As Mike mentions Palin's name, she laughs all the way to the bank. Keep it up Mikey.
On Dec 12, 9:48�am, Kamakazee <[email protected]> wrote: > Sweet Jesus, when will you and Letterman realize the election is over? > > And ya realize your CIC Elect is having a bit of difficulty explaining > that whole mess in IL right? > > On Dec 12, 7:26�am, mike 532 <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Palin used these nonofficial accounts for official business, �in > > violation of Alaska state open records > > rules,http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/12/11290_palin_emai... > > Would You Pay $10,000 for Sarah Palin's Emails? � � � � � � � �How > > much would you pay for access to the emails Sarah Palin has sent and > > received as governor of Alaska? Would you part with $10,000 for them? > > That's basically what her office is asking. > > > During the general election, I filed an open records act request for > > all emails that had gone to and from Palin in her official capacity. > > And Alaska citizen watchdog Andr�e McLeod, who had long been > > peppering > > Palin's office with similar requests, did the same. At a time when > > Palin was on the hot seat as Senator John McCain's vice presidential > > running mate, her office replied that it would cost over $65,000 to > > round up all of Palin's emails and that Mother Jones would have to > > cover this cost. > > > The problem: Palin had used at least two nonofficial email accounts > > (such as a Yahoo account) to conduct her state business. Given that > > the governor's office did not have access to those accounts, its > > information specialists had concluded that the only way to gather all > > her emails would be to search the state email accounts for about 70 > > people who worked within the executive offices of the governor and > > look for emails to and from Palin's nonofficial email accounts. > > Palin's office estimated it would cost almost a thousand dollars for > > each search of these 70 or so official accounts. > > > It seemed absurd and unfair for Palin's office to pass the cost of > > this search on to those who had requested Palin's emails. After all, > > she should have been using her state email account for state > > business. > > In a letter to her office, I maintained that requesters should not be > > forced to pay for Palin's inappropriate use of nonofficial accounts. > > Palin's office eventually agreed, deciding it would not charge fees > > for the extensive search operation that would be necessary to compile > > Palin's emails. In early October, it informed me that it would begin > > reviewing Palin's official emails and gather the emails related to > > state business that were sent to and from her nonofficial accounts. > > All for no charge. > > > But there was a rub: this whole process could be expected to take > > weeks. That meant that none of her emails (from either official or > > nonofficial accounts) would become public prior to the November 4 > > election. Because Palin had used these nonofficial accounts for > > official business, arguably in violation of Alaska state open records > > rules, she had managed (wittingly or not) to orchestrate the > > functional equivalent of a cover-up--at least, a temporary one. > > > On December 5, Linda Perez, Palin's administrative director, sent me > > a > > letter noting that Alaska's Department of Administration had > > completed > > the job of assembling Palin's emails into a single account. "The > > account is now available for records production purposes," she wrote. > > In all, there are approximately 25,700 emails in this account, the > > letter reported. > > > But they are not yet ready for release, and now here come the real > > fees. > > > Each email, Perez wrote, has to be opened and printed separately in a > > "fairly time-consuming" process. The cost for doing this: $3,955.23. > > The calculations: a staffer paid $15.39 an hour could review about > > 100 > > emails per hour. And Perez said that Mother Jones and McLeod would > > have to pay for this. > > > The process, though, would not end there. Once these emails are > > printed out, the records would then be sent to the state's Department > > of Law (which is headed by a Palin appointee) for "privilege review." > > That is, individual emails could be withheld on the basis of various > > exemptions. (When the Palin administration responded to an earlier > > email request from McLeod regarding two Palin staffers, it withheld > > over 1100 emails, relying on questionable exemptions.) So there's no > > guaranteeing how many of these emails will be released. > > > And there's more. Once the legal review is finished, the emails > > deemed > > appropriate for release will have to be copied, and Palin's office > > will charge a duplication fee. In earlier correspondences, Palin's > > office indicated the fee could be over 25 cents a page. If about > > 25,000 emails (a page each) are cleared for release, the copying fee > > could top $6,000. > > > Ten thousand dollars to see Palin emails reviewed by Palin's legal > > department? Is it worth it? > > > Other media outfits have submitted requests for some of Palin's > > emails > > (based on subjects). It may be possible to create a consortium of > > groups to share the costs. I will be talking to representatives of > > these other organizations to determine if we can work together. And > > there may be other options. > > > So stay tuned. Palin has certainly not retreated to Alaska. She > > recently campaigned for Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss of > > Georgia, > > during the special election Chambliss ended up winning. "I can't > > overstate the impact she had down here," he said afterward. With > > Palin > > acting as if she is interested in remaining a political player on the > > national stage, her emails--if the legal reviewers do not censor them > > for political purposes--might still make interesting, and perhaps > > important, reading.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
