Alaska Politics Blog : Palin sued over Juneteenth

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Erika Bolstad

Erika Bolstad covers Alaska issues, including the congressional delegation, from Washington, D.C., for McClatchy Newspapers. Before joining the bureau in 2007, she spent seven years as a reporter at the Miami Herald, where she covered politics, government and the state legislature. E-mail Erika at ebolstad@adn.com.

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

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Palin sued over Juneteenth

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: July 17, 2009 - 1:24 pm

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From Bill White in Anchorage --

The Associated Press just moved this article by Anchorage reporter Rachel D'Oro:

Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against Gov. Sarah Palin asked a judge Friday to declare that she broke state law two years ago when she failed to issue a proclamation for a celebration commemorating the freeing of U.S. slaves.

Plaintiffs also sought a retroactive proclamation for the 2007 Juneteenth celebration from Palin, or — with her July 26 resignation looming — from the governor's office, said Gregory Charles Royal, a Washington, D.C., musician, who filed the suit in March.

"You just can't ignore laws," he said.

The Alaska Legislature had passed a measure directing the governor to issue a proclamation to commemorate Juneteenth, which marks June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Texas and announced the end of slavery. Several other states also officially commemorate Juneteenth.

The motion for a default judgment filed Friday claims Palin failed to answer the allegations in the lawsuit by a June 19 deadline, and still has not responded. According to the court document, the governor's Juneau office refused to accept another copy of the complaint Tuesday.
Process server Jack Dayton said a staffer in the governor's office would not accept the documents from him.

"You're the governor, doggone it," Dayton said. "It would be in your best interest to take it."

Dayton did successfully serve another set of the documents to the state attorney general's office in Juneau.

Margaret Paton-Walsh, an assistant attorney general, said no deadline was missed because the plaintiffs did not properly serve all the correct state entities initially.

Paton-Walsh also said the proclamation was not issued in 2007 because of a clerical error.

"This slipped through the cracks and it's my understanding that the governor is going to issue the 2007 proclamation," she said. "A very big deal is being made out of a very small clerical error."

Royal said the oversight had a significant impact on a Juneteenth festival in Anchorage that year because it lacked the governor's recognition, likely discouraging community and vendor involvement.

"As a result of the proclamation not being issued, some suffered financial loss," he said.

The case originally was filed in Washington in March and was later transferred to the U.S. District Court of Alaska after adding Eagle River resident Kim Chatman as a plaintiff.

Chatman also has filed an ethics complaint against Palin. That complaint, which is among the few still active, alleges Palin is misusing the governor's office for personal gain by securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through a legal defense fund.

The fund was set up by supporters to help Palin pay off debts stemming from multiple ethics complaints against the governor. Palin says she owes more than $500,000 in legal fees. Most of the complaints have been dismissed.