I signed up for updates about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s political action committee — SarahPAC — when it was formed a few months ago. From time to time they’ve come begging for money, but today’s e-mail from info@sarahpac.com was just whack:
Greetings to our friends and supporters!
As you may know, Governor Palin has been facing continuous frivolous and petty attacks from her opponents. These baseless attacks have led to more than half million dollars in legal debt for the Governor and her family.
The governor has become a target for local partisans, national professional political operatives, and defenders of the status quo.
This is the official site for the Governor Sarah Palin legal expense fund: www.thealaskafundtrust.com
Thank you for your continued interest and support.
SarahPAC
If one visits the site, one is confronted by a photo of the First Lady of Alaska alongside the First Dude, her husband Todd. Followed by this load of moose hockey:
Welcome to The Alaska Fund Trust
The Alaska Fund Trust is the official legal fund created to defend the integrity of the Alaska Governor’s Office from an onslaught of political attacks launched against current Governor Sarah Palin, the First Family, and state-employed colleagues. These baseless accusations have cost Alaska more than $1 million in public monies to defend, and Governor Palin has incurred more than half a million dollars in personal debt defending her official actions as Governor. You can help by donating to the Alaska Fund Trust today!
Statement of Trustee Kristan Cole
“Over the past months it became increasingly clear that supporters of Governor Palin needed to help defend against the onslaught of frivolous attacks against her. These baseless accusations are designed to inhibit her ability to focus on the issues Alaskans truly care about and force massive personal debt on her and her family. I joined with fellow Alaskans in forming the Alaska Fund Trust to help alleviate the Governor’s legal debt incurred while performing her job as well as eliminate the incentive for future attacks by her opponents. In doing so, we have created one of the most restrictive and transparent legal funds in history.”
But wait, there’s more!
The Alaska Fund Trust was formed by Alaskans and will be funded by Alaskans and their fellow Americans. Our donors are everyday citizens that believe caustic political games cannot be allowed to stop the progress of the people’s elected representatives. Since her Vice-Presidential nomination, the Governor has become a target for local partisans, national professional political operatives, and defenders of the status quo. They have attempted to discredit Governor Palin and limit her effectiveness in reforming government, based on her solid conservative principles.
Governor Palin, her family, and her staff had to endure a major investigation in which the Governor was cleared of any wrongdoing. However, the exoneration did not occur until hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal debt piled up for the family. In addition, countless unfounded ethics charges have been filed. Unfortunately, it is illegal in Alaska to discuss the filing of an ethics complaint, much less its merit. More troublesome is that there is no punishment for filing frivolous complaints. Therefore opponents continue to drum up ideas, file complaints, and leak them to the media. As the complaints disappear due to lack of evidence, there is no media follow-up on a blatant, costly abuse of the process.
My favorite part is that last bit that I’ve italicized for emphasis. Could it really be illegal to discuss ethics charges in Alaska? I don’t have time to check the state’s statutes, but it seems to me that if the ethics charges were found to be groundless and the governor was exonerated, what’s the harm in discussion? Maybe as governor she should bring the Palin Sunshine Ethics Charges Bill to the Alaska legislature — after bear-hunting season is over, anyway.
And in the end it all comes down t Sarah Palin’s bogeyman — the media. It was the media that made her look foolish on national television. It was the media that distorted her political positions and exposed her penchant for shopping at fancy stores for fancy clothes using campaign money to do it. It was the media, in the end, that showed America how old and crotchety John McCain was and how ditsy and unprepared Sarah Palin was and how, well, we know how the media feels about Barack Obama. That darn media!
But wait, the scheme actually could work. We could hear that SarahPAC has paid off the governor’s personal investment in her own defense and paid back the state pretty soon — theoretically. To avoid any appearances of impropriety, donors on the site are limited to $150, which means it will only take 3,333 $150 donors to satisfy the half-million, and only 6,666 more to cover that million simoleans the state invested in Palin’s defense.
And heck, if there’s anything left over, she can buy herslef something pretty!
