This will be quick.
James Grimaldi, who won a Pulitzer for his work on reporting the Abramoff Scandal, has been looking into the record of Sarah Palin. And it seems he has found yet another lobbying/corruption scandal: Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show.
It seems that the lobbyists for a gold mine in Alsaka wanted to get around pesky environmental regulations for their Pebble Mine on Bristol Bay.
To the jump...
This is another shoe dropping as journalists examine the greasy corruption of Governor Palin.
Mining interests in Alaska wanted to kill a ballot initiative that would have subjected their mining operations to environmental oversight and regulations. Palin had created a facade that she did not speak to lobbyists, so the lobbyist for the mine used their other clients to get gifts and talking points to Palin. Here are some highlights:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows. [snip]
About a quarter of the entities bestowing gifts on the governor are represented by one of Alaska's most influential mining lobbyists, who said in an interview that she was not involved in the tributes. The lobbyist, Wendy Chamberlain, has a relationship with the governor's family through the friendship of their teenage daughters. [snip]
Records show that 23 of the gifts were offered during Palin's early months in office, when she was pushing the legislature to address a state corruption scandal by passing a package of ethics reforms. She accepted 18 gifts after the law passed in July 2007. Among other provisions, the law forbade executive branch officials from taking gifts from lobbyists or from interests with pending state business. [snip]
Palin has noted that passage of the tough ethics law was a proud accomplishment. She took office amid a widespread federal investigation of influence-peddling by Veco, a now-defunct oil pipeline services and construction company, that had led to indictments of prominent state legislators and eventually to charges against Ted Stevens, the state's senior Republican senator, who is now on trial in Washington. [snip]
Palin forwarded her ethics proposals to the legislature in January 2007, her first month in office. That month, she accepted three gifts from Calista's chief executive, Matthew Nicolai: a $2,200 ivory puffin mask, a woven grass fan worth $300 and a $150 ivory necklace. Nicolai, who did not return phone calls, runs the large corporation, which profits from a multibillion-dollar gold-mining operation on its land. [snip]
Palin has also reported as gifts two fact-finding trips that mining companies sponsored for her husband, Todd. The trips were among several sponsored by mining companies for state officials. [snip]
Chamberlain also represents the Pebble Partnership, which has proposed a massive gold mine on Bristol Bay that has encountered opposition from conservationists. Palin has come under fire for speaking out against a statewide initiative, Proposition 4, that would have imposed costly environmental regulations on mining operations, particularly the Pebble Mine. A hearing by a state ethics watchdog agency has been scheduled for mid-November to see whether statutes prohibiting partisan activity apply to the governor's statements on the initiative.
Mining interests did not play a major fundraising role in Palin's gubernatorial campaign, but post-election donations to her inaugural committee came from four mining companies, including Northern Dynasty, the Pebble Mine co-developer. The money was spent on inaugural balls and on travel by the governor and her family for events. The amounts were not disclosed.
By funneling bribes gifts to Palin through their other clients the lobbyists were able to get Palin on their side.
So many scandals, so little time.
Cheers