Sarah Palin Ethics Report

Well, talk about a mountain out of a molehill: the ethic's report states that Palin violated ethics laws because, under Alaska law, any decisions that give the appearance of personal gain can be considered an ethics violation. Thus, it was not a problem for her to fire the safety commissioner for the state-- that was her right as governor-- but supposedly it was a problem for her to request that her former brother-in-law be fired.

The report also states that it could not confirm that the former brother-in-law made any threats against the Palin family. Isn't this the same trooper who used a Taser on a pre-teen and drove a patrol car drunk? Um, yeah, okay, whatever.

Jules Crittendon sums up well:

The actual finding in the report linked above, by the way, is that she violated an Alaska statute that states any public official’s action that benefits a personal or financial interest is a violation of public trust with regard to the trooper.

Sounds like an ethics law you could use to indict a ham sandwich, though I didn’t notice any mention of penalties in the discussion of the law in the report. There’s also, of course, the question of whether a state trooper who is making threats and behaving erratically … you know, tasering children … is more than just a personal interest for someone who is ultimately responsible for the public safety of all Alaskans. Unclear whether the august panel mulled that.

[...]

Anyway, the hacks’ finding regarding the commissioner’s firing is that while the trooper issue played a role, so did other factors actually cited by Palin. It specifically states his firing was a “proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory [authority].”

And no, this issue is not about the right to life or abortion. However, it shows, yet again, how far some Democratic strategists and supporters are willing to go to undermine the Republican candidate and his running mate. This needs to change for the sake of the five million children who will die during the course of the next presidential administration.

h/t Sister Toldjah