In the quite riveting comments section on the best review of Going Rogue on the web, the following reader presents some basic conclusions about the ethics history of Palin. It's worth remembering since in the blizzard of charge and counter-charge, we can forget what we actually already know:
All of the following can be found and verified simply by googling:
1) Ms. Palin was found to have misused state funds for family travel expenses and was required to pay back $6,800 to the state. (Not addressed but probably more troubling ethically is the fact that Ms. Palin went back and amended travel expense reports to appear in compliance.)
2) Ms. Palin was found to have misused per diems on the amount of $17,000 and was required to pay back taxes of an unspecified amount including fines.
3) Ms. Palin’s Alaska Fund Trust was found to NOT be in compliance with the law. It was recommended that she dissolve the trust to stay in compliance (Or quit so that she could retain the money for herself?).
4) Ms. Palin was found guilty of abuse of power and ethics charges by the Branchflower investigation, a bipartisan (10 Republicans/4 Democrats) Senate investigation. Later, nine of her minions, including her husband, were cited for Contempt for failing to respond to the Senate investigation’s subpoena. Her attorney general, Talis Colberg, who gave her minions the advice that it was optional to obey the subpoena resigned in disgrace.
5) The most expensive ethics charge against Ms. Palin she filed on herself, the Personnel Board investigation of Troopergate which supposedly “exonerated” Ms. Palin.
In contrast to the Senate investigation, the Personnel Board consists of three people who are appointed by the governor (she appointed one herself) and can be removed by the governor. This report was also seriously flawed in many aspects, the most important was that a question of perjury (either by the governor or Mr. Moneghan) was never pursued.
6) A case which is currently ongoing involves Ms. Palin’s failure to recognize the Juneteenth celebration. Last August, a charge of state bribery against Palin was added to that case. I don’t know the status of the case but here is a link from last August:
7) There may be other ethics charges still pending but they may never come to the public’s awareness because the Personnel Board doesn’t have to make them public. In fact, the information on the AFT was leaked to the public who may have never known otherwise that her trust was illegal according to state law.
“Settling” and “dismissing” an ethics charge mean two different things ethically…..a difference that Ms. Palin and her fans apparently have trouble discriminating. BTW….Ms. Palin herself was responsible for putting in place these ethics laws and told Alaskans to “hold her accountable.” Why did she feel victimized when they took her at her word? Very troubling.