The Mudflats

If there’s one thing that Sarah Palin did during her brief try-out as Alaska’s governor, she showed us where the leaks were. I’ve compared her short time in office to the rental of one of those “blower doors” you can rent and attach to an open door of a building to show you where the leaks are. It basically “sucks the air out of the room” (not unlike the ex-gov herself), and you can put your hand up to light switches or the edges of windows, or outlets and feel a stream of cold air coming through.

One of those streams of cold air revealed by the Palin administration came in the form of email accounts. The state is set up nicely with an email system that has the suffix .gov. Any emails ending in .gov are used to keep a record of state business as part of the public record. It’s our government after all. Remember that “of the people, by the people, for the people” stuff?   Well .gov emails belong to US. And that’s why they’re not supposed to be used for partisan political purposes, or campaigning for your next term in office. And you really shouldn’t be on there talking about fantasy football, or sending steamy messages to your date last night, or talking about the Oscars. During work hours, you’re supposed to be doing the people’s work. And those emails on the .gov account don’t really belong to you and are subject to disclosure to the public via records requests.

That’s why people do personal business on their personal email accounts. But what about running government business on a personal account? What about pipeline negotiations, or board appointments, or accounts of what happened in meetings, or budget issues, or things that people may need to look up at some time in the future?   What about the public, who wants to know what their public officials are talking about, or doing with their time, or what was said on a particular issue like game management, or mining, or oil and gas, or taxes, or any other legislation?  And what about the historical record?  What if you, as a member of the public, fill out a public records request to find out information about something, and you’re told there’s nothing there. And what if there really is something there, but it’s been discussed on an email exchange between Governor@hotmail.com and AttorneyGeneral@mosquito.net? Or Commissioner@yahoo.com and Mayor@gmail.com?

That’s what Andree McLeod was worried about when it came to light that Sarah Palin was doing business with administration officials outside of the state email system. It came to national attention during the early days of the McCain Palin campaign, in September of 2008. That’s when we got the news that a hacker had gotten in to then Governor Palin’s private Yahoo! account, where it was very obvious she’d been doing business.   Other than the fact that a Yahoo! account sounds less than gubernatorial, and is less than transparent, security can also be a problem. All the hacker had to do, was to answer the super-secret “only she would know” question to reset the password. Ready for the question?

Q. Where did you meet your husband?
A. Wasilla High

And that was that. When choosing a security question, it’s usually a good idea not to make it something to which the answer can be looked up in a recently published biography, and that you’ve discussed openly in interviews.

I don’t know what that scene must have been like – the young hacker, sitting in his dorm room, like Matthew  Broderick in War Games, cracking his knuckles, staring at the screen and typing in “Wasilla High” [enter] BINGO! I’m sure it was a thrilling and terrifying moment for the young hacker. The Holy Grail on the first try.

I’m sure  David Kernell, University of Tennessee student and son of long-term Tennessee state legislator Mike Kernell (D) now thinks it probably wasn’t such a great idea. 

[He] faces a four-count indictment accusing him of stealing Palin’s identity, improperly accessing her personal e-mail account, allowing at least one other person to access it and trying to wipe from his laptop evidence of his alleged crimes.

Back in Alaska, government watchdog Andree McLeod sued, saying that it should be illegal for the people’s business to be conducted on private email accounts.  Today, Judge Patrick McKay refused to reconsider his ruling stating that it was not forbidden for state business to be conducted on these accounts.  Material on state business should be submitted for archiving, he said, but the rules allow for some interpretation. Room for interpretation.  Hmmm.  It’ll have to be hammered out in the legislature, apparently.

“We realize that under the current law, e-mails that should be preserved can disappear, thus hiding ‘bad motives,’ but it is not this court’s role to overturn an unambiguous, properly enacted law,” McKay wrote.

McLeod’s attorney, Don Mitchell, said Thursday morning that he’d been out of town and hadn’t reviewed the decision. He has said McLeod could appeal to the state Supreme Court.

The attorney for a University of Tennessee student accused of hacking into the account on Wednesday challenged search warrants in the case. Wade Davies, attorney for David C. Kernell, questioned a magistrate’s authority to issue search warrants for Internet companies outside Tennessee.

McLeod and her attorney Don Mitchell are now considering whether to appeal the decision to the Alaska Supreme Court.

And while an army of Palin devotees lauds this ruling as having come down in favor of the almost-one-term ex-governor, the current governor Sean Parnell (R), has at least said:

When executive branch employees conduct state business through email they must, whenever feasible, use the state’s electronic mail system. In some circumstances, employees may need to use, or may inadvertently use, private email accounts to conduct state business….

This statement may prevent future government business from being Palinized, escaping the state’s archiving process, and slipping away into the Yahoo! cyberspace black hole – at least whenever it is “feasible.”  He, unlike the perennial Palin cheering squad, may realize that this isn’t actually a McLeod v. Palin death match.  It’s about issues of transparency and accountability that affect all Alaskans, regardless of political partyaffiliation.  So, until this can be addressed in the legislature, we can hope for ‘feasibility’ – at least until the end of Parnell’s term.

Other questions of legality will be addressed in a courtroom in Knoxville, Tennessee later next month.  That’s when alleged victim Sarah Palin will take the stand and give testimony under oath.  This ought to be interesting.  I wonder how many attorneys out there wish they were Wade Davies, the Tennessee attorney who will be the one asking the questions.  Sources who know say she may be in for a rough day.

Kernell’s defense attorney, Wade Davies, wants Palin to bring any documents relating to that account – when it was opened, how it could be accessed and why and who was allowed to use it.

“I don’t want to get in the position where at the last minute there are questions about whether (subpoenas) were properly delivered,” Davies told U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley on Wednesday when seeking the legal OK to electronically serve witnesses, including Palin.

Federal prosecutors have insisted Davies’ records request of Palin is a veiled fishing expedition. Shirley will hear more about the subpoena debate at a March 24 hearing.

So, grab your Sharpies and circle March 24 on your political calendar.  And then circle April 20.  That’s the day of the trial. More news on the Alaska side of this story as it develops.

The Alaska GOP’s favorite pollster Dave Dittman has come out with some new numbers about our ex-almost-one-term governor. How many of them would like to see her run for President of the United States? What percentage of Alaskans think that the woman who couldn’t even survive one term as the governor of half a million people should run the country?

It would appear that it’s 17%. That would leave 83% of Alaskans who think that’s a bad bad idea. BUT, I would submit to you that I know many progressive Alaskans who would love Palin to run for president.  Their little eyes get all twinkly, and they look like someone has just asked them if they want a piece of cake.  A Palin candidacy, they tell me,  assures another four years of a Democratic White House.

So, take that 17% with a grain of salt.

I was interested in this quote from USA Today:

A new poll of voters in Alaska, where Sarah Palin served as governor, shows them deeply divided about whether they think their ex-chief executive should run for the White House.

Deeply divided? 83% v. 17%?

If the election were held today, and Palin ran against someone else for the presidency and the other candidate won in an 83/17 split, I don’t think anyone would be describing it as a “deeply divided” nation. That’s as close to unanimous as a national contest would ever get.  “Landslide” doesn’t even do it justice.   I believe, if memory serves me correctly, 17% is the same percentage as those who thought favorably about Dick Cheney when he stepped down from the presidency in 2008.  No that is not a typo.

And it looks doubtful that Palin would even come close to winning her home state, where it all started. Deeply divided? Not so much.

Another 36% of respondents say that Palin should not run for president, but simply “help other candidates.” Well, she did help Doug Hoffman in New York’s 23rd District. They hadn’t had a Democrat in that seat in decades until she came out in support of the conservative candidate.

She does seem to bring in a lot of money for the candidates she supports, but she also polarizes the debate so much that she brings in just as much for the opponent. Palin is the Republican party’s gift to Democratic fundraisers across the nation.

No Alaskan pollster has asked the question that I would ask – “If Sarah Palin were to run for governor of Alaska in 2010, would you vote for her?”   That’s the one I want.

Since I can’t ask only Alaskans that question, I’ll put up another poll here. I’ll assume that most of the regular readers of this blog are not Sarah Palin fans. Call it a hunch. So, what do you think? Would you like to see her run for President against Barack Obama in 2012?

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[A similar article is posted at The Huffington Post]

“All things Palin?”  “Start acting like a mother?” You mean Stapleton thinks you can’t be an effective mother from your Blackberry?  But Palin even ran the state from her Blackberry during the campaign so she wouldn’t have to hand over power to Lt. Governor Sean Parnell!  A child shouldn’t grow up begging for a mother’s attention?  Hmmm. Perhaps some day we’ll learn the true story.  In the mean time, we can’t help but wonder what Sarah Palin will actually sound like now.  Farewell, Meg.  Don’t let the bus hit you on the way out of Dodge.

Let’s see.  Who’s left in that inner sanctum?  Kristan Cole, Kris Perry, and…. Todd.  And then there were three.

[Meg Stapleton chihuahua photo credit Dennis Zaki]

Lisa Murkowski used to be my favorite senator. Granted, that’s only because Ted Stevens was my other one. Even Ted Stevens used to be my favorite senator. Granted that’s only because the other one was Frank Murkowski. It was all a matter of perspective.

But those were the old days. Now, Frank Murkowski is relegated to the dust bin of political history after hoppng from DC to Alaska as governor. He got routed going for a second term by some Wasilla mayor who got tired of the job a couple years in and is now moving her mouth for Fox News and blogging on weekends. Ted Stevens is gone – voted out after seven felony convictions that were overturned only due to prosecutorial incompetence. And Lisa Murkowski put in place by her father when he left DC, has cast off any allegiance to moderation or integrity by becoming a pro-climate change, pro-pollution shill for big oil – the very thing that got her father voted out of office and replaced by whats-her-name. Ah, the tangled web of Alaskan politics

But now, I actually like my favorite senator. I no longer have to choose the less reprehensible Republican for the slot. Don’t get me wrong – there are many issues upon which we disagree, but that’s OK. He’s here to serve the state, which is a complicated and polarized blend of people. Especially in terms of resource development, Alaskan Democrats feel differently than Democrats in other parts of the country. I get that. So for right now, I’m going to tiptoe past outer continental shelf (OCS) drilling, and ANWR and beluga whales, and get right to the part of Senator Begich that I really like.

When he first came back from D.C. and spoke at the annual Jefferson Jackson dinner to a room full of Democrats, I knew I was hooked. It was like a friend had been sent to some far off exotic land, and instead of coming back a changed person, or dropping names and customs like everyone knew what he was talking about, he decided to teach. He came back and told us all what it was like for him, and how things actually worked. He didn’t assume we knew, and he brought along his constituents on a journey of discovery. He was a freshman senator learning the ropes and wanted us to learn too.

That’s why I particularly enjoyed this segment on KTVA Channel 11. Every week Matt Felling hosts “A View from the Hill” and talks with one of our senators about what’s going on in our nation’s capital. This week he addressed a variety of topics, but the one that interested me the most was the part of the discussion on Democratic majority, senatorial procedure and the filibuster.

On the loss of 60 Democratic votes in the senate:

The part that’s more frustrating is … it doesn’t matter if you have 59, 57, whatever it is – that we are somewhat held hostage by parliamentary procedure, the old games, the politics of Washington D.C., that are not helping us move forward, especially on helping American families and Alaskan families get the jobs they need, and the economy moving forward.

Last week, we had the agenda consumed by a simple appointment to the GSA (the General Services Administration) an office that’s basically the leasing agent for the federal government, but because of the parilamentary procedures that the minority did, it held up all action on the Senate floor for four or five days which means we’re not working on the jobs issue, or helping to build this economy. So I think in some ways – again 59, 57, whatever it is – we’ve got to work to move this economy forward. And I would hope that the minority would just give up on these parliamentary procedures and focus on helping American families – Alaskan families – build a better economy and create jobs.

Felling: I think when a lot of people hear the word “filibuster,” they go back to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and they think about a Republican senator reading from the dictionary or the phone book, but that’s not the way it goes any longer. How exactly do they do it then?

Begich: It’s just kind of a parlor game, it’s a parlor trick and what they do is they claim a “cloture vote” which is a vote that requires 60 votes instead of a real filibuster where you actually have to sit on the floor and talk about why you’re doing this. You just go home! And they get 30 hours to do nothing and the senate really just stands in stall. If people turn on C-Span they’ll see people presiding and the room empty, because they just get to burn up 30 hours of time and that’s it. In days gone by you’d actually have to come down and debate the reason why you’re holding up the legislation that might be in front. But the reason they don’t do that now, especially the minority, is because they’d be embarrassed. Because all they’re doing is coming down and delaying for the sake of delaying and costing this economy, costing American jobs, costing Alaskan jobs. It’s really a shame. So I hope in a lot of ways we can get beyond that a lot of the freshmen on both Democrat and Republican are somewhat fed up with that process and want to move forward and doing the business that this country, that my state, sent me here to do.

Rachel Maddow had a great discussion on just this topic, and how the filibuster as it is being used now by the Republicans is grinding the gears of our nation to a halt, and what the Democrats might do about it. Remember the “nuclear option?”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

My favorite senator is back in the state for the weekend. I got to catch up with him in his Anchorage office on Friday. He talked about his plans for the visit home, and chuckled at the “interesting snow removal techniques” employed in our nation’s capital, which included lots of salt and waiting for the weather to warm up!

Mark Begich in his Anchorage office

The focus of the senate right now is on jobs, and they will be looking at various components of a jobs bill which will include small business lending, energy efficiency, infrastructure development, and getting more cops, firefighters, teachers and youth working.

He gave a quick update on the stimulus bill (the one that our other senator voted against) and said about soon about 60% of that money will start moving forward to help Alaskans. A big hospital project in Nome is part of that. Also there will be about $100 million designated to bring broadband internet service to Western Alaska in more than 100 villages. It will not only employ people to set it up, but it will have long-term impact. There will now be capacity for connections that can be used for medical care and in hospitals, tele-education, and commerce. Businesses will benefit, and it will no longer take an hour and a half to submit forms online. (So, rural Alaska, remember who voted for that stimulus money)

The senator tells us there is lots of momentum around energy and an energy bill. The bill will have multiple components including renewable energy projects to create what Begich described as a “holistic view of energy.” He was pleased that the president mentioned OCS drilling, and that there are positive steps being taken in that direction. The president mentioned OCS drilling again when he did a recent “pop in” at a press conference.

The senator as a member of the Armed Services Committee is very involved and committed to veteran’s issues which was clear as he spoke. He mentioned the fact that one in ten Alaskans is a veteran, a higher per capita concentration than any other state in the nation. Alaska also presents certain unique challenges to veterans particularly those who live in very rural locations. Access to healthcare in remote areas will rely more and more on telemedicine which will be helped by the broadband capabilities that are on the way.
The senator is working with Indian Health Services to try to develop a strong partnership to facilitate better delivery of essential services for Alaska’s vets.

One of the first things the Obama administration did was increase the amount of money going to veterans, the largest increase ever. Recently a quarter million veterans who were never in the system have been added. There are still 1.6 million who are not.

If you are a veteran or know any, Senator Begich wants to hear from you and understand your concerns and needs. Hearings are coming up and your input is wanted.

He’ll be heading to Fairbanks and Kotzebue before returning to D.C. to tackle the snow and the obstructionists, and try to get work done on jobs, energy, education, veterans issues and health care.  We wish him luck, and look forward to more reports from inside the beltway.