Verdict in: Palin finds Palin innocent

In a truly awe-inspiring display of objectivity and fairness, Gov. Palin released the findings of the ethics complaint she filed against herself. Remarkably, she found she did no wrong.

Well, we can put that one to rest, then.

But really folks, there's a pretty good chance that the findings from the real investigation have been released by the time you read this. The "countdown to truth" SHOULD end today, with the release of the Troopergate report done by Branchflower.

Or not.

There's also a good chance that our state legislators are going to quash the findings so that the truth won't get out - at least until after the election.

It is hard to know how this investigation is getting covered in the Lower 48, not to mention all the madness that is this election season. For instance, is it common knowledge that Sen. Stevens (i.e. Alaska Senator for Life) is in his own tril right now? I get e-mail alerts several times a day from our local paper on new developments in the case, but is it common knowledge elsewhere? Begich is consistently running a little ahead of him, but there's still a pretty good chance that Alaskans will be voting him in again, convicted or not.

A reader emailed me and wanted to know why Alaskans seemed "obsessed" with this Troopergate thing, and the "real" issues we should be focusing on are McCain, McCain, McCain.

Well, I don't know about other Alaskans, but I feel that we have a lose/lose situation going on with the election. If McCain/Palin were to win (you must visualize me turning around three times and spitting) we get her as VP/presidential candidate 2016 (if she can withhold the knife from McCain's back that long.) If they were to lose (looking more likely every day) we get her back. And she hasn't even been Gov. for two years yet, so we've got her back for awhile.

To understand the "obsession" with Troopergate is to have to look at Alaska politics over the last few years. You'd have to visit Progressive Alaska or Celtic Diva or Alaska Report for more detail, because I've simply lost count of how many of our state legislators are under indictment, in jail, or under investigation. (Despite what the Gov. will imply, she didn't have anything to do with that - those were all FBI.) In fact, that Sen. Ted Stevens is on trial now was a surprise not because people didn't know it was coming - but everyone thought Ben Stevens would be indicted first.

It does not seem to be a surprise to many Wasilla folk, but much of Alaska (you've seen the high numbers) was really hoping Sarah Palin would be different. She seemed to come in as a reformer, promising politics that weren't the same as the rest of her party. She hasn't done much of that reforming yet, but still, hope.

When Troopergate hit, it was all sort of, "We knew it was too good to be true." There were already red flags popping up with her, some more in the know than others, but I think it wasn't so much the initial accusation that was shocking, but the proverbial nail in the coffin. Even her hiring the "sex harrasser" in place of the guy she fired was just like, "Well, maybe she just sucks at hiring people (she's done a lot of that.)"

The nail in the coffin (for me anyways) was after however many times she or her administration said there was absolutely no pressure put on Monegan to fire Wooten - none whatsoever - not so much as a nudge or wink.

Then the tape gets discovered and she holds the press conference that essentially says (let me just paraphrase), "Just kidding."

Now even Todd Palin is "proudly" saying (or at least writing) that yes, he was aggressively talking about getting Wooten fired... and, wierdly enough, maybe some of the "real" reason about bad blood was the audacity of Monegan sending a heads up to Mama Palin about a report from a legislator that she was not putting her baby in a car seat. Uhh.... really? The absolute nerve of the top law enforcement official to, you know, make sure the top government official in the state was following the law? (Not to mention making sure her child was being protected.) That's the argument?

Hopefully, you are reading this with full knowledge already of the investigation's findings, and it has been released without the legislators stopping it from coming out.

If you are reading this, and it has been hushed up by the legislators, I can only say I hope you find out the reality of it as still "our Governor" and not "your Vice President."

Update - 2:40pm Alaska Time (6:40 EST) Oct. 10:
The Anchorage Daily News has a guy waiting outside the legislative council's door, posting photos and updates throughout the day. They're still in there. Warning though - most of the posts are akin to "Nope, still nothing... No, still nothing. The guy across from me fell asleep." But there are a few good bits.