Monday, September 8, 2008

Funny picture, sad truth


Sarah Palin- the new Cheney!

One thing she’s not hiding very well is her Cheney-like penchant for secrecy and inappropriate use of “official” cover to protect e-mails she shared outside of official circles.

The Palin administration won’t release hundreds of emails from her office, claiming they cover confidential policy matters. Then why do the subject lines refer to a political foe, a journalist, and non-policy topics?
More intriguing than any email correspondence contained in the four boxes was what was not released: about 1100 emails. Palin’s office provided McLeod with a 78-page list (PDF) cataloging the emails it was withholding. Many of them had been written by Palin or sent to her. Palin’s office claimed most of the undisclosed emails were exempt from release because they were covered by the “executive” or “deliberative process” privileges that protect communications between Palin and her aides about policy matters. But the subject lines of some of the withheld emails suggest they were not related to policy matters. Several refer to one of Palin’s political foes, others to a well-known Alaskan journalist. Moreover, some of the withhold emails were CC’ed to Todd Palin, the governor’s husband. Todd Palin—a.k.a. the First Dude—holds no official state position (though he has been a close and influential adviser for Governor Palin). The fact that Palin and her aides shared these emails with a citizen outside the government undercuts the claim that they must be protected under executive privilege. [Independent Alaskan government watchdog Andrée] McLeod asks, “What is Sarah Palin hiding?”

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