Voices from the Flats – Linda Kellen Biegel
Linda Kellen Biegel is the proprietor of the Community Blog
Blue Oasis
APOC Meeting Begins Today and Will Cover Far-Reaching Issues of Disclosure
For the next three days (Sept 23, 24 and 25) the Alaska Public Offices Commission is having their regular quarterly meeting. According to the Agenda, they are covering a lot of territory.
Today, they are dealing with an interesting complaint from the Alaska Democratic Party from finance issues leading up to the last election– October of 2008:
Under state law, an independent expenditure is only possible if there is no coordination between the person or group making the expenditure and the candidate or his campaign. The Democrats are filing a complaint with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, asking the commission to investigate how it happens that the party is attacking Crawford on the same point Brokaw has been attacking on, without coordinating the attack.
In August, Democratic Party officials asked the APOC whether a political party could legally make an independent expenditure on behalf of a candidate. APOC’s Chris Ellingson told Alaska Democratic Party spokeswoman Kay Brown that it would be “hard for a party to do it and pass a straight-face test.” She advised that any party entity doing an IE would have be “completely uninvolved” with the candidate and the candidate’s campaign, and that there could be no contact about the campaign with the candidate, manager, or other agent of the candidate in order to legally do an independent expenditure.
Based on that advice, the Alaska Democratic party decided not to make independent expenditures.
“We wanted to stay in the center of the ethical playing field,” [Rep. Mike] Doogan said.
Ruedrich and the Republicans, who received the same advice from Ellingson, apparently decided differently.
This issue is scheduled to take the entire day, as the Republican Party is calling a myriad of witnesses…probably because this is a practice they want to continue.
The phrase “ethically bankrupt” comes to mind.
While I’ll stop by today to discover if there’s been a decision regarding the AK Dems complaint, the day I’m attending the meeting is tomorrow:
HEARING AGENDA
Thursday, September 24, 2009
4:00 – 4:30 Sarah Palin POFD Staff Recommendation [6]Presented by Jerry D. Anderson, APOC Staff4:30 – 5:00 Public Comment Period
While it doesn’t say the words “gifts” or “Arctic Cat,” those are the disclosures for which the Staff has made recommendations regarding Palin’s 2008 Public Offices Financial Disclosure (POFD):
APOC and Palin went back and forth this summer over just what had to be disclosed. Palin didn’t want to reveal details of the Arctic Cat sponsorship, saying it was proprietary information, and also argued that gifts were not “received” until they were opened.
APOC disagreed with her on both those points, and Palin filed a new disclosure last month, listing more gifts and providing some information in the disclosure about Todd Palin’s Arctic Cat sponsorship, while pleading ignorance of specifics.
Palin’s lawyer, Tom Van Flein, told APOC that Palin “has not read the contract and does not know the specific terms of the contract.”
“She has a general awareness that the sponsorship contract provides for discounts…Scott Davis is sponsored by Arctic Cat and has been for 15 years. As a sponsored team he, and his crew (which includes Todd Palin), can obtain Arctic Cat merchandise for 50% off of retail. In addition, the company pays a sponsorship fee and gives Team Arctic Wear to the Racing Team,” Van Flein wrote.
APOC staff responded in Sept. 2 memo that Palin’s response “appears to be appropriate…given the level of knowledge and disclosure of facts by this filer.”
The staff will present their recommendation to the Commissioners tomorrow, immediately before the public comments period. I called the APOC staff and they do not know if the Commissioners will deliberate and make a decision before the public comments or not.
1) No one as of yet has made a complaint regarding specific gifts missing from Palin’s 2008 gift disclosure. I’m not sure if they will be able to act on anything unless they have specific evidence of missing gifts.
2) Regarding Arctic Cat…following the Staff Recommendation sets a dangerous precedent regarding disclosure for ALL public officials in Alaska. A spouse of ANY public official could simply choose NOT to tell that official about their income (wink, wink) yet still use that income for the benefit of the family, including that public official.
3) Business could “pay” these spouses in “discounts” to avoid disclosure.
4) Even if these “discounts” from Arctic Cat do not qualify as “income,” they most certainly qualify as “gifts” which directly benefit Sarah Palin. While “other income” must be reported if it is over $1,000 (according to POFD instructions), gifts over $250.00 must be reported…this includes the amount.
5) Sarah Palin has NOT answered any direct questions about the Arctic Cat income, though she DID report it in 2007…that means she consciously witheld it. Sarah Palin did not provide the sponsorship amounts from ANY Iron Dog sponsor on her 2008 POFD.
Sarah Palin in NO WAY has satisfied the questions about the Arctic Cat sponsorship. IN NO WAY has Sarah Palin followed the disclosure laws regarding the Arctic Cat sponsorship per APOC’s POFD form instructions.
Public Comments are accepted in written form as well as verbally in front of the Commissioners.
Teleconference number: 1-800-315-6338, Code 4176
EMAIL: apoc@alaska.gov
Try pulling this s**t in the private sector..and good luck with that!
I’ve had discussions with APOC on another matter and they didn’t seem very neutral to me.
Aren’t the APOC members appointed by the governor? Just like the personnel board?
When will we learn? We shouldn’t seek objectivity and neutrality from executive branch appointees.
Good luck CD! Hold those scaley feet to the fire, and the lizards will wake up! They are motivated by heat, doncha know…
I want to know where are the emails you bought are Linda. =) What is the hold up?
Great going, Linda!
Stay strong. Your concerns are justified and correct.
Let us know what happens.
..what ever happened to the SarahPac money issue ? Did the Personel Board follow their investigator’s recommendation, or has THAT just fallen into limbo while Sarah uses the money? just like their ..ooops, we need to give more $ to be legal…bit…
Go Get’em Linda !!
Informative and excellent post, Linda. With you all the way…
go Diva!
So, the criminal charges get filed when?
Parnell may be Governor now, but Sarah’s cronies are still there. I wish you luck Linda, and I appreciate your efforts. That said, I think it will take the dreaded “FEDS” to take her highness down.
I, too, wonder about her use of the AK Fund Trust monies.
This APOC entity spends too much time putting credence to the contortions of the Palin family. How can the Palin family on one hand try to hide the details under the umbrella of “proprietary information” (something which only Arctic Cat should be allowed to invoke) while on the other hand claiming ignorance of contract provisions? The Palin dance around disclosure and untimely of their partial disclosure should mean that the Palin family has waived any right to object or avoid full disclosure.
Ignorance. Perhaps the Palin family has found a subject on which they are experts.
As to your number 3, until that occurs, Palin ought to fess up. They received this year a “sponsorship fee” and should therefore be made to disclose. To do otherwise is to void their (APOC) responsibilities. But APOC has their collective noses stuck so far up the former guv’s backside that they cannot see the light of day or van flein’s legal bullcrap. The whole lot of them ought to recuse due to a very apparent bias towards the Palin family.
‘……………. Palin “has not read the contract and does not know the specific terms of the contract.”’
Since when was “not reading the contract” and not knowing the “specific terms of the contract” been a defense for anything?
I’m with you Goalie in NM.
If they file a joint tax return, it is hard to claim she doesn’t know. After all, her signature on the return acknowledges that the information is correct.
Good work, Linda. Keep putting on the pressure.
Not to offend anyone; but sounds like Palin is playing the dumb blond game. It is time to clean Alaska’s name. It is a beautiful state. The Political ugliness makes it unbearable for people to live.
Can’t wait to read Dunn’s book.
Wishing you luck tomorrow, Linda. You’ve made excellent points that deserve fair consideration.
Yeah, I want to know what’s up with the damn emails as well.
Sometimes, I can’t write about stuff that I’m doing…yet…
P.S. Does anyone get the feeling that the State is still scared of Palin?
Linda (Celtic Diva) Says:
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:30 PM
P.S. Does anyone get the feeling that the State is still scared of Palin?
I don’t think the people are afraid of Palin; but her connection with those with some cash. They want and need their jobs. Money talks; bu–sh– walks.
Thanks for the update Linda. Sometimes it’s hard to be patient when the wheels grind so slowly.
I don’t think “I didn’t read the contract” or “I signed the tax return, but didn’t read all of it” is an acceptable defense for the IRS.
And, even if she “didn’t read the contract” are we also too there supposed to believe she didn’t notice the “sponsorship fee” deposit in the checking account or the fact that a bunch of stuff was showing up on her doorstep without having been paid for or was obtained at half its retail value?
“… and gives Team Arctic Wear to the Racing Team,” Van Flein wrote.
What “position” does she play on this “team”????? She had as fancy an outfit as the actual racers. Head to toe! Glowing Neon Green, I believe. And her kid was all decked out also too. Can anyone say, “Receipt, please”?
Being a cheerleader is not being part of the team.
It’s being a CHEERLEADER, which any yahoo can do from the SIDELINES!