Alaska Politics Blog : Palin ethics complaint dismissed (Updated with report)

Alaska Politics Blog

This is the place to talk about Alaska politics, state, local, national. Public life in the Last Frontier has rarely been more interesting -- a full slate of federal and state elections, the influence of former Gov. Sarah Palin, the usual hardball Alaska politics. Come here for news, tidbits and information, and join the discussion. We encourage lively debate, but please keep it civil and stay on point. Don't use profanity, make crude comments or attack other posters. Posts that violate the Terms of Use will be deleted. Repeat offenders will lose their ability to post comments.

Contributors

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

Features

SECTION

Alaska political corruption

When the FBI raided state legislature offices in Aug. 2006, it publicly launched an investigation that ultimately reached the highest levels of Alaska politics, and continues to this day.

Palin ethics complaint dismissed (Updated with report)

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: July 24, 2009 - 3:30 pm

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage--

It looks like the latest of the ethics complaints filed by Andree McLeod against the governor has now been dismissed.

(Update -- Click here to read the report dismissing the complaint. It was written by Anchorage attorney Tom Daniel, the same investigator who found "probable cause" that Palin's legal defense fund violated the law. Palin waived confidentiality on this one, so Daniel was able to release it.)

Here is the press release that the governor's office just sent out:

The Personnel Board has announced that another ethics complaint against Governor Sarah Palin has been dismissed.

The complaint, the sixth filed by Anchorage resident Andree McLeod, accused the governor of violating the Ethics Act by receiving her salary while campaigning for vice president. The accusation, lodged Monday, was dismissed as legally flawed and factually devoid of merit.

Governor Palin remained on duty, conducted state business, and communicated with her staff and her constituents.

“Andree McLeod has failed to prevail on any of the ethics complaints she has filed against the governor,” said Mike Nizich, Palin’s chief of staff. “It appears her agenda is clear – she’s abusing the ethics laws to harass public officials.”

McLeod responded that Nizich is "out of line."

"Every one of my complaints have merit and were filed to hold public officials accountable," she said.

McLeod said it's clear that Palin signed off duty and left Alaskans unrepresented.