Her bank account looks approximately $386,000 lighter.
Nearly a year after she quit her governorship of Alaska, Sarah Palin was found guilty today of another breach of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act involving her so-called Alaska Fund Trust (AFT), which she established as a private “legal defense fund” while governor.
Timothy Petumenos, independent counsel for the Alaska Personnel Board (and ironically, the same independent counsel who issued the Troopergate findings nearly two years ago while Palin was the GOP vice-presidential nominee), presented the state’s Findings, Consent Decree and Settlement Agreement this afternoon from the perfectly named Adventure Room of the Captain Cook Hotel in downtown Anchorage.
In what is an extremely detailed finding, Petumenos ruled that even though Palin assigned the research of forming the fund to her former spokesperson Meghan Stapleton and even though Palin relied on extensive outside legal counsel, that “the Trust itself, as ultimately conceived, violates the Ethics Act.”
The finding is a stinging rebuke to Palin, who must now return more than $386,000 in contributions to the AFT.
It also forces her longtime political crony Kirstan Cole to be removed from serving as Trustee of the fund.
Perhaps most significantly, Petumenos demanded that “all donors to the Trust, whether they donated before or after the resignation, as promised in the supporting website information, must be publicly disclosed.
OUCH!
Most Palin supporters contributed the amount of their refunds to the new legal defense fund that was set up. We don’t believe that Governor Palin should have had to bear the burden of legal expenses run up by attacks from DNC operatives trying to bankrupt her.
Attorney Randy Evans, an ethics expert and the recipient of the 2011 GOP Lawyer of the Year Award, has defended the original legal defense fund on ethical grounds.
See:
http://bit.ly/sbyYaF
http://bit.ly/xcNqP
Also see Attorney Evans’ original article;
The harassment of Sarah Palin http://bit.ly/rYBTvT
That is AWESOME Doc, I love it. The best defense of the indefensible I have ever seen! Thanks for commenting, come back anytime.
Did we REALLY attract a Palin Bot who has the mission to protect her from the slings and arrows of the internet? REALLY?
Dr. Fay,
Let’s see you defend this.
Why in thw world would THIS info come up when i google “has sarah palin lost weight” except google is liberal corp that is owned by the left wing!