Why Sarah & Todd Palin ignore Troopergate subpoenas

A Buffalo News letter to the editor writer recently
asked "How can the Palins not honor subpoenas" in
the Alaska Troopergate investigation? That's
a good question that deserves a full answer.

The subpoenas were issued by an interim legislative
committee called the Legislative Council, which handles
administrative and other legislative affairs while the
legislature is not in session. It consistes of 12
mumbers appointed by the presiding officers of the
Alaska state House and Senate.

Because of the current coalition make-up of the Alaska
legislature, the council is made up of four Democrats
and eight Republicans.

Keep in mind that not all Republicans in Alaska are
political allies of Governor Palin, a Republican,
because her successful reform efforts in
Alaska have targeted both Democrat and Republican
members of the legislature.

She also successfully ran against the incumbent
Republican governor without the support or help of
the Alaska Republican Party which supported
the incumbent, and blew the ethics whistle on the
chairman of the Republican Party for corruption,
forcing his resignation from an important
state commission to which he was appointed by
the former Republican governor.

Partly as a result, she has an 80 percent-plus
favorable rating in Alaska and is the most popular
state governor in the nation's history. Many Republicans
ae among the 20 percent minority in Alaska who don't like
Governor Palin.

Thus, while the Legislative Council appears to be
a bi-partisan body, its membership is 100 percent
anti-Palin.The members' antagonism towards
Governor Palin was a condition of their appointments
to the council.

Two of the Democrats on the council, Senators Hollis
French and Kim Elton,are openly Obama supporters. They
were captured in a photo at Obama headquarters in Anchorage.

French was the prime instigator, is the manager of
the Troopergate investigation, and is likely to run
against Palin in the next gubernatorial election if
she is still governor. He handpicked the special
investigator handling the Troopergate investigation.
a personal friend whose wife was once a colleague of
the former Alaska public safety commissioner
whom Palin fired. Elton is the chair of the council,
and contributed more than $2,000 to Obama's
campaign.

Both the launching of the Troopergate investigation
and the issuance of the subpoenas by the council fly
in the face of Alaska's Constitution. The council is
expressly barred by the constitution from conducting
investigations of the executive branch, or issuing
subpoenas to its members.

Two other standing legislative committees, State Affairs
and Judiciary,are authorized to investigate the executive
branch and issue subpoenas,but neither has done so. The
legislature as a committee of the whole may
also launch investigations and issue subpoenas,
but has not done so.

Five Republican members of the legislature, including
the Republican speaker of the house, have filed an action
in state court seeking an order to dismantle the
investigation on constitutional grounds.

Alaska law also mandates that any investigation
into personnel matters may only be undertaken by
the three-member State Personnel Board, whose
members by law are appointed by the govenor. Governor
Palin has pledged to cooperate with any Personnel
Board investigation.

Shortly after the Troopergate investigation was launched,
Senator French issued a public statement predicting that
it would produce an "October surprise" implying that it
would adversely compromise Governor Palin's
vice presidential candidacy.

His comments, which revealed that the investigation
was predisposed against Palin, raised a firestorm of
controversy in Alaska, forcing French to retract them.

This is when the investigation's political "taint"
was exposed and bad faith demonstrated, prompting
Governor Palin to withdraw her previously
pledged cooperation.

It should also be kept in mind that the Alaska Constitution
unequivocally empowers the governor to fire any cabinet
member and certain other political appointees "without cause."

Thus, the short answer to the letter writer's question
is that both the Troopergate investigation and the issuance
of subpoenas by the Legislative Council are unconstitutional.
_____________________________________________________________

Author's note: I covered the Alaska Legislature and
state govenment in the state capital of Juneau for 20 years.
I also dsigned and taught a college credit course on the
legislative process at the Uiversity of Alaska. Senator Elton
was one of my students.