UPDATED: Credit given where credit is due. This item has been previously covered in Matt Wesley's diary: More Nails for the Palin Coffin <h/t to frisco >
Who spiked the AP's metamucil?
I have to give AP some kudos, they've been doing some good investigative journalism into the McCain-Palin candidacy. Now, they've just blown another gaping hole in the sinking McCain-Palin ship.
AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids
Juicy quotes over the jump:
Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration.
We've been saying that Palin is just the worst aspects of Bush and Cheney, fused together. Now we're seeing her cronyesque aspects in all their "glory":
Despite Palin's boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.
Lying to the public about the reality:
_Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.
Conflicts of interest:
_The leader of Palin's pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman's former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal, interacting with legislators in the weeks before the vote to grant TransCanada the contract. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin's pipeline team.
And sweetheart deals:
_Under a different set of rules four years earlier, TransCanada had offered to build the pipeline without a state subsidy; under Palin, the company could receive a maximum $500 million.
Yep, McCain-Palin. More of Bush-Cheney....only more so.
UPDATED! Digg It! <h/t sc kitty>