The House That Ted Palin’s ‘Buddies’ Built
Ic
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20081013_the_house_that_palins_buddies_built/
10/13/08
First Dude Todd Palin has said he and some “buddies” built his
lakefront home in Wasilla, Alaska, but an investigation by the Village
Voice connects the home’s construction, if circumstantially, to the
beneficiaries of a local boondoggle championed by his wife.
Village Voice:
THE $12.5 MILLION sports complex and hockey rink that is the lasting
monument to Palin’s two terms as Wasilla mayor is also a monument to
the kind of insider politics that dismays Americans of both parties.
Six months before Palin stepped down as mayor in October 2002, the
city awarded nearly a half-million-dollar contract to design the
biggest project in Wasilla history to Kumin Associates. Blase Burkhart
was the Kumin architect on the job—the son of Roy Burkhart, who is
frequently described as a “mentor” of Palin and was head of the local
Republican Party (his wife, June, who also advised Palin, is the
national committeewoman). Asked if the contract was a favor, Roy
Burkhart, who contributed to her campaign in the same time frame that
his son got the contract, said: “I really don’t know.” Palin then
named Blase Burkhart to a seven-member builder-selection committee
that picked Howdie Inc., a mostly residential contractor owned at the
time by Howard Nugent. Formally awarded the contract a couple of weeks
after Palin left office, Nugent has donated $4,000 to Palin campaigns.
Two competitors protested the process that led to Nugent’s contract.
Burkhart and Nugent had done at least one project together before the
complex—and have done several since.
A list of subcontractors on the job, obtained by the Voice, includes
many with Palin ties. One was Spenard Builders Supply, the state’s
leading supplier of wood, floor, roof, and other “pre-engineered
components.” In addition to being a sponsor of Todd Palin’s snow-
machine team that has earned tens of thousands for the Palin family,
Spenard hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in
2004. When the Palins began building a new family home off Lake
Lucille in 2002—at the same time that Palin was running for lieutenant
governor and in her final months as mayor—Spenard supplied the
materials, according to Antoine Bricks, who works in its Wasilla
office. Spenard actually filed a notice “of its right to assert a
lien” on the deed for the Palin property after contracting for labor
and materials for the site. Spenard’s name has popped up in the trial
of Senator Stevens—it worked on the house that is at the center of the
VECO scandal as well.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-08/news/the-book-of-sarah/5
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The camera closes in on Sarah Palin speaking to young missionaries,
vowing from the pulpit to do her part to implement God’s will from the
governor’s office.
What she didn’t tell worshippers gathered at the Wasilla Assembly of
God church in her hometown was that her appearance that day came
courtesy of Alaskan taxpayers, who picked up the $639.50 tab for her
airplane tickets and per diem fees.
AP: Sarah Palin Charged Taxpayers $13k to Attend Her Church
by turneresq
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 09:07:01 AM PDT
And yet another shoe drops. On the heels of the troopergate
investigation finding she abused her power, we have a report showing
she bilked the taxpayers for attending her church.
turneresq’s diary :: ::
An Associated Press review of the Republican vice presidential
candidate’s record as mayor and governor reveals her use of elected
office to promote religious causes, sometimes at taxpayer expense and
in ways that blur the line between church and state.
Since she took state office in late 2006, the governor and her family
have spent more than $13,000 in taxpayer funds to attend at least 10
religious events and meetings with Christian pastors, including
Franklin Graham, the son of evangelical preacher Billy Graham, records
show.
Airplane and per diem fees: $639.50
Trampling the first amendemnt: Priceless
[[[[[[]]]]]]
A fascinating picture of Todd Palin’s influence in Alaska’s capital is
provided in the report of a legislative investigation that concluded
that Gov. Palin unlawfully abused her power in seeking the firing of a
state trooper once married to her sister. The report, released Friday,
also criticized Palin for allowing Todd Palin to push hard for the
dismissal of Trooper Mike Wooten.
Wooten had been married to the governor’s sister. Their divorce was
messy. So, apparently, was Wooten’s career as a trooper. He had been
accused of illegally shooting a moose, drinking beer in a patrol car
and using a Taser gun on his stepson. He was disciplined before Palin
became governor and was allowed to remain a trooper.
When Palin took over, the Wooten case was high on the family agenda,
with Todd Palin leading the effort to get rid of the trooper. As
Associated Press writer Mike Apuzzo put it in his story on the report,
Todd Palin had “extraordinary access to the governor’s office” and he
“used that access to try to get [Wooten] fired.”
His target was Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he
lost his job because he refused to fire Wooten.
The report, by investigator Stephen Branchflower, a retired state
prosecutor, shows how Todd Palin operates.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081013_keep_this_first_dude_out_of_the_white_house/
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vallymom wrote on 10/14/2008 01:09:55 PM:
The investigation wasn't about Wooten's ethics. Palin admitted that
she and her staff contacted Monegan's dept. more than 20 times
regarding Wooten (serial contact = pressure).
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/33996
Charges against Wooten had been investigated, and Wooten disciplined
PRIOR to Palin's election as Governor. Ethics problem: repeatedly
asking Public Safety Commissioner to reopen a case against a trooper
that had PREVIOUSLY been investigated, addressed, and CLOSED before
she became Gov.
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/090408/sta_328511946.shtml
The facts behind the illegal moose:
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/why_walt_monegan_got_fired
The facts behind the taser incident (Dumb? Yes. Poor judgment? Yes.
Malicious intent? Abuse? No.)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/05/palin.trooper/index.html
Grounds for Wooten's termination: none. Don't like it? Change the
laws, though you might not be left w/ enough Troopers to protect you,
and fewer joining the ranks.