nice work, Tom.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:23 AM
I dont see how she can say ANYTHING about the MSM since they propagate her lies $2,000,0000 costs to the state, Willow at the game, frivilous complaints. She is getting off EASY!!!! Shes never done the Sunday talk shows, never really addressed the wild ride…..She cant complain and have real journalists sit by and NOT ASK THE REALLLY HARD QUESTIONS…..
July 7th, 2009 at 9:27 AM
Apologies for repeats on my previous posts. There have been problems since the Flats server crashed last Friday. Hope to get it cleared up today.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:29 AM
CougInPortland:
Reader comment from HuffPo:
“I feel like McCain took the nation to bed, left us with an STD and didn’t even buy us dinner!”
LOL
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That one is excellent!!!
July 7th, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Seems there’s something in those emails that Celtic Diva was able to raise the money to finally get the State to release.
When will we get to see them? Will they lead to a suit which will lead to the release of more emails which will result in the demise of the Palin administration?
Time will tell.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:32 AM
Bear in mind that just b/c the FBI isn’t investigating Sarah Palin, that doesn’t mean they aren’t investigating her husband or some other relative. Furthermore, it may not be the FBI that’s investigating her – Federal charges can also be investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspector, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, the Securities & Exchange Commission, and/or the IRS, to name a few.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:34 AM
KallieinTexas & laurie,
Reality — when have you ever, ever seen that happen. It doesn’t.
It is also you do not lie down to be the doormat because you’ve hurt her feelings. As Shannyn said — she should suck it up! At that point — she should get a backbone. She stepped into it by asking for people’s votes and therefore deserves everything directed at her because of her incompetence. She’s not a cashier at the local grocery store. She is heading a state wherein rules, regulations and laws are being passed which affect the lives of the citizens of the State. Therefore her a$$ needs to be held to the fire.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:43 AM
Nice moose. Reminds me of how we were almost killed by a runaway trucker in the Kenai when a bunch of tourists in RV’s stopped on the side of the road to watch a moose in the water, blocking both lanes. A huge 18 wheeler full of fish with no brakes was coming down the two lane road and had to veer off to avoid crushing our little rental car. I didn’t know what was happening until I noticed the moose hightailing it out of there followed by the sight of the semi flying through the air and rotating slowly in a clockwise direction. It hit the water with a huge splash and driver popped out unhurt and started swearing at everybody as they scrambled back into their RV’s. When we told him everyone was stopped to see the moose, he said “A moose! There’s moose everywhere in Alaska!”.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:10 AM
So she says she likes basketball analogies, like the ole pick and roll; she picks pockets and rolls out of town, or the ole give and go; she gives her problems to someone else and goes on her merry way..
July 7th, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Shes a grifter and a quitter, got a fork? stick it in her.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Well, I’ll be moosepuckied! That Lanham article is absolutely spot on. Took me a while to figure out that it is satire… good job!
Thanks for the Mudline link. Good stuff.
I do have the original text of Palin’s resignation blather. I can’t remember where the heck I found the link but I did save the whole thing.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:54 PM
#145, July 6th, 2009 at 10:54 PM, Moose Pucky Says: @Bretta “”"… but somehow I don’t really get “disappointment” or “abandoned” in this situation.”"”
Probably too late to respond to this now, so I won’t trouble to look up the link – LM’s comment to that effect was recently published in the MSM. Her words, not mine.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:17 PM
As Emerson said, “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”