Comments on: Puffin Masks and Ivory Necklaces

By: Flying Debris » Wish I Hadn’t Looked

Flying Debris » Wish I Hadn’t Looked — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:57:22 +0000

[...] Obama sending letters threatening to shut down TV stations that run ads critical of him. Sarah Palin has accepted $25,000 in gifts during her 20 months as governor of Alaska, including “from industry executives, municipalities [...]

By: Mojotron3000

Mojotron3000 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:09:41 +0000

…none of which addresses that she lied on the forms. Lied. Not “was mistaken” or “didn’t realize”, lied. What about “free travel for a family member”, or was that a gift to the governor’s office? She signed a law stating “(it is forbidden for) executive branch officials from taking gifts from lobbyists or from interests with pending state business.” and then went ahead and accepted them! not to mention “Under the new ethics laws, Palin may not accept lobbyist gifts unless the lobbyist is a family member” which was also violated. FWIW the Chamberlain stuff seems to all be above-board and legit and is a good example of how it should have been done.

It’s nice that she signed into law tougher regulations for this sort of thing but it would be nice if she could practice what she preached.

By: seeker6079

seeker6079 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:32:32 +0000

Max is right, Whim is partly right. Doesn’t this stuff go into museums? I recall seeing tons of this sort of thing in the LBJ Library in Austin. (Of course, the gifts that LBJ got from his friends and patrons like those at KBR don’t go into the museums; kinda hard to get a display case for a TV station or wads of cash.)

By: max

max — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:25:14 +0000

story will disappear from news by Monday, no real story there as it appears that all of the expensive items were received by the governor on behalf of the state of Alaska. happens all the time, you have to look for lines like “accepted for the governor’s mansion” on the forms which it seems the WaPo was negligent in doing (there was one mention in the article of one item, a pin, which was “accepted for personal use”). not that accepting gifts for the state is free of corrupting influence (which is why they must be disclosed), but it is not the same as accepting gifts for oneself. no news followup expected to clarify and will live on in the blogs for months and may show up in an anti-Palin commercial at some point, but the story as presented is misleading (to be generous).

By: Mojotron3000

Mojotron3000 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:18:23 +0000

…which has NOTHING to do with LYING on the disclosure form.

(TWO can PLAY the capitalization GAME)

By: Whim

Whim — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:15:31 +0000

Governors and even our PRESIDENTS accept gifts ON BEHALF OF the government.

The gifts are the property of the government, and are turned into the government upon departure from office.

Unless you are Bill and Hillary Clinton: Then you have the moving vans just load up the loot, and take to your new home.

By: Mojotron3000

Mojotron3000 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:44:56 +0000

On forms disclosing the gifts, Palin, who is the Republican vice presidential nominee, routinely checked “no” when asked whether she was in a position to “take official action that may affect the person who gave me the gift

you have to declare if you’re in a position to help the gift-giver; she checked “no” but that’s, well, a lie. She was in a position to help most if not all of them. Whether she helped (and you can prove it) is another matter, but she lied on the disclosure form.

By: Nando

Nando — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:36:12 +0000

Isn’t there a law that says that government employees can’t receive more than $20 in gifts? Or, does this only apply to the federal government (I’ve never worked for a state government, but I’ve been a federal employee for 1/3 of my life)