Friday, June 10, 2011

Sarah Palin's Emails released: Want to take a Peek?

After a years-long delay, the state of Alaska released more than 24,000 pages of emails from about 21 months of Sarah Palin's time as Alaska governor on Friday.

The emails were released as paper printouts to the media outlets that requested them, among them CBS News, which had a reporter in Juneau collecting the heavy boxes of emails. Media outlets paid $725 each for photocopies of the records.


Journalists are now busy reviewing the emails for nuggets of information from Palin's roughly half-term as Alaska governor, though the emails stop in September 2008, leaving almost of a year of her time in office uncovered. The state has said it has not finished reviewing the emails from late 2008 through the summer of 2009, when she abruptly resigned. It remains unclear when those emails will be released.

"There have been a few [emails] that make clear her disdain for the press and her surprise at voluminous requests for information," said CBS News Political Correspondent Jan Crawford, who is currently reviewing the documents.
"In one, she apologizes to her staff for having to deal with the media. In another to staff, she implies she had a contentious relationship with Alaska Congressman Don Young. But a good number obviously are on the issues she confronts as governor--energy bills, alternate energy issues, gas leases."
The full story is here.

If you feel like being a SNOOP, The New York Times has already published 59 days of emails into a viewer. If you look to the right of the viewer once at the site, you'll see a little box that reads:

Explore the E-mails

Join The New York Times in examining Sarah Palin's e-mail records by identifying messages you think deserve a closer look.


If you find something of interest, summarize what you see and tell us the e-mail date and page number. Include your name and e-mail address so we can notify you if we include your observation in an article.


Don't you want to help the NYT's? I Don't!

PRESS the POP-UP BUTTON under the photo below if you're interested in viewing these emails:



Please check us out on Facebook and If you like what you see, please "Like" us. You can find us here.

14 comments:

BOSMAN said...

Great post Rev.

I have to admit, I DID take a peek.

BTW, Your popup works great!

marK said...

First: Palin's emails as governor are public record and should be available.

Second: What a colossal waste of time. What exactly do they think they are going to accomplish? Some smoking gun of -- what exactly?

Anonymous said...

I guess some wonder why she used a 'private' email account to do states business. So while they might be boring, it does make one pause and go 'huh'?

Anonymous said...

These emails have already been washed clean--why do you think it took 2 years to finally release them? If there was anything damaging to Palin, it's gone by now.

Mark, you always give Palin a break on everything, and that's fine because you're a really nice and fair guy. But do you think for a minute that Romney would have ever opened a private email account in which to conduct state busines--in order to get around open records laws? And do you think Palin should have been able to get away with that?

I don't. I hope the state eventually releases those records as well. Palin was supposed to be about rooting out corruption, and transparency. What a crock.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

IMO, Palin is one of the most corrupt politicians in the history of America. She's known to be a pathological liar and many people who have worked with her claim she has severe mental health issues. I believe it's true.

marK said...

Well, Martha, it comes down to choice. You can chose to believe the bad in people -- looking for the bad and expecting to find it, or you can chose to believe the good in people -- looking for the good and expecting to find it.

I used to choose the former. I recommend the latter.

Ohio JOE said...

Well, since Mr. Romney is not contesting straw polls, he can that money to send Martha to AK so she can examine the e-mails.

Anonymous said...

Mark, that's a good philosophy, and I would do well to be more like you, no doubt!

But this topic really isn't about believing in the good or the bad in people. It's about proper conduct.

And you didn't answer my question. Do you believe it was wrong of Palin to go around open records laws in order to conduct state business in private?

Do you think Romney would ever do such a thing?

Palin knew the law, but went ahead with the private account, anyway. She obviously wanted to conduct some state business/conversations in private. That is wrong, IMO.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

OJ, the emails were never going to show anything. 2 years is a long time to get rid of anything damaging--if it existed. Thousands of pages were not included.

-Martha

marK said...

Martha,

People go around laws all the time, even our favorite candidate Mitt Romney. He's got at least five state PACs besides his Federal one -- all to work around the limits in the federal campaign finance laws.

Some laws are so Byzantium, the only way to accomplish what needs to be done is to find a way around them. As Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist remarked, "If the law supposes that ... the law is a[n] ass".

They don't break the law. They work around it. In some contexts this is commonly known as a "loophole"

I do not fully know the circumstances behind what she did, or why she did it, but from where I sit, this appears to be little different from the Birther controversy. That built up and built up and built up. When the Certificate was finally released, it turned out to be a tempest in a teapot.

Any person foolish enough to waste their time combing through those emails looking for dirt, any dirt, are to be pitied, in my opinion. Don't they have anything better things to do? Something that might actually improve their lives?

It is a well known fact that if you look long enough, you will find what you are looking for. So if you are convinced that Sarah Palin is a scumbag, I promise that you will find evidence of it. Just ask our friend OJ if he's can find evidence of Mitt Romney being a scumbag. He won't have to search far, I can guarantee it.

So in the end, is the world a better place for everyone being proved to be a scumbag? I really don't think so.

Now, if Sarah Palin actually broke a law, then she should be punished. If she only broke "the spirit" of the law, then I say leave the lady alone.

Anonymous said...

Mark, thanks for your response. However, I disagree. Romney hasn't come anywhere near breaking a law. He is in full compliance with state and federal campaign finance laws, and has not sought to hide anything.

Palin was obviously trying to hide some of her interactions from the public. Why, I cannot say. But even if she did not technically break the law, she went against her own professed standard--that of transparency in government. She's supposed to be the one who cleans house, so to speak.

I think any governor who seeks to hide public business dealings with a private email, has some explaining to do--at the very least.

And I did not call her a scumbag! :-) nor do I think she is one. I simply think that she feels above the law in certain cases, and I also think she fails to fully think things through at times.

-Martha

marK said...

Martha,

"Palin was obviously trying to hide some of her interactions from the public."

"Obviously", you say? Just like that bookshelf was "obviously" a floating cross?

People see what they want to see, Martha, which is why I want to see good in people. I would hate to see evil in a person that wasn't there.

"I simply think that she feels above the law in certain cases,"

Have you ever driven faster than the speed limit? How about rolling past a stop sign without coming to a full and complete stop? Have you ever done either one on purpose? If you have then you have felt yourself above the law because the law is very specific and explicit on those points. "You SHALL drive no faster than the speed limit. You SHALL come to a full and complete stop at a stop sign."

Personally, I've got no problem with Mitt and his PACs. I think that the campaign finance laws should only require a complete disclosure of who is donating to whom. Anything beyond that is limiting the right of free speech and freedom of association. If Mitt has figured out a way to get around those laws without breaking them, wonderful.

However, I have gotten into more than one "discussion" with Romney-bashers over at Race4 and ROS who describe what he is doing in the same terms as you are using to describe Sarah Palin's emails.

So to one person, it is a clever method to get around a law getting in the way of what needs to be done. To another it is obvious proof of being above the law.

It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Anonymous said...

Mark, we could go on and on. Driving a few miles over the speed limit cannot be compared to a governor going around open records laws in order to hide what should be public conversations.

And it was a floating cross! Ha ha.

-Martha

Ohio JOE said...

"Just ask our friend OJ if he's can find evidence of Mitt Romney being a scumbag." Haha, no I cannot find evidence of Mr. Romney himself being a scumbag, despite that fact that he has let's say some issues. Haha, but if I dig deep enough Martha and hang around Daily KOS, well .......