State Public Integrity Chair Resigns, Integrity Left Long Ago

Today's news out of Albany, besides that of rules "reform" in the Senate was the resignation of John Feerick. Feerick was the head of the Commission on Public Integrity in New York, an office possibly tainted in its own right. The problems stem from how then-Governor Spitzer may have used the office and those in it for his own ends during the Troopergate fiasco.

From NYT Cityroom:

The commission, which oversees ethics and lobbying rules in Albany, announced the surprise resignation on Monday afternoon. The commission is mired in an investigation by the state inspector general.

Inspector General Joseph Fisch has been examining whether Herbert Teitelbaum, the commission’s executive director, or any other commission staff member improperly passed information to the staff of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in the midst of the so-called Troopergate scandal.

The commission has said nothing improper occurred.

What the commission says and what actually happened is still being determined by I.G. Joseph Fisch. Perhaps it was just best for Feerick to go because of the connections to the previous Administration. Whatever the case may be, health reasons or not, Feerick oddly left Spitzer alone during those innocent, pre-client #9 times. Finally, we'll be able to get closer to the end of that chapter of the Spitzer scandals.

Breaking News!!! Palin Exonerated By McCain!

That's right folks, doggone it the one and only Sarah Palin is not guilty of all charges, ya betcha! Before that official report comes out from the ultra-liberal, terrorist-lovin Alaska legislature (controlled by Republicans, but that isn't important here), the McCain campaign is here to tell you first that Sarah Palin had no personal vendetta. In fact, the real reason Monegan was fired because he was a bad, bad man who didn't listen to orders (no damnit, not the orders Sarah gave to repeatedly get rid of her ex-brother in law) and that there was a secret operation by her former gubernatorial opponent to attack the poor VP nominee.

From TPM:

Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law.[...]

The campaign's report instead blames former campaign opponent, Andrew Halcro, who has a blog, of conspiring with Wooten to pin Monegan's dismissal on the family's dispute with Wooten. Three days after Monegan was fired, they say, Wooten told his ex-wife, Palin's sister, that: "You guys are going down. Get ready for the show."

Two days after that confrontation, they say, Halcro and Wooten met at a hotel bar in Anchorage for more than three hours — and that evening, Halcro posted the first accusations on his blog that Monegan had been fired because of a vendetta against Wooten by the Palin family.

"It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger after drinks with Trooper Wooten led the legislature to allocate over $100,000 of public money to be spent in what has become a politically driven investigation," the 21-page report concludes.

Oh and all that stuff you heard in the media about the Palin family pressuring Monegan is purely partisan politics. And of course this hastly operated investigation by the McCain campaign has no bias in it whatsover because John McCain and Sarah Palin are a pair of bullshit artists Mavericks! Nevermind all those facts about the case and that the Governor made nearly fifty phone calls to Monegan and his secretary regarding the evil, evil Michael Wooten. She never said fire him (at least above her breath) directly so clearly she never said to fire him. Monegan was just so insubordinate that there was no way he could pick up on the giant hint she was laying on him to can that Trooper's hide. Oh yeah and all the other people involved that are talking to the press now, they've hated Sarah for years so there is absolutely no way for them to be telling the truth her. Even though every other sentence out of her mouth is a lie on the campaign trail, she's completely one hundred percent honest here, yes sir eee.

And finally, let me give you the weather forecast, a 40% chance of pigs flying and the gates of hell should release some fire and brimstone over __________ (insert Palin event location here) by the early afternoon.

Palin's Problem Isn't Debating, Its Still Troopergate

From the moment she was selected as McCain's running mate, she was preparing for the debate and anyone aware of that fact knew she would probably survive ninety minutes with Joe Biden. While the McCain campaign put in all that time cramming her full of talking points, they have also been hard at work trying to stall the justice system in Alaska. McCain lawyers have done all they can so that the truth about Palin and her trooper-gate fiasco does not make its way into broad daylight. Even worse than that, if the report due out next week is bad enough, it'll go to the State House for a possible impeachment inquiry. Despite the GOP's best efforts, justice is slowly but surely staying on course.

From CBS News:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) An Alaska judge on Thursday refused to block a state investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power when she fired her public safety commissioner this summer.

Judge Peter Michalski threw out the lawsuit filed by five Republican state legislators who said the investigation had been tainted by partisan politics and was being manipulated to damage Palin shortly before the Nov. 4 presidential election.

''It is legitimately within the scope of the legislature's investigatory power to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the termination (of) a public officer the legislature had previously confirmed,'' the judge wrote in his decision.

The probe is looking into whether Palin, who is the Republican vice presidential candidate, and others pressured Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce from Palin's sister, and then fired Monegan when he wouldn't dismiss the trooper. Palin says Monegan was ousted over budget disagreements.

The five Republican lawmakers had argued that the legislative body that ordered the investigation exceeded its authority. Their attorney, Kevin Clarkson, said the political bias was demonstrated by the plan of the Legislature's independent investigator to issue a report by Oct. 10 although the full legislature won't consider until reconvening in January.

So the real, impeach and convict stuff won't come until Barack Obama is in office, but the report will still be significant. Republicans will cry about partisanship no matter how independent the commission is, but voters will see through their whining. What counts is Palin's reputation and what the undecided public wants to do about that. She has been tanking ever since she stepped out on stage with McCain. While last night helped stem the bleeding, a report showing that she abused the Governor's office for her own personal vengeance will open that wound up quicker than a vat of blood thinners.

Anonymous Hackers For Sarah Palin!

I would think that most hackers (those that aren't counter-attackers that work for corporations) tend to go beyond party politics and into the land of anarchy for their views on government. So when the Anonymous hacker got a hold of Sarah Palin's private email accounts it seemed that they were beginning to dabble in the mainstream and help expose Palin for the secretive corrupt politician that she is. Yet that would be wrong, because what this hacker did could possibly screw up the investigation into her illegal activities surrounding troopergate. Already, we can see the McCain campaign playing along and almost hear the laughter through the words.

From Wired:

The internet griefers known as Anonymous took credit for the intrusion, and screenshots of e-mail messages and photos belonging to the Alaska governor have been published by WikiLeaks. Threat Level has confirmed the authenticity of at least one of the e-mails.

"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law," Rick Davis, McCain-Palin campaign manager said in a statement. "The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

FBI spokesman Brian Hale said, "The FBI is aware of the alleged hacking incident involving Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and is coordinating with the United States Secret Service on the matter."

While the story addresses her penchant for using her private email account for government business, that isn't breaking news. We already know she's a Dick Cheney admirer. It is clear that she will be more of the same just as her Presidential running mate John McSame McCain. The thing about those emails is that they are part of the investigation into her actions concerning troopergate.

With subpoenas being issued (whether or not they are adhered to is a different matter entirely) it is important to keep that information intact and not in the hands of the Secret Service or FBI. Already, Palin has deleted the accounts and wiped out any pertinent information. Now Time reports that the Feds had already gone in to one of the accounts, but now the evidence is destroyed and who knows how far along they were in going through her files.

And really, what did those screenshots prove anyway? What earth-shattering information did Anonymous give us in exchange for Palin deleting the accounts? Political calculations with her Lt. Gov and praying with an aide are not shocking news when it comes to Palin or any GOP politico. The group should stick to fighting Scientology and keep their hands out of the election. If for any reason, that at least one of their members can not be trusted with what the collective does.

Walt Monegan Comes Forward About Palin's Crusade Against Him

After promising to cooperate with the investigation into her abuse of power as Governor, Sarah Palin is now backpedaling away from justice. She thought she could stall the bipartisan investigation but neither Republicans nor Democrats in Alaska are budging. So when she started running away from being held accountable, the fired commissioner that is at the center of this scandal has decided to speak to Rachel Maddow about what went on.