Palin Pursuing Leaker in Flimsy Ethics Complaint

Those afflicted with Palin Derangement Syndrome will go to any lengths to undermine the retiring Alaskan governor.

The latest attack claims a leaked report from the Alaskan State Personnel Board indicates that Governor Palin will be found guilty of one of the numerous fanciful ethics complaints filed against her. The controversy stems from the Alaskan state ethics investigator’s contention that Palin’s establishment and use of a legal defense fund is unethical:

Selected quotations from the report show that investigator Thomas Daniel reasoned that because an ordinary citizen would not be able to raise significant sums for to pay for legal fees, Mrs. Palin shouldn’t be able to do so, either. “Governor Palin is able to generate donations because of the fact that she is a public official and a public figure. Were it not for the fact that she is governor and a national political figure, it is unlikely that many citizens would donate money to her legal defense fund,” Mr. Daniel wrote.

Stretch Armstrong would be ashamed to stretch as far as this investigator.

Unlike your run-of-the-mill Republican candidate, Palin isn’t graciously accepting the abuse. Despite the media attempt to portray the outcome of this particular complaint as a done deal, no conclusion has been reached:

“Whatever you have seen was released in violation of law,” [Palin attorney Thomas Van Flien] said. “There has been no Board finding of an ethics violation and there is a detailed legal process to follow before there is a final resolution.”

It turns out the alleged leaker is one Kim Chatman, who has been looking for an axe to grind with Palin for some time now:

Kim Chatman, who filed the complaint, spoke to the Associated Press on the record ahead of the report’s release, an action prohibited by the ethics procedures. Palin’s aides believe Ms. Chatman leaked the report as well. … Her spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton said, “It appears suspect that in the final days of the governor’s term, someone would again violate the law and announce a supposed conclusion before it is reached.”

Ms. Chatman is an Alaskan resident, Air Force veteran, and “has been very active when it comes to history and celebrations regarding African Americans” as well as European and Asian Pacific cultures. Ms. Chatman originally entered into the Palin ethics filings picture when she joined a complaint against the governor that:

allege(d) that Governor Palin not only failed to issue a [Juneteenth] proclamation in 2007, but also refused to issue a (Juneteenth) proclamation retroactively. As a result of Governor Palin’s inaction, the activities of citizens and civil groups which had celebrated Juneteenth were disrupted, resulting in unrealized event revenues and event cancellations. Plaintiff demands a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, and damages.

That’s right. Governor Palin failed to issue an appropriate proclamation for the celebration of Juneteenth, “a holiday observance which celebrates the freeing of the last remaining slaves in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, (that) has been adopted in 30 states and was signed into law in Alaska in 2001. The bill known as HB 100 specifies that the ‘governor shall issue a proclamation observing the day.'”

It is apparently the mid-summer equivalent of Kwanzaa, and now the aggrieved complainants want Palin fired. And of course, piles of money.

The only reason Chatman was brought into the case was the fact that the original filing was inadmissible, due to the original filer’s lack of standing as an Alaskan citizen:

Chatman’s joining in the lawsuit may prove problematic for Governor Palin, because as an Alaskan, Chatman satisfies the issue of legal standing by an Alaska resident, which was absent in the original complaint brought by jazz musician and America’s Hot Musician judge Gregory Charles Royal in Washington, D.C.

Now Palin’s private attorney, Thomas Van Flein, is poised to seek legal sanctions against the leaker(s) and is appropriately going on the offensive:

All options are open in terms of legal remedies. … (It) is a clear violation of Alaska law that Mr. Daniel explicitly reviewed with Ms. Chatman prior to her illegal actions. … We will be contacting the appropriate authorities for review and action. 

Once again, it appears the desperate efforts of the Democrats in collusion with the obsolete media will be dashed by the determination and grit of Sarah Palin.