Mr Palin was not part of the Executive branch NOR A MEMBER OF ANY RECOGNIZED ENTITY COVERED UNDER THIS COURT RULING , SUCH AS ADVISORY CABINETS, BOARDS, OR COMMISSIONS.and should NOT have been CCed. His position as Gov spouse might allow FWDs or BCCs from his wife ONLY- but he should never have been in a general recipient list.
His status as spouse should have been entirely a private matter with his wife.

However, that marital privilege comes with corresponding obligations — the spouse is required to exercise the same care with respect to confidential information as does the elected official, and the spouse may never be an surrogate for the performance of official actions. For example, if Sarah tells Todd some non-public information, and he reveals it, or uses it in some way; both of them should be punished. If Todd tells one of Sarah’s subordinates to do something — even if he is just passing on her actual instructions — he is breaking the law, because he is not in the official chain of command.

The email issue is relatively unsettled, because email is a rather recent development. I offer my usual I-am-not-a-lawyer disclaimer.

If the only issue is that Todd was cc’d on some emails, I would consider that mostly irrelevant. In my view of the world, it would be acceptable for Sarah to give copies of her sent emails to her spouse, without changing the confidentiality level of the emails; so copying him via sendmail would be a non-issue. For incoming emails, the question is slightly trickier — strictly speaking, the emails should pass through Sarah first, so that she could decide if Todd should get a copy. But blanket approval isn’t that hard to defend at the state government level, where enhanced security level communications are rare to none.

I realize that this opinion may not be popular on the Flats, but the law has to even apply to a-holes. I’d be happy as a clam to be proven wrong, and I’d also like to see the law changed to explicitly eliminate the email loophole and any similar ones — marital pillow talk is okay, but nothing else. But right now, I think we’re out of luck. If there were some other non-administration person on the cc: list, I think it would make it public; but spouses have traditionally had a special case.

BTW, like sauerkraut says, if Toddo did anything based on the confidential info, he is liable for all sorts of crimes.

—————————-
You think you’re living in a nice energy efficient box, and then the sucking starts and you can feel ice cold air streaming in through light switches, and wall outlets and around windows.

That was Sarah Palin.

—————————–

Sometimes I’m a little slow on the uptake, comprehending the ramifications of rulings and developments that affect the public. It takes writers like AKM and our other cozy collection of bloggers or citizen activists to lay it out for us so that people like me can laser in on the crux of the matter behind the smoke, mirrors and utter BS. Heck, the Mudflats community comments have taught even more beyond the posts.

I imagine that Celtic Diva and Andree McLeod undergo particularly nasty and fearsome harrassment daily from Palin fans. It was curious from day one (Aug. 08) that anyone simply questioning McCain’s move with Sarah was branded a hater in the public forum. If C4P’s cost me my ADN moniker in the comments section (and I was by no means insulting or personally attacking our dear Sarah who was so very in over her head) what of these high profile ladies?

Some pack concealed heat and abuse that right by turning it into a weapon promising violence. I wrote a letter to the editor once and got some pretty startling accusations about what kind of person I was, and it was a fairly innocuous issue – but think Eddie Burke with the anti-Palin rally organizers. They have an M.O. – be loud and brand you a baby killer, and the troops (soldiers of God, generally) will take the lead.

Alaska is so funny, but reading more about other State’s lawmakers have revealed that we aren’t the only ones that cultivated a CBC culture. But seeing Sarah Palin shoot up to the level of legitamacy beyond our penny-ante State issues (big oil aint small potatoes, but dealing with such a small population aint rocket science as our Wasilla Mayor once said) remains so unbelievably surreal. From what little has been exposed in these emails, it further goes to show how immature, ill-suited and alarmingly inadequate our Governor was. . .

I’ve said it before, no matter how alarming it is to have Sarah unleashed on the American public – her lack of hubris revealed more about her in that stupifying campaign effort than it would have taken had she finished out her first term and ran for another. If she had shot for the moon instead and built a real record of Gubernatorial accomplishment, she may have been able to develop a more nationwide appeal beyond the fringe she enjoys now. So while we Alaskans and the world’s mudpups still may be suffering PTSD – it’s better that Sarah was exposed for the fraud she is earlier on than if she actually took advice from experts and built this polished faux credibility for the remainder of her Chief Executive stint. This is giving her a lot of credit of course, her frenetic door plowing paths remain disjointed and confusing. I know hundreds of Alaskan off-the-grid folks, even small village residents that have more of a world-view, education (or not) and stately than this Wasillan train-wreck. And this isn’t even about Wasilla or the Valley, she is an anomaly even for a quirky cheechako-ey sourdough (yes, she’s both.) And Ugly Alaskan and an Ugly American.

We still need to keep on her, for as long as she tries to be a pundit and influence public policy.

So, to those of you to be so publically brave to stalwartly press the matter of accountability and transparency in government, I salute you (but remain anonymous behind the safety of my Mudflats moniker.)

Quyana, thank you AKM, LKB and AM.

If the former 1/2 Term Gov. WAS employed in the “real world” – not on the PlanetPalin Employer – would her employer (such as Faux News) want her conducting business via Yahoo email? Or would they want to track what she is working on, appts pending, perhaps even those High School comments about Glenn Beck & O”Reilly. Much less being an insider …. would Faux want potential company information exposured to an “outside mail service”? Do you suppose Faux news is going to pay her a per diem to park her butt in her AK living room without working…. will she charge them the token $65. if they call her at home about work? Will Faux pay for her children to travel with her, plus all those meals etc. while she is on assignment? I doubt even Faux would consider what she charged the state of AK as “business expenses” ! If MSNBC gives her a pair of snowmachine clothes — and Faux pays for her IronDog trip – would THEY be upset if she wore MSNBC? You Betcha !

Altho we all know the Government moves slower than a snail – most State governments should take some lessons from Companies — Emails with anything work related – must go through or CC’d to Company email archive. If you want to use a personal email account – don’t do it at work or it must be approved by the Company IT – which many times will code it thru the email archive system for company review.

There is NO privacy in the workplace – ergo – why should our elected officials expect privacy ?

The Former 1/2 Term Gov. of Alaska’s problem is — she hasn’t worked enough outside of Government. Those ethic complaints would have gotten a person FIRED in the real world….. at least a reprimand !

AKM – Well done!

Kudos to Andree and Don for taking this legal battle to the courts and to Linda for her detailed and passionate reporting and her own battles against ethics abuse!