Palin Should Counter-Sue The Legal Abusers

Above, Palin should take aim against those who abuse the legal system.

Palin Should Counter-Sue The Legal Abusers

by Armand Vaquer

When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her decision to resign as governor (effective this coming week), the pundits said that she was making a big political error.

It is possible. But they don't know the Alaskan governor.

A few days after her announcement, she told ABC News:

"You know, conditions have really changed in Alaska in the political arena since Aug. 29, since I was tapped to run for VP. When that opposition research -- those researchers really bombarded Alaska -- started digging for dirt and have not let up. They're not gonna find any dirt," she said. "We keep proving that every time we win an ethics violation lawsuit, and we've won every one of them. But it has been costing our state millions of dollars. It's cost Todd and me. You know the adversaries would love to see us put on the path of personal bankruptcy so that we can't afford to run."

The state's ethics laws are such that even though she's an elected official, she has to personally incur much of the legal costs to defend against these lawsuits, no matter how phony or frivolous they may be.

None of the ethics charges have been proven true, but she and the state still has to incur the expense in defending against them. That, plus the time wasted in defending herself, took a toll.

From CNN:

"It doesn't cost the critics anything to file frivolous lawsuits or ethics violation charges. It costs our state such a great deal -- thousands of staff hours, millions of dollars in public resources that aren't going to things that it should be going to," Palin told CNN earlier this month. "We haven't violated the ethics code."

She said her family is facing more than $500,000 in legal fees and has set up a legal defense fund to help defray the costs.

Although the governor and her supporters have criticized the investigations, Andree McLeod, who has filed six complaints against Palin, thinks they are appropriate.

"I don't really care what other people think. I am holding the governor accountable. Other people's ignorance is not going to stymie me," McLeod told CNN, surrounded by stacks of state documents she has collected from filing information requests and ethics complaints.

"I am exercising my right to get these public records to discover what Sarah Palin is up to," she said.

McLeod, a registered Republican, has filed several complaints since Palin announced her decision to step down, including the one regarding gift disclosures. She has also filed two lawsuits, including one regarding whether it was appropriate for state business to be discussed using private e-mail addresses.

When ethics complaints are filed against the governor or her staff, the state has to hire an independent counsel to investigate the claims to avoid a conflict of interest.

Among other claims against Palin cite her wearing an Arctic Cat logo on a piece of clothing during a snowmobile race as a conflict of interest and another saying that an interview she did after the presidential election in her state office was inappropriate. Those were dismissed.

James Muller, a political science professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, told CNN that, "Some of [the complaints against Palin] are clearly fanciful, farcical.

"I think most of these ethical complaints are trivial. Almost all have been dismissed by the various levels of review that have taken them on," Muller said.

There's even been frivolous ethics charges against Palin over the defense fund.

Once Palin leaves office and becomes a private citizen again, she should counter-sue these wackos for malicious abuse of the legal system, then they'd have a taste of their own medicine. Let them rack up legal expenses and see how they like it! After all, turnabout is fair play.

Why are these people filing such frivolous lawsuits? One, some are members of an Alaskan political machine who was once dominant in the state. They are seeking revenge over their loss of power. Second, some are left-wingers who are deathly afraid of Palin. You can always tell how effective a political figure is by the attacks they attract. The left is adept in the "politics of personal destruction."

What the future holds for Palin is an open question. It depends upon how she handles things in the next few months. She is to speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on August 8. Maybe she has something to announce then.

Stay tuned!