[Vision2020] Palin Appointed Friends and Donors to Key Posts inAlaska

Sunil Ramalingam sunilramalingam at hotmail.com
Fri Oct 24 11:51:10 PDT 2008


Kai,

I think the difference is that she and McCain proclaim her as a reformer who won't do business as usual.

Sunil

> From: editor at lataheagle.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com; thansen at moscow.com
> Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:03:52 -0700
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Palin Appointed Friends and Donors to Key Posts	inAlaska
> 
> Don't all politicians appoint friends, family and donors? For some reason I 
> highly doubt that it is endemic to one party or person....
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
> Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 9:25 AM
> To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Subject: [Vision2020] Palin Appointed Friends and Donors to Key Posts 
> inAlaska
> 
> >>From the Los Angeles Times at:
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/5ns4e3
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Palin appointed friends and donors to key posts in Alaska, records show
> > 100-plus jobs went to campaign donors or their relatives, sometimes
> > without apparent regard to qualifications. Several donors got state-
> > subsidized loans for business ventures of dubious public value.
> > By Charles Piller
> >
> > October 24, 2008
> >
> > Reporting from Anchorage - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, plucked from relative
> > obscurity in part for her reform credentials, has been eager to tout them
> > in her vice presidential campaign.
> >
> > "I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau when I stood up to the
> > special interests and the lobbyists and the big oil companies and the good
> > old boys," Palin told the Republican National Convention in her acceptance
> > speech. She said that as a new governor she "shook things up, and in short
> > order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people."
> >
> > By midway through her first term, she had signed an ethics reform bill,
> > increased oil profit taxes and tweaked Big Oil again by awarding a gas
> > pipeline contract to a Canadian company.
> >
> > In some other respects, a Los Angeles Times examination of state records
> > shows, her approach to government was business as usual. Take, for
> > example, the tradition of patronage. Some of Palin's most controversial
> > appointments involved donors, records show.
> >
> > Among The Times' findings:
> >
> > * More than 100 appointments to state posts -- nearly 1 in 4 -- went to
> > campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent
> > regard to qualifications.
> >
> > * Palin filled 16 state offices with appointees from families that donated
> > $2,000 to $5,600 and were among her top political patrons.
> >
> > * Several of Palin's leading campaign donors received state-subsidized
> > industrial development loans of up to $3.6 million for business ventures
> > of questionable public value.
> >
> > * Palin picked a donor to replace the public safety commissioner she
> > fired. But the new top cop had to resign days later under an ethics cloud.
> > And Palin drew a formal ethics complaint still pending against her and
> > several aides for allegedly helping another donor and fundraiser land a
> > state job.
> >
> > Most new governors install friends and supporters in state jobs. But
> > Alaska historians say some of Palin's appointees were less qualified than
> > those of her Republican and Democratic predecessors.
> >
> > University of Alaska historian Steve Haycox said Palin has been a
> > reformer. But he said she has a penchant for placing supporters, many of
> > them ill-prepared, in high posts. He called it "cronyism" far beyond what
> > previous governors have done and a contradiction of her high-minded
> > philosophy.
> >
> > Terrence Cole, an Alaska political historian, said Palin had in some cases
> > shown "a disrespect for experience."
> >
> > Administration officials disputed such criticism. They said campaign
> > contributions were not a factor in state appointments. Frank Bailey, the
> > state's directorof boards and commissions, in speaking for Palin, who was
> > not available to answer inquiries from The Times, said, "We are always
> > seeking the best-qualified folks."
> >
> > In a little-noted sequel to Palin's controversial dismissal of her public
> > safety commissioner, the governor replaced Walt Monegan with former small-
> > town Police Chief Charles Kopp of Kenai. The appointment unraveled almost
> > immediately in what Cole called a vetting catastrophe.
> >
> > A previous sexual harassment complaint came to light and Kopp had to
> > resign two weeks after taking over. Alaska paid him $10,000 in severance.
> >
> > After another of Palin's campaign donors and fundraisers landed a civil
> > service job with the state department of transportation, GOP activist
> > Andree McLeod filed an ethics complaint against the governor and several
> > aides, alleging that improper pressure was used to help Tom Lamal.
> >
> > Lamal, a public school teacher in Fairbanks until he retired in 2006, was
> > hired as a right-of-way agent despite reports of internal conflicts over
> > whether he was qualified under state law.
> >
> > E-mail messages between Palin aides, obtained by McLeod under the state
> > public records act, indicate that the hiring was pushed "through the
> > roadblocks" by a deputy to one of Palin's appointees. And Palin aide
> > Bailey sent Lamal a congratulatory note saying, in part, "Well now your
> > foot's back in the door and maybe we can tap you for other things."
> >
> > Lamal declined to be interviewed for this article.
> >
> > Palin spokesman William McAllister declined to comment because of an
> > ongoing state personnel board inquiry.
> >
> > Palin told the Anchorage Daily News in August that her office merely
> > worked to fix a "glitch" that prevented Lamal's hiring because of outdated
> > job requirements, and that no favors were given.
> >
> > In other state appointments, records show that all five Palin selections
> > for the powerful Natural Gas Development Authority, which oversees a
> > proposed gas pipeline project, were donors. They included Kathryn Lamal,
> > wife of Tom Lamal.
> >
> > She appointed Kristan Cole, a school friend and a campaign donor, to the
> > Board of Agriculture and Conservation, a farm regulatory position that by
> > state law must go to people with strong business experience. Cole is a
> > real estate agent.
> >
> > All three appointees to the Board of Public Accountancy, which oversees
> > the accounting industry, gave to her campaign for governor, as did all
> > three appointees to the Local Boundary Commission, which regulates
> > contentious land annexations by local governments.
> >
> > Palin reappointed donor Steve Frank to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.,
> > which manages Alaska's $29-billion oil revenue nest egg. Frank, a former
> > Republican legislator, is married to another leading donor, Linda
> > Anderson, a lobbyist for power and tourism companies, among others.
> >
> > The Permanent Fund position earns a $400-a-day honorarium. Most other
> > board and commission appointees receive per diem and travel expenses.
> > Regardless of compensation, experts said, such appointments are coveted
> > for their power and prestige, or as a political stepping stone.
> >
> > Palin spokesman McAllister said that most Cabinet-level officials she
> > appointed were not donors. In every state, he added, people who "apply to
> > serve in a voluntary role are typically supporters of the governor."
> >
> > Records show that Palin donors obtained state-subsidized business loans
> > from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA,
> > whose mission is to encourage "economic growth and diversification of the
> > state, including expansion of small businesses."
> >
> > In one case, Jae G. Lee, a former Los Angeles businessman who is the
> > proprietor of Party Time, a rundown grocery store and bottle shop in
> > Anchorage, sought a $2.7-million state loan to buy an aging strip mall in
> > midtown Anchorage. It was on the market because of a glut of similar malls
> > in the area, all of them losing customers to big-box stores.
> >
> > Lee and his wife, who had contributed $3,000 worth of office space to
> > Palin's 2006 campaign, won the low-interest, state-backed mortgage
> > although it was unclear how the old mall would add jobs. Lee said he did
> > nothing to improve his acquisition, but with the cheap loan his profits
> > have been robust.
> >
> > Lee said he did not seek Palin's help to obtain the loan.
> >
> > Two other state-backed loans with favorable terms and questionable
> > development benefits went to Palin contributor and local dentist Scott
> > Laudon and his partners. The investors got $1.2 million to refinance debt
> > on Northern Lights Village -- a gritty collection of shops including
> > massage and tattoo parlors, a secondhand-clothing store and a video
> > arcade. Its neighbors along a 1 1/2 -mile stretch of Northern Lights
> > Boulevard in midtown Anchorage include a dozen strip malls.
> >
> > Laudon and other partners also received $3.6 million to buy two automated
> > car washes in Anchorage. The benefit to Alaska, according to the approval
> > documents, was the retention of five jobs -- which would have remained
> > without the subsidy. Laudon declined to comment.
> >
> > The Times requested documentation on the Lee and Laudon loans, including
> > interest rates, from AIDEA on Sept. 25, but the agency has not released
> > the materials and has declined to discuss details.
> >
> > The agency "probably looked at it this way: 'This is a good loan that will
> > be paid back,' " said Bob Poe, former AIDEA chief. "That helps them
> > produce income to make other loans, much like a bank." As economic
> > development, however, both loans sound questionable, he said.
> >
> > Three Palin appointees to the AIDEA board also gave to her campaign for
> > governor. This year the board picked Palin donor Ted Leonard as chief
> > executive of the $1.2-billion agency. His principal credential was having
> > been financial manager of tiny Wasilla, Alaska. Palin appointed him to the
> > city post when she was mayor.
> >
> > Agency spokesman Karsten Rodvik said that Palin was not directly involved
> > in the selection and that Leonard was the top applicant because of his
> > long and diverse experience in finance and economic development. He also
> > said that AIDEA managers were "not aware" of any influence by Palin or her
> > aides on any loans.
> >
> > Some of Palin's other appointments have been controversial.
> >
> > Franci Havemeister, one of several of Palin's childhood friends tapped for
> > leadership jobs, heads the state agriculture division. A former real
> > estate agent, she was ridiculed in Alaska after it was reported that she
> > had cited among her qualifications for the job a childhood love of cows.
> >
> > And Palin's choice for attorney general, Talis Colberg, stirred
> > considerable puzzlement: He was virtually unknown beyond her circle near
> > Wasilla. Colberg, who had a solo law practice and little management
> > experience, now oversees 500 professionals.
> >
> > Colberg was criticized by both Republican and Democratic legislators for
> > his handling of the recent investigation of Palin's actions in a
> > controversy involving her ex-brother-in-law -- a state trooper -- and
> > Monegan. A Superior Court judge overruled Colberg's move to quash
> > investigative subpoenas in the case.
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Seeya round at Farmers' Market and the Homecoming Parade, Moscow.
> >
> > Tom Hansen
> > Moscow, Idaho
> > UI '96
> >
> > "We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college
> > students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."
> >
> > - Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------
> > This message was sent by First Step Internet.
> >           http://www.fsr.com/
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> > =======================================================
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> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> >               http://www.fsr.net
> >          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> > =======================================================
> Kai Eiselein
> Editor, Latah Eagle 
> 
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet, 
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
>                http://www.fsr.net                       
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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