Judge Rules in Favor of Palin – Government is Just Too Transparent
In the long tradition of dropping bombshells on Fridays, a ruling came down today. Apparently feeling like part of the problem is that government is too darn transparent, Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay ruled today in favor of ex-almost one term governor Sarah Palin in a case which revolved around the controversial use of private Yahoo! email accounts to conduct state business off the radar, and away from the prying eyes of those damn citizens.
He found that:
“not all emails relating to state business are necessarily public records, and that the “use of private email accounts to conduct state business does not — in and of itself — violate state law.”
A preliminary injunction issued Oct. 10, 2008 requiring Palin to “preserve for the duration of the litigation all emails whose content relates in any way to official state business” was also terminated. Palin “may revert to the procedures outlined in state statutes and GARRS (General Administrative Records Retention Schedule).”
Can’t you just imagine all the new Yahoo! accounts being created? And what’s that noise coming from the Palin camp? It sounds like >delete< >delete< >delete<
Palin critic and citizen watchdog Andree McLeod filed the suit in October of 2008 while Palin was campaigning for Vice President. She had filed public records requests in an attempt to access emails containing state business from the personal Yahoo! accounts set up by the governor and her staff.
Still to be decided is another case in which official state emails requested via public records requests had sections redacted for official reasons like “deliberative process,” but that also included private citizen Todd Palin on the “cc” list.
Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay. Remember that name next time we get to vote on judges. Pass the chocolate, please.
What a bizarre form of government you have there. Yoo hoo, Judge?? Yes, you!! Are you out of your mind or just another corrupt bastard?
Superior Court Judge McKay, just having gotten,,,is it…his second DUI conviction????? Stellar.
I am seriously piss8ed off.
So. did the judge play in the high school band with Sarah or did they just party together?
Well, this has been quite a week, politically speaking. And none of it is good for the regular citizens or for the future of our country. Another sad day. I’d hoped for something positive in the news today, but apparently that was me being too Pollyanna-ish.
Act on your pissed offedness on a related topic (in the category of Alaska politicians looking out for special interests) and sign the Dirty Air Act petition against Sen. Murkowski’s proposal to gut EPA authority over the Clean Air Act.
http://ga3.org/campaign/nodirtyairact
Nothing like a Friday dump!
overthemoon Says:
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:35 PM
So. did the judge play in the high school band with Sarah or did they just party together?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wonder if a pay-off was involved…?
Here in the lower 48, the law guides judicial decisions, mostly. The SCOTUS decision on corporations excepted…
Guess we are just lucky.
OT (well maybe not). Do any of the Palin children look like the judge? Just sayin’……
Maybe a note of hope — I’m not an Alaska lawyer, but usually in such cases there is a way to preserve the status quo pending appeal of a ruling that denies an injunction, either by asking the lower court to maintain the injunction pending appeal, or asking the appellate court to issue its own injunction to maintain the status quo pending appeal. The mechanics can differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but this is a common situation that courts are prepared to deal with — where unless the appellate court steps in before the winner in the lower court does what he had been forbidden to do, there will be nothing to appeal. Because preserving the e-mails imposes no cost on Palin, I would expect an appellate court to order that they be preserved, unless the case is obviously frivolous as a matter of law, and I doubt very much that it is.
This can be in the form of either a new injunction from the appellate court, or an order from the appellate court to the lower court to maintain In other words, if the plaintiff’s lawyer is on the ball, it should be possible to keep Palin from deleting the e-mails in question until an appeal is heard.
Sorry — forget the last paragraph — meant to erase it before sending.
Good ole Sarah and Patrick out having a drink on this ruling? You betcha!!
Bloody hypocrites — the LOT of them.
Unbelievable ruling. Unbelievable week. Just depressing all around.
Well, you all have the entire weekend to publicize this BS. It looks like your government for the most part is scraping the bottom of the barrel, with a few gems hidden up there. Keep exposing these corrupt a$$holes because the AND and others don’t seem to be doing their jobs. Sad.
ADN (auto corrected twice, but not correct regardless)
“Still to be decided is another case in which official state emails requested via public records requests had sections redacted for official reasons like “deliberative process,” but that also included private citizen Todd Palin on the “cc” list.”
If the above case is to be decided in Alaskan court too,,,….don’t bother to report on the verdict, AKM. We already know what it will be. Disgusting provincial hacks!
Appeal! Appeal! Appeal!
So. . . .
We have lousy judges in Alaska, and lousy judges in D.C. Both these rulings are so stupid that they were either made by:
a. stupid people
b. corrupt people
I don’t really know about the judge in AK–did he attend Potato U, too? But to get to be a Supreme Court judge, you probably ain’t stupid.
Just sayin’.
This ^itch gets a free pass on everything…She has all of them eating out of her hand…you betcha!!
We’ve heard all of the sad news, so what’s the good news?
wtf?
Well , f*ck.
Like Lee323 says….appeal.
Well , f*ck.
Like Lee323 says….appeal.
Perhaps the judge, reading through those hackneyed sentences on the e-mail, just threw up his hands and cried “uncle”.
That’s a judge that has to go. What decent politician would want to use an email account that was out of public view for public business? We have rules for a reason, folks, and laws on the books that say even email that is on private accounts that relates to official business is fair game. I’m wondering what the heck McKay was reading and thinking.
Oops..touchy BlackBerry. I mean it twice anyway.
sarah appoint that peckerhead ??
On a positive note Pups…
AKM mentioned on the thread yesterday that the ‘envelope that arrived in the mail ‘… Anonymously… might be ready to post by Tuesday.
( she said she’s working on it )
It might be a story that affects a certain ‘ person ‘……. Hmm (fingers crossed )
I can hardly believe what I am hearing here, the same people who a few
weeks ago were livid about the threats against the judge in the Palin custody
case are now condeming the judge in this case.
Due to our Alaskan selection process which is not political, we have the most
honest and fair judges in the nation. Their election is only for retention not
for selection and only after a certain number of years on the bench.
If you carfully read the judges quoted comments he stated that there was no violation of State Law. The problem is not the Judge but the with State
Law. E-mails are a fairly recent development and it will take our legislators
20 years to ever bring it up to our modern requirements.
Tom
I believe I lean to agree with Tom – that legislation has not caught up with current methods of communication.
Inspite of that, however, I still feel a pfffffffttttt coming on.
Tom –
Sincerely , thank you for your insightful post. I meant no threat to this , or any judge. I do like to cuss when I express myself. The law is the law and sarah bumped the line ONCE again and skated. Dang !
austintx – I’ll thrice that! and Irishgirl I fec it, or fey it. Something more than poop anyway. Andree has worked for so long for change and to get the truth out, this is so unfair.
Nothin’ like open, honest, transparent government in Alaska!
Hmmm.
http://www.duiattorney.com/news/5476-alaska-judge-gets-2nd-dui
# 30 Tom McAlister Says:
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:12 PM
“I can hardly believe what I am hearing here, the same people who a few
weeks ago were livid about the threats against the judge in the Palin custody
case are now condeming (sic) the judge in this case.”
—————————————————————
Suggesting an equivalency in the two situations is actually more of an insult than any of the comments posted thus far.
The remainder of your post had some good points to consider.
Thankyou: I was aware of the Judges arrest, I would hope that if he is
convicted that he will be removed from his bench, after all Judges, lawers and
police officers should be held to a higher standard. However intill he is
convicted he is considered innocent.
There is no excuse for his actions.
Tom
#30 Tom McAlister Says:
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:12 PM
If you carefully read the judges quoted comments he stated that there was no violation of State Law. The problem is not the Judge but the with State
Law. E-mails are a fairly recent development and it will take our legislators
20 years to ever bring it up to our modern requirements.
Tom
———————————-
Tom, I understand the last point that you were making there and it may be the truth… but is it not just an ‘ excuse ‘ to let them continue to operate with ‘ business as usual ‘..? { Is 20 years acceptable … or even 10..? }
For example, what if this was a School operating in Alaska that gets Federal dollars or money. They have to meet ‘ federal guidelines ‘ ( as does everybody else )and standards if they are eligible for the money. Suppose the Human Relations person for the School doesn’t train their teachers about ( Federal )sexual Harassment Guidelines or enforce them.
Their excuse…We just don’t have the resources/manpower to cover this subject and meet these guidelines at this time. And they can’t even say WHEN they will be able to meet the standards.
Does the Federal Government keep sending them the Federal dollars..?
Is this ‘ excuse ‘ acceptable…? All the other Schools have to meet the standards to get Federal money. Should this School be given a pass.
We do have to live in the real world… so how soon will it be before they meet the ‘ modern requirements’..? Maybe never, unless someone forces them ( applies pressure ) to meet modern standards. And are they even attempting to bring things ” up to code ” at this time? Do they look at it as a priority. I don’t know.
As long as the School (IE: State ) has the dollars coming in from the Federal Treasury though….. what is the hurry.
Cheer up Alaska! You could be the next Oklahoma!
http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=11862791
Oklahoma, where the crazies come sweeping down the plains!
not surised the way this week been going
This country is going to hell in a handbasket. Egards.
What a sorry setback. As long as Republicans rule in AK, nothing will be done to correct the corruption. And don’t expect the legislature to do anything to correct law regarding new technology, either. Perhaps an appeal or something legal to preserve the emails should be done at this point–they might be laws on the books pertaining to the dissemination of the conduct of state business to private individuals (Toad). He may be married to this fraud, but he was in no way an employee of state govt.
And somebody please recall that judge–he’s a judge, not some poor schlub caught in a DUI–check state bar rules on conduct.
If he was arrested in August, then who actually handed down the ruling or am I misunderstanding this?
http://www.duiattorney.com/news/5476-alaska-judge-gets-2nd-dui
“Another judge will be taking over McKay’s docket until a permanent resolution can be determined.”
@30, “Due to our Alaskan selection process which is not political, we have the most honest and fair judges in the nation”.
Really? I couldn’t state for sure that this is true or not, but I don’t think you can state this as fact either. If you have some kind of proof that you have the “most honest and fair judges in the nation”, I would like to see it.
So does this ruling clarify whether these emails are considered subject to open records or not? I mean, “not violating the law” is one thing, but the question is whether we can see the business conducted.
I simply don’t see how anyone can see the paranoid communications from Ivy Fry and not see how desperate they were to conceal what they were doing with the Yahoo accounts.
Tom -
No one here is “threatening” the judge in this case. It was a bad BAD ruling based on bad law. Period! This “judge” has had his 2nd dwi — and should have been removed from the bench after his first conviction.
Now, regarding the laws, here is TX statutes regard the same issue.
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/SOTWDocs/GV/htm/GV.552.htm
It’s long and complicated, but pay particular attention to Sec. 552.002-003 definitions. There are a lot of “exceptions” to the rule which are redacted, mostly to protect certain individual’s private information (SSN, address, crime victims information), but the bottom line here is this:
A sitting Governor who has a history of unethical behavior is conducting official state business from an UNSECURED Yahoo web based account. Chances are, this person is using this account to circumvent the Public Information Act in her state.
As a state of Texas employee myself, if I were caught conducting state business under MY personal account, I would be FIRED. No questions asked… simply fired, even if there were no malicious intent behind it.
With all the corruption going on up there in AK, can you honestly say that Miss Sarah wasn’t/isn’t trying to hide anything??? Let’s not even get into the issue of putting the agency at risk by conducting official business off of the web… you know, that web that is so laced with viruses, trojans and the like? I’m sure the AK IT department really dodged a bullet there, eh!
Another brilliant video that assures, sometimes if one looks at things from the flip side, it’s all positive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA
One can wonder whether this two-time DUI loser, appointed by Murkowski, was sober during the oral arguments. He is subject to a retention vote this fall.
Just remember that karma is a b**ch. Many who are part of the vocal, abusive minority now responsible for high jacking our judicial system have no idea what they have wrought. They are simply parroting what their celebrity talking heads say and many will, at some point, realize they’ve been voting against their own interests. When enough of them realize the Republican dream for America–abetted by the Limbaugh’s, Hannity’s and Beck’s of this world–is a sick, uneducated, dirt poor majority they can manipulate and use to consolidate their personal wealth, the backlash will be ugly, although it probably won’t come soon enough or have enough ferocity to make the rest of us feel vindicated. This is the lesson of history. It has happened time and time and time again. Failing to heed it is going to bring our country to its knees.
Those of us old enough to remember will recall that installing conservative judges–especially in seats with lifetime appts like the Supremes, was exactly Grover Nordquist’s plan back in the early 90s “Contract with (on) America” days to consolidate a permanent conservative majority. As vile as they are, they are good strategists and he saw that elections meant little unless you controlled the highest courts in the land and could manipulate rulings to favor your ideology. What the left fails to do–and needs to figure out is how to do pronto–is strategize in a similar fashion. It reminds me of the famous line by Woody Guthrie, “I don’t belong to any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”
Okay, look – the botom line is that these actions were not against state law. I used to run into similar situations when I was an investigator for the Department of Commerce. Say a licensed professional did something that resulted in a complaint. If the allegation concerned an action that was a possible violation of state regulations or of the professional ethics code, I could act. If there was no alleged violation of law, I couldn’t. This judge was doing what he is charged to do – upholding state law. You may not like his decision, but he has to go by what’s on the books. If you don’t like the law, work with your legislature to get it changed.
I don’t believe this is the first time we’ve discussed that the state laws of AK do not address personal email. There was a post here a few months back.Maybe it was the result of one of the complaints to the Personnel Board. I think there was even some talk of introducing legislation. I remember something, but the details are fuzzy. In any case, this judge’s ruling is no surprise. Unlike 5 members of the SCOTUS, this judge is only intertpreting current law, not makin’ stuff up.
Tom@30. I think it grossly unfair of you to conflate the disappointment with this ruling that has been expressed by the commenters here with the truly abhorent behavior of the Palin supporters. The only call to action I read here is a call to appeal the ruling, which is actually the natural course of action. I saw nothing here that even remotely approaches the villagers-with-pitchforks idea to diluge the courthouse with protests and phone calls. Or worse, death threats. Other than that, your post has merit.
Time for AK progressives to put the pressure on those legislators they “really like” to change the law. Make the law so that it clearly is illegal to use back channels to keep skulldudgery out of the public spotlight.
Only your legislators can fix what’s broken.
Or someone needs to appeal the decision.
Paula @47 -
Amazing video!
I almost stopped it in the middle because it was putting me in a funk, but I’m glad I didn’t because I would have missed the main point. Thanks for sharing and reminding us that it’s always just a matter of perspective and looking at things the right way!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA
Wow. And this idiot calls himself a judge?. Amazing.
23-year old man pulled out from the rubble in Haiti after 11 days-alive and smiling.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8477288.stm
I have to agree with Tom’s original post. The vehement reaction of some Mudpups to this judges ruling is very disturbing. We were quick to criticize the cadre of Palin supporters when they went crazy about the Palmer judge’s decision on the custody hearing, yet we turned around and did the same thing in this case. No, what some Mudpups did is not as bad as what the Palin supporters did, but it is on the same continuum. “They” protested the judge’s ruling. So did “we”. “They” made threats, and so did “we” (in calling for this judge to be recalled.) “They” threatened possible physical attack, “we” attacked this judge’s character. It is the same reaction; only the degree of severity is different.
If we want to fight and win, we have to be better than our opponent, whether it’s boxing, a war, or a show of moral indignation. Both Mudpups and Palin supporters erred in attacking a judge for merely upholding state law. Now everyone needs to take a deep breath and return to their corners.
This interchange seems to be the epitome of Mudflatters. Beginning with polarized comments that had some at odds with others, sharing of thoughts, interpretations, and observations fosters an understanding of the issues.
In this case, this is something very wrong that naturally incenses and draws an emotional reaction that is quite justified; however, the question of legality is something quite different. If there is no citation establishing the illegality or a legal precedent, the result is clear.
I am glad there is a place where we can have voiced differences that increase understanding on both sides and can have that occur in a polite and civil manner consistently. This sets Mudflats apart from most (but, I hope, not all) blogs!
Follow the Money.
well maybe we can’t now – it sounds like all those emails have been deleted
Thanks, Mag The Mick for your post #56.
Sometimes I don’t formalate my thoughts well in my writing. After 25 years of working in public safety (Fire Service) I have been in envolved with the courts and have seen the Alaskan Judges in action. They do an excellent job of reading the
law and making their decisions. The laws are made by the legislature.
Many times the legislature makes laws that are unconstutional and when they
are overturned by the courts they scream Activist Judges making law.
We all know that is political Bull.
Tom
You know, there was a time we were all wondering where all those people in Wasilla were who wanted to grab their 15 minutes of fame when it came to who gave birth to Trig and when, the house that Todd built with his bare hands out of material he bought and paid for and then about all this stuff that supposedly Levi knows about Sarah. I mean, Wasilla being a small town and all it makes one wonder why no one has snaked out of the woodwork to give their personal experience and knowledge. Same for this – where are all those brilliant computer/e-mail hackers when you need them?
People got to live there,look what happened with others that said anything not in lock step with the heaths and palins.