Palin e-mail reveals a powerful ‘first dude’

[Maine-ah]

Source: MSNBC

By Bill Dedman
Investigative reporter
msnbc.com
updated 20 minutes ago


Bill Dedman
Investigative reporter
• Profile
• E-mail
Officially he was the first gentleman of Alaska. More people called him the "first dude." But newly released e-mails show that Todd Palin was busy doing more than snow machine driving and salmon fishing during Sarah Palin's two and a half years as governor and vice presidential candidate.

Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails that Todd Palin exchanged with state officials, which were released to msnbc.com and NBC News by the state of Alaska under its public records law, draw a picture of a Palin administration where the governor's husband got involved in a judicial appointment, monitored contract negotiations with public employee unions, received background checks on a corporate CEO, added his approval or disapproval to state board appointments and passed financial information marked "confidential" from his oil company employer to a state attorney.

While 1,200 separate e-mails were released this week, 243 others were withheld by the state under a claim that executive privilege extends to Todd Palin as an unpaid adviser to the government. Still, just the subject lines of those e-mails provide a glimpse of the ways the Palins divvied up their responsibilities when she became governor in December 2006, less than two years before Republican Sen. John McCain pulled her onto the national political stage by nominating her as his vice presidential candidate.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35238034/ns/politics/

---

More at link.

[niyad]

1. so it looks as though, had grumpy actually won, and she had to step in-- todd would have been

running things. a man who belongs to a party that wants to secede from the US. nice.

[Gin]

3. I thought it was weird how he was front and center every time she

was on stage...ewwwwww....what a creep.

[patrice]

40. Did you get worried "vibes" off of him when you saw him?

I couldn't get rid of that impression of him; he always seemed worried.

[niyad]

64. no, the vibe I got was that of a mob consiglieri-- or a hit man.

[Zoeisright]

74. [phone]

Same here. What a creepy little asshole.

[Eric Condon]

47. He had to be out there as much as possible.

Her supporters are disgusted by the idea of a woman who would do so much independently of her husband.

[Ken Burch]

76. And his "Star Trek Evil Twin Goatee" didn't help matters.

[roguevalley]

22. Gawd, I am glad she's elsewhere. I thought she was crazy in 1996 when she

was firing everyone in Wasilla.

[Blue_In_AK]

52. OT, but did you see that the appeals court overturned Linehan?

[Bobbieo]

2. The news of Todd Palin's involvement in Sarah's politics broke right after

she was chosen as VP on the McCain ticket. I'll bet he is still running her show from backstage!

[Raschel]

30. Which tells us he's as big of a bigot, liar and cheat as Sarahy is.

[Tempest]

4. Passed confidential corporate financial information to a state attorney

I hope BP sues the shit out of the asshole and takes everything they own.

[livetohike]

5. I guess there wasn't enough time to find these things when

McCain chose Palin as his V.P. or they knew and just hoped no one else would find out how truly corrupt she and her husband are.

I've never heard of such interference from a spouse in that capacity :shrug:. Or am I naive?

[Raschel]

31. I don't get how executive privilege extends to Tad as an unpaid advisor.

[madokie]

60. You mean you don't remember Hillary leading Bill around by his wacky doodle

Just kid'n :rofl:

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[patrice]

41. Speaking of questionable . . .

WTF?

[Maeve]

7. So maybe HE was tired of running the state??? eom

[Robb]

9. LOL nt

[BumRushDaShow]

8. What is with the M$M's sick obsession with this woman and her family?

Enough!

[Maine-ah]

10. have a problem with the MSM reporting

on GOP corruption?

or

I must not be picking up on your sarcasm.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. It's not a matter of their reporting corruption

it's a matter of their obsession with Palin what she has done or hasn't done. The rightwing lunatic fringe always gets a pass because even negative attention is positive for them, because it allows them to continue to spew their toxic message... And in her case, she is no longer in an elected position and thus should warrant no reportage at all. Meanwhile, truly corrupt rightwing lunatic fringe elected officials continue to be ignored by this same media, because these faux journalists are tripping over themselves and wasting time getting hard-ons over reporting on this irrelevant non-entity.

[teknomanzer]

28. You may no think she is relevant...

but who do you think is going to be the GOP kingmaker for the congressional elections. Get ready to be exposed to a whole bunch more winks and you bethcas.

[BumRushDaShow]

46. She's a distraction.

And my complaint is that the M$M continues to extend her 15 minutes of exposure.

[patrice]

42. Some attention is part of the problem. Some is part of the solution. This is the latter. Spin will

not change that.

[BumRushDaShow]

49. We have heard of her ethical problems

for a year and a half, yet nothing has ever resulted in enough to shut her and her dysfunctional husband down. Meanwhile her tabloid family continues to rake in the $$$ as they laugh all the way to the bank.

[Blue_In_AK]

53. You need to chill out.

We've been trying to get the MSM to pick up on Sarah's corruption and ineptness for well over a year now, so when they finally do, I for one am thrilled.

[BumRushDaShow]

81. Chill out?

I remember in the fall of 2008 when the M$M http://articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/12/nation/na-todd12">began to break the story about Tawd's deep involvement in the inner workings of the governor's office. NBC even http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2008/10/16/nbc-airs-hit-piece-todd-palin-sarah-palins-abuse-power">reported on this. So where are we now? Caribou Barbie stepped down, hit the road making incomprehensible speeches and firing up the hoodless KKK crowd, and raking in the bucks, and nothing has happened except that this same M$M continues to insist on having at least one nonsensical story on her and her idiotic family every week.

The day they are charged for their corrupted ways is the day I will "chill out".

It seems the repukes in your state are not going to let it happen. It's no different than the repukes in SC with their dysfunctional Governor, dysfunctional Lt. Governor, and dysfunctional U.S. Senators - all of whom magically get a pass. And the M$M reportage or lack of reportage of all of these knuckle-dragging characters has made no difference. There are token "investigations" and a few hand slaps and then the subject is dropped.

As long as the M$M is owned by the RW lunatic fringe, the only ones who will get jail time are the Sieglemans, Spitzers, and deservedly-so, the Blagovichs. But what the Palins have done over the years is really no different except that they are repukes, make good tabloid headlines, and give the media the ratings they so crave.

As they say around here, either shit or get off the pot.

[peacetalksforall]

55. Wow! this woman and her family? You are right about her family in relation to her children.

On learning this development we just look back at what we had already learned - her husband is very involved in enourmously inappropriate and probably illegal business.

She is the Republicans biggest propagandist right now. The light shining on her capabilities to be President is fading and will probably burn out before the next election, Right now she is lethal as far as Democrats go. Lethal because she is just like Ann Coulter and others - total disregard for truth and love of lies. Is she qualified legally to pretend she is Miss Ethical?

We are always complaining about the 7 Republican tv networks pushing a Republican agenda and we are always shouting out against the lack of investigative journalism. One of them is breaking the mold. None of the comparable major papers are doing anything except praising and promoting.

Do you still think he should be protected under the idea that he is JUST HER FAMILY? Did you read this article in full or any of the articles that came out before this?

Why do you want to give him a free ride?

Family = children. Husband = major operative trying to fly under the radar and ignoring the rule of law. No way.

MSM obsession? Write to them - ask - post their response here.

[BumRushDaShow]

82. All of this was already known in September of 2008

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2008/10/16/nbc-airs-hit-piece-todd-palin-sarah-palins-abuse-power">http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2008/10/16/nbc-airs-hit-piece-todd-palin-sarah-palins-abuse-power

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14todd.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14todd.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

Where were you and the rest arguing with me when the "investigational reporting" DID finally break through almost a 1 1/2 years ago? I know many of us cheered the fact that at least the print media was waking up to the info reported in blogs like Mudflats, etc. But we also knew that by the time the Sunday biased talk shows hit the airwaves, they had their talking points all in order. But the info did finally get out there and thankfully, the people made their choice.

Yet what has been the result other than her getting the hell out of office, after which she hit the road on her 3-ring circus tour, with her family as the side show? Nothing.

She needs to be marginalized like was done with David Duke.

[paulsby]

65. it's kind of like DU's sick obsession

especially in regards to the fam

[zonkers]

11. America thanks you, John McCain for putting these piggish, dysfunctional nobodies on the map.

[SpiralHawk]

12. Todd is the Mephistophiles power behind the throne

Sarah, Republicon Welfare Queen and Tax Dodger, is just the Obedient Wife.

[Frank Cannon]

77. That's really scary, because as crazy-stupid as Sarah is...

I always got the impression that she is a rocket scientist compared to her knothead husband.

[tammywammy]

13. I think the most stunning part was that Todd released confidential information from his employer

to the State.

"Sometimes information from outside flowed through him to the government. In one instance, the e-mails show, Todd Palin sent confidential financial information from his longtime employer, the oil and gas company BP, to a lawyer for the state, which does a lot of business with BP. The e-mail of financial results, written by Steve Marshall, president of BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., was marked "confidential"; it told BP staff about financial results and the levels of annual bonuses to be received. Todd Palin received that e-mail from Glenn Trimmer, the secretary-treasurer of the United Steelworkers local where he was working while on a leave from BP. Palin forwarded the e-mail from his work account to his personal account, then forwarded it again from his personal account to an attorney for the state, along with financial details for a second year."


I wonder if BP will go after him for this. This is a huge no-no.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. Do we dare hope??????

Is it big enough of a no no that BP will actually do anything?

[tammywammy]

48. I work for a large company

I wouldn't dare do something stupid like this. Hell, I did my "Insider Trading Is Wrong" training last week. :)

[KansDem]

15. Wow!!! Al this while he and his buddies built the Palin's dream estate on that lake!

Where'd he find the time?

[Blue_In_AK]

54. Not to mention the cabins that they haven't paid property taxes on.

[KansDem]

61. Yes! I just read about that!

Former Alaska Gov. and defeated GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin did not report construction of two new cabins built on property she partially owns and has failed to pay taxes on the new construction.

Local tax officials haven't issued tax assessments for the two-story, house-sized cabins, a workshop and a sauna spotted Thursday in an aerial survey. Palin did pay $156.13 in property taxes in 2009 -- but did not notify the local about the new construction nearly 100 miles north of Anchorage.

Local tax officials discovered the unreported structures in a scheduled aerial survey of properties in the area on Thursday. The area is accessible only by floatplane, snowmobile or four-wheeler.

Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, claims it is not the responsibility of property owners to report structures they build on the land.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/25597



It just doesn't stop!!!

[niyad]

66. it is not the responsibility of property owners to report structures they build on the land.

I don't know the laws in AK, but down here, at least in this oh-so-red county, you are REQUIRED to get permits to build structures on your property, and required to pay taxes on them.

a neighbor, whom I truly despised, enclosed his front porch without the permits and reporting. not that the fine was that big or anything, but boy, was he pissed. he broke the laws here, and got caught.

[tammywammy]

75. But in Alaska, and every where I would assume

If you get an assessment for no properties you should report an omission on the county's part.

[Bitwit1234]

16. And some of you guys and the republicans thought

Bill would interfer with Hillary. A strong and intelligent woman like Hillary WOULD HAVE TOLD "HER" HUSBAND HANDS OFF. But then of course Sarah Palin doesn't know how to walk across the road by herself so she's dumb enough to let her husband run the state instead of herself.

[louis-t]

17. Said it before, she's dumber than bush and

lazier.

[patrice]

43. The wink said it all.

[hamsterjill]

18. Is this really a surprise?

If Palin practices speaking in tongues, one can safely assume that she subscribes to the rest of the doctrine that goes along with that sort of belief, that being that the wife is submissive to the husband.

It is certainly NOT appropriate that Todd was involved in decision making, etc. It was SARAH who was governor; not Todd. Clearly, he was allowed by Sarah to have great involvement.

Wonder if Palin ever criticized Hillary for her time as an active first lady? Whatcha wanna bet???

[secondwind]

19. Todd's omnipresence may be due to their religion. The woman is never alone, I think. AND

she has to be submissive and defer to the husband, etc.

[zak123]

20. Palin Email

You can access the entire collection and do your own analysis at www.crivellawest.net

[Lisa0825]

38. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[livetohike]

63. Welcome to DU!

:hi: and thanks for the link.

[niyad]

67. welcome to DU

[NecklyTyler]

78. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[The_Casual_Observer]

21. It's that guy an uneducated rube?

So, any dumb ass can step right in & run Alaska & nobody even noticed.

[Javaman]

23. What a pair of idiots. .

a narcissist married to a control freak.

take your pick as to who is who.

[RantinRavin]

24. Why is she even still in the news ?

She is a washed up has been!

[kestrel91316]

25. I'm surprised he was up to the task. Guy always looked like a tweaker to me.

[Raschel]

32. He looks like some kind of criminal to me. Creepy.

[Magleetis]

26. Not surprising

Most right wing religious fanatic women believe that they should submit to their husband who in turn submits to God. Its sorta like a mini nut job chain of command.

[guitar man]

27. And let me guess

The right wing loons will just brush this aside. The same right wing loons that were pissing themselves because they thought Hillary was too involved in Bill's administration. :eyes:

[patrice]

44. You get to do stuff like that when God tells you what to tell others to do.

[guitar man]

57. Yeah I forgot

But hopefully the fact now revealed that her America hating husband was way too deeply involved in her administration will put a fork in any hopes she would ever have at a presidential run.

[benld74]

29. They deserve each other-both creepy as hell

[RoadRage]

33. And to think.. the AIP could have been 1 heartbeat away from the Presidency..

I bet they're pissed she didn't win. Imagine.. Succession for all!

[SpankMe]

35. Just imagine what Republicans would do...

...if an elected Democrat let their unelected spouse have this much sway in government affairs.

Some could argue that's what Bill Clinton did when he let Hillary spearhead health care reform. But, that really wasn't the same as this Palin situation. Republicans went berserk anyway.

I hope some Dems speak out on this and look for an investigation. But, that's not the way they've been rolling lately.

[SoapBox]

36. Sing Along to Hey Jude!

...stolen from The Political Carnival...man, this will be stuck in my brain all day!

To the tune of "Hey Jude":

Hey Dude,
You made it worse.
Shared your wife's job
So you both blew it.

http://www.thepoliticalcarnival.net/2010/02/hey-dude.html

[LatteLibertine]

37. Palin is going

to make as much money as she can then she'll disappear when her "fans" tire of her.

I caught onto that thing with Todd early too. There have been reports all along of him being more "involved" than some might think.

[patrice]

45. When she does, she will still have fulfilled her function: Flirt with Racists & Stake a claim on

Special Needs voters.

[superconnected]

39. I'm glad this made MSNBC!

[Salviati]

50. So does that make her a quarter-time governor then? n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

51. The comments at the Anchorage Daily News

on this story are priceless.

http://community.adn.com/adn/node/147559?pageNum=1&&&&&&&&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Container

[niyad]

70. they are indeed--I read them just a bit ago--some of them are completely clueless.

somebody ought to tell that idiot whining about michelle obama that, if he really thinks there is anything out there, he can simply google it.

[MarinCoUSA]

56. The "Dude" belonged to the Alaskan Klan. Is there a problem?

And his Alaskan Klan spouse had 2 A-Klanners in her Wassila office helping with the chores.
Just common sense folks. You betcha.

[zbdent]

58. do you know what? This doesn't surprise me ...

I mean, the "Republicans"/"Teabaggers" really believe in having a "strong male leader" ... imagine their outrage had Hillary been elected ...

and Sarah P. would have been the puppet that the RWers claimed that Bill Clinton really was 1991-2001 ...

[dixiegrrrrl]

59. And for the always perfect coverage, do not forget:

The Mudflats.
A rolling in the snow banks laughing helplessly at the great snark blog tracking things Palin.

http://www.themudflats.net/

[GinaMaria]

62. there was info on DU at the time about her being a

dominionist (not sure if this is the right word), but basically, they subscribe to the belief that only the man makes decisions. It was speculated at the time, that this could be dangerous because as Veep she would have to pass all decisions through him. Palin is a bad for so many reasons. This is just another on the list.

[Hekate]

68. Good lord'n'butter. When will this corrupt couple go down for their crimes?

At least MSNBC is reporting it.

Hekate

[northofdenali]

69. The worst is -

HE is dumber than she is!

[defendandprotect]

71. Schultz was covering this on his radio show today --

Is this perhaps why she resigned?

[defendandprotect]

72. Todd Palin could have been the new "first VP dude" . . . !!!

I guess they didn't they they had to mike her as they miked Shrub???

[Zoeisright]

73. More like an impotent first dud.

And I mean that literally.

[NecklyTyler]

79. Shows that Palin is weak, she delegates her decisions to stronger people around her

Palin would be a disaster as President. The powerful right wing manipulators who are entrenched in the Republican party would gain control through her and run the country into the ground. Bush was a hand puppet of influential people in the shadows, Palin would a hand job for them

[No Elephants]

80. Nothing new. Material released in 2008 also showed Tawd was running things.