Join me and author Amanda Coyne of Alaska Dispatch today at firedoglake.com for a book salon featuring the new release Crude Awakening – Money, Mavericks and Mayhem in Alaska by Coyne and co-author Tony Hopfinger. Details below. Hope to see you there!

[Cross-posted from Alaska Dispatch]

Jeanne Devon, AKA AK Muckraker, who runs the popular Alaska-based website The Mudflats, is hosting an online discussion Sunday, Nov. 13, of “Crude Awakening: Money, Mavericks and Mayhem in Alaska.” The discussion will be held at Firedoglake Book Salon. “Crude Awakening” was penned by Alaska Dispatch founders Amanda Coyne and Tony Hopfinger. Coyne will answer questions from 1-3 p.m. Alaska Time (5-7 p.m. Eastern Time, 2-4 p.m Pacific).

Here’s the book jacket description (though Devon’s description, which will appear tomorrow on Firedoglake, is better than what the authors came up with):

Crude Awakening is the rollicking story of politics in America’s last frontier and oil province—Alaska, the nation’s most wild and mysterious state, where politics and oil blurred on the day wildcatters struck it big in 1968. Living in a northern Never Land, where oil companies and the federal government kept the state living high and wild, a handful of players ran the show. Among them were the late Sen. Ted Stevens and oilman Bill Allen, the Tony Soprano of Alaska who controlled the political machine until the FBI arrived to root out corruption, only to be accused of playing as dirty as those they were investigating. These characters and events paved the way for Sarah Palin’s rise to fame and fall from glory in Alaska. Authors Amanda Coyne and Tony Hopfinger chart the epic tale of these three characters, set in a state of soaring hopes, fading dreams, drying oil fields and an uncertain future.

The authors will also be on Alaska Public Radio’s Alaska New Nightly at 6 p.m. on Monday, APRN’s talk of Alaska at 10 a.m. Tuesday, and Moore Up North on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m. at the Taproot Cafe in Anchorage. The authors will be reading and signing books on Nov. 19 at 11:30 a.m. at Fireside Books in Palmer.

Reviews of the book can be found here, here and here.

~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more!

Here’s a plate of slurpable stories to start your week. Source links are in the title. Start shucking!

Pay Up, Joe

An Alaska judge on Friday ordered that failed U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller pay more than $17,300 in legal costs incurred by the state in fighting Miller’s challenge to last year’s election.

Don’t even get me started.

OK, I’ll start. First the disclaimer – I didn’t vote for Joe, would never vote for him, am ideologically opposed to his political philosophy, and have written extensively on all of these things. I am no Joe apologist. BUT. He was absolutely correct to challenge Alaska’s outdated and flawed election system. The machines used to count votes here in Alaska have been outlawed in California. They decommissioned thousands of them at great expense. And now because Miller challenged the vote, he’ll be footing the bill, sending a message to future candidates who step out on that limb to try to fix the system. For a full wrap-up of all the reasons Miller had a point, click HERE. And HERE. And HERE.

The only thing that might distract me from fuming over this is a…

FROG Attack!

If you’re going to be sneaky, at least do it with style and grammatical consistency. That’s what I say. And it seems that the National Security Agency (NSA) agrees. Yes, boys and girls, the NSA has a “Style Guide.” In addition to grammar tips and advice on usage,

We learn that C3 is a symbol for command, control and communications, FROG is an acronym for “Free Rocket Over Ground” (Not to be referred to as a missile) and “conducted operations” and “likely scenario” are listed under “hackneyed phrases.”

“Missile?” “Likely scenario?”   That is soooo last year.

Back to the Movies

In the never-ending world of Palin…stuff, there is always more. First the spin, then the anti-spin. It’s a wonder we’re not just wearing helmets and clutching our midsections to keep from throwing up.

Oh, wait.

As your theatrical anti-venom to the latest Palin puffumentary “The Undefeated,” veteran filmmaker Nick Broomfield presents a film that will cast a critical eye on the ex-half-governor. It will be filled with interviews, and is due to screen next week in L.A. for potential buyers.

A trailer for the film features interviews with former Alaska legislative director John Bitney and former state senate president Lyda Green, both of whom describe an “unengaged” Palin who made of a habit of texting on her mobile during important meetings and legislative sessions.

“I never felt that Sarah was ever connected to the business that was going on in the Capitol,” says Green, a Republican who retired from politics two years ago. “It was always, I thought, a rather cursory attendance when she was there; lack of interest, and she’d generally have her two Blackberries and was texting most of the time.”

Speaking of Crazy Governors…

Seems like Rod Blagojevich, who dared to challenge the great state of Alaska in the Crazy Governor Craze-Off, has finally gotten his comeuppance. His retrial is over, and a jury has convicted him for essentially trying to sell Obama’s former senate seat. He’ll spend the next 6 1/2 10-20 years in the Grey Bar Hotel despite his pleas for mercy from the jury. (Grab your hankies, everyone)

Blagojevich seemed to believe he could talk his way out of trouble from the witness stand. Indignant one minute, laughing the next, seemingly in tears once, he endeavored to counteract the blunt, greedy man he appeared to be on FBI wiretaps. He apologized to jurors for the four-letter words that peppered the recordings.

“When I hear myself swearing like that, I am an F-ing jerk,” he told jurors.

He clearly sought to solicit sympathy. He spoke about his working-class parents and choked up recounting the day he met his wife, the daughter of a powerful Chicago alderman. He reflected on his feelings of inferiority at college where other students wore preppy “alligator” shirts.

One of Blagojevich’s classmates (who may or may not have been wearing an “alligator shirt”) was none other than former Attorney General under the Palin administration, Talis Colberg who stepped down shortly after telling administration officials and Todd Palin, who had received legislative subpoenas that they didn’t really have to show up. Small world.

And a rapidly warming one…

A whale! Shalom!

A grey whale was spotted recently off the coast of Israel. At first, this sounds like good news. Grey whales have been extinct in the Atlantic when they were hunted to extinction there in the 1700s. But microscopic plankton have migrated across polar regions to the Atlantic for the first time in 800,000 years as well. The effects of shrinking ice in the northern polar region is beginning to have an effect.

“The implications are enormous. It’s a threshold that has been crossed,” said Philip C. Reid, of the Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science in Plymouth, England.

“It’s an indication of the speed of change that is taking place in our world in the present day because of climate change,” he said in a telephone interview Friday.

Reid said the last time the world witnessed such a major incursion from the Pacific was 2 million years ago, which had “a huge impact on the North Atlantic,” driving some species to extinction as the newcomers dominated the competition for food.

I have a little bit of personal experience with this Palin email thing. However, mine were so redacted, they were no fun at all. So, like many others, I’ve enjoyed making up my own searches of the awesome 2011 Palin Email Database, courtesy of MSNBC and Crivella West.

The REAL fun happens when I’m searching on one topic and stumble upon another quite accidentally.

For example, I was doing a search on a lobbyist name or two and found this email from Palin’s assistant/residence manager:

From : Erika Fagerstrom [erika_fagerstrom@gov.state. ak.us]
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 1:43 PM
To: Governor Sarah Palin; fek9wnr@yahoo.com
Cc: Tibbles; Michael A (GOV); Spencer; Kari L (GOV)
Subject : GUEST LIST QUESTION- Friends of the Governor’s Mansion Foundation Fundraiser, May 9th, 2007 at
the Residence

Hello Governor and Mr. Palin,

The list of lobbyists for the Friends of the Governor’s Mansion Foundation Fundraiser are listed below for your review/approval. I’ve also attached the 2007 Lobbyist Directory in case you wanted the client/employer information. Please let me know if you’d like to make any changes or have any additional guests that you’d like to include.

Nice! A party held at the Governor’s Mansion, owned by the citizens of Alaska, specifically for the lobbyists.

As interesting as that was, the part that caught my attention was this paragraph:

F.Y.I. – The Foundation pays for the food, beverage, and staff over time expenses, so that it’s not an expense that the House incurs. I have a copy of a memorandum from the Department of Law from March
14, 2005 where the question was asked if there would be any Executive Ethics Act (AS 39.52) or other legal concerns presented if the foundation held a fundraiser at the Governor’s Mansion and the conclusion (was that the First Lady (Gentleman in this case) is not a ” public official ” under the Ethics Act, the strictures of the Act do not apply to her /him. The Governor may also host fundraising activities at the residence , and he may freely invite guests and host functions as he/she deems proper. Of course, there is much more information, and this is paraphrased, but I wanted you to be aware of some of the issues that have been addressed. I could fax a copy to you if you’d like.

I’ll repeat that — a 2005 Department of Law decision stated that the Governor’s spouse is NOT a “public official” so the Executive Branch Ethics Act does not apply.

The Petumenos Report agrees. Remember, that’s the response to the ethics complaint (the most expensive ethics complaint for the State of Alaska) that Sarah Palin filed with the Personnel Board against herself to circumvent the “Troopergate” investigation undertaken by the Alaska Legislature? His finding was that Todd Palin could not have broken any ethics laws because he was not a State employee:

Todd Palin is a private citizen and not covered by the Executive Ethics Act.

“At the end of the day, you have to point me to a statute that says a public official is responsible for a private citizen,” Petumenos said. “There isn’t one.”

First spouses are free to contact public officials just as any private citizen can, he said. Of course, it’s unlikely that many commissioners and top officials would take an ordinary citizen’s phone call or show up for time-consuming meetings to discuss a grievance, but that they did so for Todd Palin is completely legal, he said.

Yet, a decision from Judge Patrick “2nd DUI” McKay seems to disagree. His decision from a year ago denied Andree McLeod’s appeal of the lower court decision — that the State of Alaska could redact emails for “deliberative process” even though First Dude (and alleged private citizen) was a recipient. His logic was partially drawn from a court case against Hillary Clinton claiming that she was not an federal government employee when she was First Lady.

First, the Court found that “Congress itself has recognized that the President’s spouse acts as the functional equivalent of an assistant to the President,” since Congress appropriates funds to the First Lady’s office to aid in the discharge of the President’s duties and responsibilities.

The Court also found that even without Congressional approval, the President has “implicit authority to enlist his spouse in the aid of the discharge of his federal duties.” This reflects a “longstanding tradition of public service by First Ladies dating back to at least Sarah Polk.” The Court concluded that it is reasonable to “treat the presidential spouse as a de facto officer or employee…”

There is no lack of evidence, even though both email releases were heavily redacted, that Todd Palin had quite a few moments of being large-and-in-charge in his wife’s Administration.

All of this leads to McKay’s conclusion:

“Absent any Alaska Law to the contrary, common sense and federal law require finding that Todd Palin could properly have acted as an advisor to the Governor, thereby rendering the six emails at question in this appeal subject to the deliberative process privilege.”

So, Petumenos cites a lack of an Alaska Statute as proof that Palin is a private citizen, while McKay says that a lack of an Alaska Statute proves that Todd Palin acts as a public employee…an advisor to the Governor.

Golly, I can’t figure out why the rest of the country thinks we’re idiots.

The tantalizing contradiction has not slipped the notice of legal minds both in and out of Alaska. It also hasn’t slipped the notice of the current Administration either. According to my understanding of statute, there is a two-year limitation on filing ethics complaints against public officers after leaving office…which would be in about five weeks. So, the fact that there was no redaction in the email containing Erika Fagerstrom’s question while the response has been redacted to oblivion is extremely interesting.

Contrary to the media’s claim (simply repeated from the Palin camp) that there is “nothing to find” in the Palin emails, there are many interesting pieces of information to be discovered…if you know where to look.

~Fox News’ copies of Palin’s emails, Juneau, AK.  Photo by ‘Mudflatter D.’

By Jeanne Devon

Well, the day we’ve been waiting for has arrived. It only took (looks at watch) two years and change. I refer of course to the emails to and from Sarah Palin that were requested by individuals and news organizations to give them some insight into who this virtually unknown vice presidential candidate was – that which is known today as “The Palin Email Dump.”

Well, with all the information now out there, I’m retroactively confident in my choice not to have voted for her. Phew.

The state of Alaska, of course, lamented about how hard all this was. There were a lot of emails, and it took a long time to read them all, and go through, and sort and stack and copy, and on and on…

But seriously, folks. This is the 21st century, right? In the world of document processing, the Palin email project is nothing. Thirty thousand documents? What was the holdup?

The State of Alaska did not have the software to do the job.  What they do have can’t remove duplicates, can’t run word searches for “hot” terms, and can’t cluster similar emails.  The entire project was being done MANUALLY. For you youngsters, that’s a term that means “by hand.”

Now, in the State’s defense, it probably didn’t think it would ever have to deal with these types of large requests.  How could it possibly have foreseen the nightmare that was the Palin administration, and all the fallout that would ensue?  To equip the Department of Law with the proper software would have been expensive.  It doesn’t make sense to do it, if we make the hopeful assumption that we will never again end up with a “Palin” in office here.  The state thought it wouldn’t get a good return on its investment, and we all hope they were right.

But , this raises a question.  Why wasn’t this work, like much of the State’s legal work, farmed out to a private firm that has the software, a dedicated server and contract attorneys to do the work?  This kind of work could be charged by the amount of information being processed, rather than by the hour, and would likely be far less expensive than having a team of “Bob Cratchits” with quill pens and ledgers and candles doing this work manually for over two years. I’ve been wondering about this since October of 2009, and during delay after delay by the state.

The contract attorneys would be dedicated to this one job until it was done. They would not be subjected to being pulled off the job to work on other things like state employees are. And the contract attorneys would be subject to the same confidentiality as the attorneys in the Dept of Law.  Everything is still privileged information.  According to attorneys in the know, it’s a pretty typical solution for any sort of legal issue involving huge amounts of electronic documents such as these. With better software, the work could be done relatively quickly.  21,000 emails is nothing when you have good software and experienced people, and would take days or maybe weeks to complete, but not over a year, with no end in sight.

So, why when the State is clearly unable to handle this type of request in a timely manner, and why when cases like this are routinely farmed out to those who can handle them quickly and are subject to confidentiality, is this being done manually by attorneys within the Department of Law who Jones claims are being pulled away from other projects?

Good question, a year and a half later.

But today, all that is water under the bridge. It’s “Dump Day” in Juneau, and the emails are released! The media is all over them like winter ravens on a Wendy’s dumpster. Sarah Palin herself says there will be nothing to find, and that “every stone” has been turned over, but was quick to add that whatever anyone does find will surely be taken “out of context.”

As someone who has survived the dubious task of actually reading through tens of thousands of Sarah Palin’s emails, I can hold my hand on my heart and tell the media I know what they are going through. My life is a Palin email dump. And I tell them, and you who are eagerly gobbling up morsels as they are ferreted out of the giant pile, that sadly the most telling thing about this new dump of Palin emails is not what anyone is going to find, it’s what they are not going to find.

The emails are being put online now by the Washington Post HERE. Next to the .pdf download it says “Full text of Sarah Palin’s emails during her time as Governor of Alaska.” Wishful thinking.

First of all, these emails only include those that were sent to or from a government email account. This is exactly why those in her “inner circle” did not use government accounts for much of their communication. Yahoo accounts are private and not subject to open records laws. This is convenient if you don’t want people to know what you are doing, as was the typical modus operandi of the “open and transparent” Palin administration.

Second, the “full text” of the emails does not include things which are redacted because of executive privilege, deliberative process, or if they contain items of a personal nature like a phone number. These things are understandable. There are things that would be harmful to the state if they were revealed in a public way, and although there are those that would love to know, I can personally do without knowing what toothpaste is used in the Palin household, or all about what they had for dinner last night at Taco Bell. I’m also willing to concede that despite how fun it might be, it’s probably not a good idea to call Sean Parnell at home and ask him if his refrigerator is running.

So, let’s have a look at the list of those emails that we don’t get to see, and the explanation (which we are owed) as to why we don’t get to see them.  HERE is a link to what is called the “Privilege Log” that will tell us that information.

What the privilege log tells us is that thousands of emails were either withheld or redacted.  Out of 14,482 emails, more than 2,300 had sections redacted, and more than 950 were completely withheld. And what did these emails contain? Some of them had to do with big state secrets like the Anchorage Daily News’ gossip column, The Ear. Others had to do with outspoken Palin critic, and former opponent Andrew Halcro. One cited the Alaska Constitution and its right to privacy to withhold an email over a “child custody issue.”  Did that have anything to do with Troopergate and the custody issue involving her ex-brother-in-law Mike Wooten and why she wanted him fired? Why would it be necessary to redact an email about the Alaska Railroad’s use of pesticides? Or one about a letter to the editor? Or contact from shady real estate developer Bob Penney?  The Bridge to Nowhere? Aerial wolf hunting? A proclamation about flu shots? The polar bear and its listing under the Endangered Species Act?

Why is an email being redacted for “deliberative process” when the subject is “Miss America”?

These are things that we will presumably never know.

Many of the emails on the list actually appear not to comply with the law. They do not have a summary explaining to us why they are being withheld in the first place. And why do we have the legal right to know this? Because they are OUR emails. As difficult as it may be to remember, Palin and crew actually worked for us.

Will any of these media outlets or private individuals challenge these witholdings and demand that they be released? How many relevant documents are wrongfully being withheld under the cloak of “executive privilege”? Does the Parnell administration have an interest in keeping information from the public that we have a right to know?

Look here:

An email has been withheld for reasons of deliberative process that was sent by the governor to Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles, and aides Meg Stapleton and Kris Perry, copied to state employees Sharon Leighow, John Bitney and Christopher Clark, AND…. private citizen and employee of BP Exploration, Todd Palin.

Guess what? As soon as a private citizen is copied on a state email, all rights of privilege go out the window. Todd Palin is a private citizen just like you and me. It is not allowable for the chief executive to pick and choose which private citizens get to be included in these communications and which do not. If it’s good for one, then it’s legally good for all. Oh, right. The Alaska Courts think otherwise. Todd’s a “consultant.” But he’s NOT a state employee when it comes to Troopergate and matters of his depositions in that regard. He’s kind of like Dick Cheney, morphing his status as it suits the purpose. Great.

So, Happy Dump Day, America. Enjoy the show, and indulge your inner forensic voyeur. But remember, you are seeing what you have been allowed to see, and the notion of open and transparent government is the issue. We need news organizations to challenge that which is being wrongfully withheld from the public. And we need our courts to say that it is not OK that state business, the business of the people, is conducted via means that allow it to be concealed from us.

By Linda Kellen Biegel

I watched a piece last night on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” that was good overall. It was about Palin’s bus-to-nowhere tour:

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

I was pleased that O’Donnell pointed out the potential illegalities involved in using her SarahPAC money, regulated by the Federal Election Committee, on a “family vacation” rather than on a campaign. At one point, he even mentions that the media doesn’t report on such things because frankly they generally don’t understand them.

That statement proved to be ironic.

O’Donnell then brought out Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin, co-author of “Game Change”–an analysis of the 2008 presidential campaign. He introduced Halperin with these words:

(6:09)

“Now Mark you in “Game Change” the book you co-authored with Jack Heilemann…you studied Palin and the Palin Campaign very, very closely. Your camera, in effect, went in closer than anyone ever has in that world.”

The two men proceed to banter back and forth on whether they think Palin is going to run in 2012. Later on, O’Donnell gives Halperin even more praise for his alleged “expertise” on the subject of Sarah Palin:

(7:27)

“What I like about this, Mark, is that you’ve actually dug into her very closely and thought about the details of her history that you know and that you’ve worked on discovering.”

When O’Donnell stated his belief that Palin quitting her Governor’s job in Alaska killed any chances she has at the presidency, Halperin responds:

(8:22)

“…and she quit the Governorship — I’m not here as an apologist for her — she quit the Governorship because under the laws of the state, her family was going to be bankrupt by litigation and public records requests and she wasn’t interested in doing that.”

This from the mouth of a much-touted “Sarah Palin expert?”

I refer Mr. Halperin to Chapter 25 of the Alaska Statutes: Public Record Disclosures. I refer him there because that chapter makes it abundantly clear that NO GOVERNOR must delve into HIS OR HER PERSONAL FINANCES to satisfy a request for State of Alaska public records.

Actually, as a paid MSNBC commentator, Mr. Halperin would not even need to do that simple bit of research himself. He would only have to pick up the phone and call fellow-employee Bill Dedman who wrote about the first release of emails to satisfy one of the requests for records made by MSNBC itself. (As another wave of emails is about to hit MSNBC, learning the ins-and-outs of Alaska public records law should be especially simple.)

Secondly, if Mr. Halperin would have EVER bothered to speak to State officials or even those of us who filed an ethics complaint against Palin, we could tell him that there is NO NECESSITY for a lawyer to either file OR respond to a complaint stemming from the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Not only that, far-and-away the most expensive ethics complaint for the State of Alaska (and it can be assumed, Palin as well) was the one she filed against herself to try and circumvent the Troopergate investigation started by a unanimous vote of the Alaska Legislative Council. Not only did she hire her own lawyer, Thomas Van Flein regularly acted as a spokesperson on the right-wing radio circuit, making the rounds sometimes multiple times a week.

That couldn’t be cheap.

Mr. Halperin also needs to understand is that “coincidentally,” around the same time she announced she was quitting, Sarah Palin discovered that an investigation determined there was “probable cause” that Palin’s “Alaska Fund Trust” Legal Defense Fund possibly violated the law. (A second investigator made the same determination and she had to return the money.)

I know I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, but I still become flummoxed when I see how readily the media regurgitates the lies Palin spoon feeds to them, even if they aren’t fans. This isn’t the first time I’ve rolled my eyes over something Halperin has said, but it is the first time I’ve stayed up until 2:00 am to finish a rebuttal.

Of course, this is just another reason to buy “Blind Allegiance” written by the true Palin expert(s)!

Well, Mudflatters, this day has been a long time coming, but I’m happy to say it’s now official. Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin, the book by Palin insider Frank Bailey, award-winning author (and Mudflats contributor) Ken Morris, and yours truly (Jeanne Devon) will at last be a reality and is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com! Click HERE.

It’s been almost two years of ups and downs, reading tens of thousands of emails, writing, editing, and some unforeseen drama… but the end result is very much worth it. I couldn’t be happier at having had the opportunity to meet and work with two amazing men in this project. It is, I believe, an important work, and has not only laid bare some stark and heretofore unknown realities of life in Palin’s inner sanctum, but brought together an unlikely team from both sides of the aisle who worked with a singular focus to bring the story to light.

So, send that sucker to the top of the Amazon charts by pre-ordering right now. It will make an awesome Memorial Day gift for those hard to buy for people on your list. And think of the adoring crowd that will gather around your beach blanket when they see you with this summer’s hottest read.

HOWARD BOOKS TO RELEASE BLIND ALLEGIANCE TO SARAH PALIN BY TRUSTED “INSIDER” FRANK BAILEY.

{NASHVILLE, April 14, 2011} Howard Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced today that on May 24^th it will publish Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin, one of the most-anticipated books about Sarah Palin in recent history. This explosive, up-close view of Sarah Palin comes from an inner-circle confidant and unmasks the truth about one of the most notorious political figures of our time.

Frank Bailey was close to Palin during her gubernatorial campaign, throughout her term as governor of Alaska, and during her vice presidential run with John McCain. Bailey shared Palin’s stated political and religious views, believing she would be the best thing that ever happened to the State of Alaska and potentially the White House.  In his role, he had unfettered access to Palin and shares surprising information about how she dealt with staff, with perceived “enemies,” and the discrepancy between what she said and what she did. Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin is a chilling exposé of Palin and the story of one man’s slow drift from his most cherished beliefs to his ultimate redemption – sure to strike a chord with readers from both sides of the aisle.

“I write because I am convinced that Sarah’s priorities and personality are not only ill-suited to head a political party or occupy national office, but would lead to a disaster of, well, biblical proportions,” said Bailey.

By Ken Morris, co-author of Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin, A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years

Mudflats Friends:

When I first appeared on Jeanne’s ground-breaking pages well over one year ago, I wrote about participating in the eBay auction to buy a meal with Sarah Palin to benefit a worthy veterans’ charity. A short time later, after losing that auction to what looked like a rigged bid, I then offered through Mudflats an additional $200,000 to that charity if Sarah would answer civil question over a second meal, on the record, with the likes or Jeanne, Rachel Maddow, Shannyn Moore, and Keith Olbermann.

While I waited in vain for an answer from your ex-governor, I managed to contact Frank Bailey and his wonderful wife Neen. Over fourteen months ago, after substantive dialogue, we decided to pursue a memoir. Two months later, I realized I needed Jeanne Devon to help me navigate the million details of Alaskan politics and personalities. I invited (actually, demanded) she join the team. Frank balked at first. After all, he’s conservative and she’s a liberal blogger. I insisted they meet or I’d walk away from the project. Well, no surprise, he embraced her inclusion after only a second cup of coffee.

For over a year—that’s right, friends, over a year—we worked in silence. We spent countless hours (on my end, upwards of 70 hours per week) constructing what we believed was an important book, based on documented truth. Within the last month, we finished a marketable draft. Not a final draft–we anticipate changes, both additions and deletions–but something that our agent believed would result in substantial interest in the publishing world. You can imagine our joy.

Then the manuscript was sent out, illegally, to the media. Why? Good question (Jeanne and I have discussed writing-up this disturbing story-behind-the-story with its ethics be damned. New Yorker, are you interested? Rolling Stone?).

With permission from my legal team, Jeanne and I decided to post what is known as a Cease and Desist order. And while there are many other unnamed parties who have engaged in unethical behavior and violated copyright law (you should be ashamed of yourselves), this is the most shocking.

What is written below includes only part of what we sent to this now-officially-named individual, but is, I believe, self-explanatory. A similar letter is going out to those we have identified as also unlawfully reproducing portions of our work. I guess you can say we are not rolling over, and for those who ignore law and morality, we are not going away:

BONFANTE STEINBECK, A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORPORATION

February 20, 2011

SENDER INFORMATION:

Ken Morris, Frank Bailey and Jeanne Devon

RECIPIENT INFORMATION:
Joe McGinniss
RE: COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Dear Sir:

I write on behalf of Ken Morris, Frank Bailey and Jeanne Devon (collectively, the “Copyright Owners”). The Copyright Owners are co-owners of the copyright in the unpublished manuscript entitled “Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of our Tumultuous Years” (the “Work”).

Between February 16, 2011 and February 18, 2011 you were the recipient of an unlawfully distributed version of the Work. Although you knew that the Work was (i) distributed to you in strict confidence, and (ii) an unpublished manuscript, you choose to unlawfully distribute the Work to multiple news outlets, bloggers, political activists, and any one else you felt might be interested.

As a result of your actions, hundreds of articles and blogs have been published detailing the Work. Some of the publications have summarized the Work in great detail, and others have reproduced the Work’s content verbatim. As an author, you are well aware that your actions have significantly impaired the Copyright Owners ability to market the book….

…The Copyright Owners believe your actions were done with the single intent of destroying the marketability of the Work. It is no secret that you are writing your own “tell-all” book about Sarah Palin. By releasing the Work prior to publication, you have limited the actual interest in the Work and thereby salvaged the marketability of your own book. This matter appears to be no more than that of a jealous author sabotaging a competitor via unlawful and unscrupulous means.

The Copyright Owners are currently reviewing their legal options and I can assure this is not the last time you will hear from them. Besides showing an utter lack of professionalism, you have, at a minimum, willfully caused significant damages by engaging in unfair competition and violations of copyright law. In order to minimize the damages caused by your actions, the Copyright Owners hereby demand that you cease and desist from distributing any portion of the Work. Additionally, the Copyright Owners demand that you provide a full list of the parties to whom you distributed the Work.

This letter is not intended as, and may not be construed to be, a complete recitation of the facts or circumstances connected with this matter. Furthermore, any statement contained in this letter is not intended as, and may not be construed to be, a waiver or relinquishment of any of the Copyright Owners’ rights or remedies under law, all of which the Copyright Owners hereby expressly reserve.

Please feel free to contact me to discuss this matter further.

Sincerely,

Dean M. Steinbeck

Yes, it’s true. One of our most favorite villains in the never ending Palin drama is leaving the Great Land. And I have to admit, as much as I’d like to tell him not to let the door hit him on the way out of the state, the dramatist in me is just a little sad to see him go. *sniffle*

So, grab your li’l white hankies and join with me by the train tracks as we bid a not-so-fond farewell to Thomas Van Flein, who has been playing the recurring part of Snidely Whiplash in our little Palin melodrama for lo these many years. Unlike many of those on the other end of the Palin legal apparatus, he isn’t tied to the train tracks, but is snuggled up in the posh car with his feet up, smoking a stogie. As the locomotive chugs away from Anchorage and on to Washington, D.C. he touches his fingertips together and blows smoke rings.

And what has lured our archetypal villain away from our little story?

According to The Ear, he’s taken a year long leave of absence from his law firm, and is headed to the nation’s capital to continue his Snidely ways working for a new congressman from one of the only states that can give Alaska a run for its wingnut money – Arizona.  He’ll be the legislative director and Deputy Chief of Staff for Palin endorsed Arizona congressman Paul Gosar.

Paul stands firmly behind Governor Jan Brewer’s efforts to protect Arizonans, and the rest of us for that matter, by securing the border. He’s endorsed by three of Arizona’s leading sheriffs because they know America needs Dr. Paul Gosar to hold Washington accountable on this imperative national security issue.

“Mr. Gosar, build up that wall!“  With like minded souls like Jan Brewer, Sherrif Arpaio, and Sarah Palin on the philosophical team, sounds like Mr. Whiplash will have a grand old time.

“I look forward to working with him in Washington and ensuring that we listen to the American people and work to uphold the principles that make this country great,” Gosar said.

Yeah, right. Listen to the American people. Uphold principles. Whatever.

It’s likely that Mr. Van Flein having done his due diligence for the half-ex-governor is ready to flee the coop. He’s already reaped the rich rewards of his altruism to serve the American people and Alaska, and has walked away with something that has only served to strengthen his dedicated and selfless resolve to serve from the heart, for the good of his nation.  It’s a collection of paper renditions of U.S. presidents and founding fathers. Come on! If that’s not patriotic, I don’t know what is.

For those of you who want a sentimenal refresher about Mr. Van Flein, you may remember his fine Snidely Whiplash performance after Todd Palin and seven state employees were found guilty of contempt of the legislature for ignoring subpoenas to testify in the Branchflower Troopergate inquiry. Click HERE.

And who could forget his appearance at the press conference where we learned that Palin’s legal defense fund…. wasn’t. Click HERE.

Ah, the memories. (dabs eyes with hanky)

As for those he leaves behind, no word yet on who will replace him in his coveted role as the Palins’ personal attorney and confidante. Although, I do understand that her old friend Joe Miller may be available for service shortly.

By Linda Kellen Biegel

Sarah Palin’s accusations regarding the “Liberal, Lamestream Media” being “out to get her” are no secret, especially after publication of her first work of fiction, “Going Rogue.” However, there is a less-published (by credible sources) accusation that goes like this: There is a so-called “Alaska Mafia” of Democrats who take orders directly from their leader in DC, President Barack Obama. They joined forces with various high-ranking Alaska Democratic politicians to drive her out of the Governor’s office. Even now they are (allegedly) still after her, plotting and scheming.

Sounds insane, right? People have sent us emails here at Mudflats when the craziness has cropped up across the web. We’ve looked…we’ve laughed…we’ve even published one of the videos on our respective blogs.

However, as ex-Alaskan Pete Rouse assumes the job of White House Chief of Staff, it seems that Palin’s Alaska wackiness has been elevated to the level of a White House press briefing:

The Anchorage Daily News Politics Blog answered the voter registration question already. It’s this part that gets me:

TAPPER: OK. And Governor Palin, former Governor Palin has insinuated that Rouse — she suspected Rouse was part of a plot against her. She wrote about this in her book. She’s tweeted about it — tweeted suggestions about this recently. I was just wondering if you guys have any comment on that.

GIBBS: No. I mean, you know, it — it’s a fairly silly accusation that is baseless.

TAPPER: So he has — he had nothing to do with any of the attacks against…

GIBBS: No.

TAPPER: OK. Thank you.

So, Palin’s pack-of-lies from that pile-of-parrot-droppings called “her book” were being treated as credible by at least one reporter? Once again, reality loses out to Palin spin because we luuuuuve a good conspiracy theory!

“Reality” is represented by the photo above of the “Impeach Palin” signs found all over downtown in 2009. I was amazed the first time I saw one, knowing how frightened many people were (and still are) to cross the Palins. I researched into it and discovered that these signs weren’t part of any Democratic conspiracy…no “Alaska Mafia” provided funds. These signs were bought and paid for by a hardcore conservative Obama-disliking Republican who realized that Palin was NOT out for the good of Alaska but for the good of her own fame and fortune. When I spoke to him over a year ago, he informed me that his like-minded friends and former Palin supporters had been dropping like flies from her “fan club” after seeing the way she had been ignoring her duties and treating her state. That was when Palin was spending a great amount of time out of state at self-aggrandizing events. That was the time the Legislature rejected a key Palin appointment, when it was clear she had lost the majority of the Legislature, key Republicans who were former supporters as well as Democrats. (Who later overrode her veto of the stimulus money.) That was also when Palin’s numbers in the Hays poll went from a whopping 80+% favorable in 2008 to a 53% in May 2009 and bottoming out at 46.8% favorable and 47% unfavorable in July 2009 – right about “quitting time.”

Our sign-buyer couldn’t take it anymore and spent his hard-earned money to make a point.

Here’s the reaction on July 23rd, after she announced she was quitting:

No “Alaska Mafia” did that to Sarah Palin, she did it to herself.

But facts are so limiting and they often are too boring to make good stories.  So, in comes the Palin spin, which actually found an audience beyond her devotees during her book tour. That evil “Lamestream Media” in the form of a Time Magazine Cover Story about her quitting and then again in their blog Swampland back in July of 2009, repeated Palin’s accusations from the book. They even got a response from Press Secretary Gibbs:

Palin and her Alaska circle find evidence for their suspicions about the White House in the person of Pete Rouse, who lived in Juneau for a time before he became chief of staff to a young U.S. Senator named Barack Obama. Rouse, they note, is a friend of former Alaska state senator Kim Elton, who pushed the first ethics investigation of Palin, examining her controversial firing of the state’s public-safety commissioner. Both Rouse and Elton have joined the Obama Administration. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs scoffed at the theory. “The charge is ridiculous,” he said. “Obviously there is no effort … From my vantage point, a lot of the criticism she is getting from others seems to be generated from self-inflicted wounds.

However, the blog went beyond that by printing an interview with then-spokesperson Meg Stapleton:

Meg went a step further at one point telling me, “I just hope to God Rahm Emanuel isn’t using taxpayer money to come after Alaska.” That’s the way they think about it: that these Alaskans filing ethics complaints have been hoodwinked by Obama operatives into wasting the Alaskan government’s time and resources.

Are you kidding me?

This whole thing is so simple to research it’s ridiculous. I find it amazing how Time Magazine, that pillar of journalistic ethics, didn’t actually talk to someone about such a serious accusation as using federal money to “come after Alaska.” They also didn’t deem it important enough to contact one of the people being smeared by these lies like, say, someone who actually filed a complaint!

Palin and her blogger minions keep repeating these fantasies to the press. They have even helped to expand on these falsehoods through unintentionally amusing videos. Of that alleged “Alaska Mafia,” it seems that Jeanne Devon, Shannyn Moore and…well…yours truly are three of their favorite targets. (Ohmygosh…there’s three of us…and we’re women…that must mean…):

MACBETH!

This video is more humorous than anything but highlights some of the recurring lies – not only do they claim we were “organized” by the Obama Camp but that we were also paid.

Oh, if that were only true…I’ve never received a dime from any famous billionaires, Alaska politicians…public figures of any kind. However, I am perfectly willing to negotiate!

Of course, it seems that many of the now-Palin blogs, shall we say, “came to being” at the same time McCain supporters were providing the means. It’s an effective Rovian technique to accuse the other guy of doing something that you’ve already done.

The latest video isn’t humorous, so it’s only irritating. It makes tons of inaccurate assumptions and inferences based on how many of us know each other and IT USES MY PHOTOS!

This video was made for and by folks who know nothing about Alaska.

1) Probably the biggest lie perpetrated by these people is the one about Senator Kim Elton. According to the Palinista lore, he started “Troopergate” at the behest of the Obama Camp, and organized all of us against Palin. For that, he was supposedly given a spot in the Obama Administration.

There are several pretty large roadblocks to that EVER being true:

– The Calendar: The Alaska Legislative Council decided to investigate the Monegan firing on July 28, 2008, a full month before anyone had any inkling of a possible McCain tap – a month before Sarah Palin’s VP candidacy is revealed.

– AK Legislative Rules: Senator Kim Elton did not launch nor lead the “Troopergate” investigation. It was launched by the entire Legislative Council, which is bipartisan and, at the time, was made up of a majority of Republicans. It was led by a hired out-of-state special investigator, attorney Stephen Branchflower. The closest Senator to the investigation was Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hollis French.

2) Alaska has a grand total of about 600,000 people. Anchorage itself has about 300,000 folks and is the primary hub for many things, including air travel. I’ve always joked that if you want to meet Alaskan celebrities and politicians, just hang out at the Safeway/Carrs grocery store at Minnesota Drive. It’s the closest one to the airport and the closest one to the old-monied neighborhood of Turnagain (Hickel mansion, Sheffield mansion, etc…) I met the late musher and Alaskan hero Norman Vaughan there and have seen numerous politicians.

It’s just a fact…Alaskans tend to personally know their politicians. If they don’t, it’s not due to a lack of opportunity.

3) If you are a politically active Democrat in Anchorage, you have regular opportunities to meet ALL of your statewide politicians because this is also the fundraising hub for everyone, Democrat or Republican. Most of the pictures used in this video were from the Annual Statewide Dinner and fundraiser for the Democratic Party. Another series of photos was from a fundraiser for one of the 2009 Anchorage mayoral candidates held at Senator Begich’s house. Many of the Anchorage Democratic politicians have fundraisers for others in their homes…especially for the folks out in Rural Alaska.

Ooooh…how conspiratorial…

4) Regarding the “ethics complaints,” I am also the only Alaska blogger (that I know of) who filed an ethic’s complaint (Arctic Cat). Only two other registered Democrats (that I know of) filed ethics complaints – one each. The rest were all filed by Independents and Republicans. The Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, one of the most poorly written documents on the planet, is pretty vague in the “how to” department when it comes to writing a complaint. Therefore, the only way to really figure it out is contact someone who has previously filed one. I contacted Andree McLeod (Republican) when I decided I wanted to file a complaint to see if she had some sort of template I could use. Several other folks contacted me for the same reason. While there is some level of comradarie through our shared experience (think of circling the wagons), none of the filers I know are in the same social circles…especially during election season! (Remember, most filers were Republicans and unaffiliated.)

The most intriguing part about all of this Palin-Rouse paranoia is that those of us fully acquainted with Sarah Palin’s antics know that she doesn’t go seriously on the attack about something unless there is potential damage to her brand…and for Sarah, “on the attack” means incoherent ramblings on Twitter!

Alaska’s Pete Rouse (@ least he claims to be “Alaska”)finally comes out of the shadows; Obama looks to appt him COS;strange doings in the WH
11:44 AM Sep 22nd via Twitter for BlackBerry®

(Rahm’s the smart one…bailing before Nov) Now, check out possible COS Pete Rouse. His background, voter reg in AK,etc. It’s a small world
11:47 AM Sep 22nd via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Alaska media slept on the job for how many years re: Obama senior advisor Pete Rouse’s claim to be AK resident and “local” voter? For shame.
1,285,653,886,000.00 via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Wow! Three whole tweets on the subject – this is serious! I wonder what Pete Rouse has (or what she thinks he has) on her?

Hmmmmm…

Sarah Palin’s famous neighbor is gone, and Alaska is a little emptier than before.  But before Joe McGinniss took off into the waning light of the late Alaskan summer and back to the East coast, I had the opportunity to sit down with him and talk about his book.  No, not that one – the new edition of his classic Alaskan adventure Going to Extremes which was originally published in 1980.

Like a nineteenth century flaneur (from the french to stroll, and meaning “a person who walks the city in order to experience it”) McGinniss traveled the state of Alaska experiencing places, and meeting  people, allowing the story of a state in transition to write itself through him.  McGinniss is as much street photographer as author, utilizing words as snapshots to tell a story that could have been told at no other time.  He was there when the oil flowed into the port of Valdez, and he wandered the Great Land during the rebellious rite of passage when Alaska transitioned from innocent childhood to wild adolescence, with the turn of a spigot.

He is back now, thirty years later, writing again. But this time he writes with a specific laser focus.  His book about Sarah Palin, with the working title Sarah Palin’s Year of Living Dangerously is quickly outgrowing its name.  McGinniss has conducted interviews across the state, while calling the house next door to his subject home for most of the summer.

From the advent of crude oil production, to the launching of Sarah Palin into the political stratosphere, McGinniss has chosen the two very different phenomena that, for good or ill, have most defined Alaska to Outsiders looking in.  Here is the first part of my conversation with Joe McGinniss.

*****************************

Mudflats: The thing that struck me in looking at your book is that it was like a time-lapse flip-book, but with all the middle pages missing, where you see one tiny sliver in time in the past that was so unique…

McGinniss: Right

Mudflats: And I’ve lived here for twenty years, and I think that this sliver of time now is also unique – it’s also transitional.  I look at your visit now as if you went to a reunion, and you met an old lover or an old classmate, and the difference between what you expected them to be when they were in High School and what they’ve actually turned out to be.  Do you have any thoughts on that?

McGinniss: Well, that’s a good comparison because Alaska was 16 years old as a state when I was out here.  I came out here when it was 16, and now it’s 51 – so of course, it’s like going back to the reunion.  Actually, a couple people who were here then said it’s like going back through your high school yearbook, and saying “Oh, remember that guy?  Remember them? I remember that – that crazy time we did such and such.”

Except for politically, and that’s a huge exception, it’s somewhat more subtle now.  Oil and the money was just starting to pour in, and there hadn’t been any money before that.  It was a tough place to make a living.  And then, all of a sudden, whatever job you have, you can quit it tomorrow and get hired in some capacity by something connected to the pipeline, and be making three times your former salary – at least.  And who wouldn’t do that?

Now, the oil is so entrenched, and the oil – even more than the federal government – is the source of Alaska’s nourishment economically.  It’s just taken for granted now that this is a colony of Big Oil.  They extract, and they leave behind enough for people to live on here, and that’s been the way it’s been since the oil started to flow.  1977 was the start of the oil coming out of Valdez, so for thirty-three years it’s been like that, and everybody’s taking that for granted – and the Permanent Fund and all the other nice things.  But now the oil is starting to diminish.  The pipeline is at less than one third of what it was, and Prudhoe Bay in ten years will be defunct unless there’s a natural gas line starting from up there, which it doesn’t look like there’s going to be… at least not through AGIA.

And so now it’s another transition.  And now anyone who cares is going to have to start thinking about a post-oil economy, and what that’s going to be.  I don’t think anyone has really sat down and tried to sketch that out yet.

Mudflats: What do you think it’s going to be?

McGinniss: Well, the way things are going right now it’s going to no longer be a state.

Mudflats: (laughs)  The independent nation of Alaska?

McGinniss:  The Independent Republic of Alaska – and we can have Joe Miller as King and Sarah Palin as Queen… although she wouldn’t settle for being Queen of Alaska.  She didn’t even like being Governor.  She has higher ambitions, obviously.

But, I don’t know what it’s going to be.  It was fairly predictable, what it was going to be thirty years ago, because you could see that the essence of Alaska was going to be oil for the foreseeable future.  Well, now we’re almost at the end of the foreseeable future, and now there’s the unforeseeable future for the next thirty years, and I dont’ know that anybody has an idea.  And I don’t know that anybody in state government has really been addressing that, because the legislature worries about this year and next year, and getting re-elected and there’s not much long-term planning going on.

Mudflats: I agree.

McGinniss: And there will be a constant fight for “Can we exploit this? Can we develop that?”   Can we do Pebble Mine?  That’ll be a big one.  Can we do ANWR? That’ll be something.  Can we build a gas line?

But suppose the answer to all those things is no.  What replaces this huge cash flow, and especially if you have a Senator who’s going to act to block federal money from coming in to Alaska.  All of a sudden the spigots are going to be turned off, and there could be a shock one day where you wake up and say, “Hey, how do we make any money any more?”  Tourism isn’t going to be enough.

Mudflats: And I don’t think you can go back.  You can’t unring a bell, and say that Alaska will be just like it was before the oil came.

McGinniss: No, no, never.  Because the state of mind is different now, and the people who make up the population are very different from who they were then.  Most of them then, if they weren’t just coming in, like a lot of the people I wrote about who were coming in because of the oil – like the guy on the ferry who was going to get a pipeline job but he didn’t realize that the pipeline would be finished before he could qualify for work …  It was like the gold rush, only it was the oil rush.

And a lot of those people stayed.  And now they make up a large portion of the population of Wasilla, and the Valley and even Anchorage.  But there’s still that vast vast majority of it that is untouchable for various reasons, and will still be as beautiful as it ever was… but if you don’t have a job with an energy company, and you’re not working for the state or federal government, what are you going to do to earn a living ten years from now?  It’s not even thirty years from now, because if there’s no oil left in Prudhoe, what’s going to replace that?  Even the gas line wouldn’t replace that in terms of its long-term impact.

Mudflats: And you can hope for vibrant tourism and fishing…

McGinniss: Well, fishing is fishing until you start to destroy all the fish and fish habitat, but tourism with the overall national economy… tourism is going to continue to decline because people just can’t afford to come here.  I don’t know what the percentage is with cruise ships compared to two years ago, but it’s taken a big hit.

Driving back and forth to Fairbanks a couple times, I still see dozens, or hundreds of these cruise ship buses, taking people up to their pre-arranged places – Glitter Gulch, or a stop in Talkeetna, but there were obviously more of them two years ago than there are now.

But I don’t have to worry about that because my focus is more specific this time.  Thirty years ago, I would love to sit around and talk to people about what Alaska is going to be, because that’s what I was trying to figure out – what it was, and what it might become.

Now, I have a narrower focus.  In fact my focus is on somebody who has now decided that Alaska doesn’t really matter any more.  It certainly doesn’t matter to her.

Mudflats:  And yet now, this person has come to define Alaska to the Lower 48, which is ironic I guess…

McGinniss: Well, yeah.  It’s ironic in that she put Alaska on the national map, and then she took herself out of Alaska.  And she still uses all these Alaska metaphors in her talks, but she has really nothing to do with life in Alaska today and she spends as much time as possible out of the state because, you know, her goal is pretty clear.  It’s Washington, not Juneau.

Mudflats: She went to Juneau??

McGinniss: (laughs) I understand that she had a tanning bed installed in the Governor’s mansion, so maybe that was just for Bristol and Willow, I don’t know…

Mudflats: When you came back for the first time after so long, did you feel nostalgic? Did you feel that Alaska had done well for itself? Did you feel a little sad? What was your visceral first reaction?

McGinniss: Oh, I just felt happy getting back.  It was the first time since 1980.  It was 2008, I got here the day before election day, and just in time to see the Petumenos Report delivered, contradicting the Branchflower Report on election eve.

Mudflats: You know how to time your visits, don’t you.

McGinniss: I checked in to the Captain Cook Hotel.

Mudflats: It’s still mustard-colored. I laughed when I read that description in the book.

McGinniss: The color of bad mustard.  They haven’t re-painted it.  Now it’s become distinctive – sort of emblematic.  Then, it was just ugly.

But yeah, there we have, in the basement, this report exhonorating Sarah Palin on election eve.  And it didn’t make any difference at that point nobody in the country cared about Troopergate. Things had moved along, but …

I was just so happy to be back.  And I went up to Kotzebue, where I’d never even been before, and I got to Juneau and I saw places like that that could have certainly been that way 30 years ago.  There wasn’t a whole lot of change to Kotzebue.  And there wasn’t even a whole lot of change to Juneau.  I’m sure in the summer with the cruise ships, it’s a much more crowded place, but being there in November without the Legislature and without the tourists, it could have been 1976 all over again.  There’s been some growth out by the airport and  by the Mendenhall Glacier, but Juneau like Homer is very much the place it was, and those are the places that I love – not so much Wasilla which is really the most un-Alaskan part of Alaska.  That strip in Wasilla – those three or four miles – you could be in Orange County, California.

More to come.

Going to Extremes is available for purchase HERE.