Today, Meghan Stapleton posted about the status of the Alaska Fund Trust and the creation of a successor legal defense fund via Facebook Note on Gov. Palin's page.
First off, let’s keep in mind that this is about a legal
defense fund. According to the Summary of Findings in the decision
released today by the Alaska Personnel Board, nothing illegal and
nothing unethical occurred because not a penny has been distributed.
Governor Palin did nothing wrong. And in fact, everyone is in agreement
that Governor Palin acted in good faith. Now, let me explain how we
got here.
It is no secret that Governor Palin has been subject to political and
legal attacks on an unprecedented scale. Since these attacks
originate from her opposition, sometimes it can be a badge of honor to
be the focus of such irrational hatred. But there is a cost to all of
this.
Last year, those who willfully and excitedly violated or abused
Alaska law showed they would do it again and again to either bankrupt
Governor Palin or paralyze her success for Alaska. Governor Palin had a
choice: plead guilty to things she didn’t do so that she could focus
on the state and save money for the family – or defend her good name
and reputation. She chose to fight back. In the end, Governor Palin and
her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, successfully defended against well
over two dozen complaints, lawsuits, and allegations. Time and time
again during and after the 2008 Presidential election cycle,
independent investigators proved that Governor Palin’s actions were
sound, her judgment was proper, and her intentions were honest. In
fact, the Personnel Board, the ethics board for the Governor of the
state, never even had to take up a case as each was dismissed before
making it to the next level.
But it did cost the Palins financially.
Seeing this nonsense, it was suggested to me from both sides of the
aisle that one way to deal with the substantial financial cost these
tactics were inflicting, was to create a trust fund for legal fees –
just like all the other legal defense funds for prominent politicians
who are targets.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, “Such funds
have become increasingly common as scrutiny of politicians has
intensified.” (“Palin Backers Set Up Legal-Defense Fund”, Wall
Street Journal, p. A-3, April 24, 2009)
When I approached Governor Palin with the idea, she had one primary
directive – if it can be done lawfully, then I will support it. She also
asked that, if possible, we keep it Alaskan.
One might think that creating a trust fund to collect money to pay
legal fees should not be that complicated, but it turns out, it is
exceptionally complicated. You should know that as many as seven
lawyers were involved in the process; some of whom were and are
nationally prominent experts in creating legal defense funds, in
evaluating federal and state election laws, state trust law, federal and
state tax laws, state reporting requirements and state ethics
requirements. It is a sad commentary on public life today when the
legal system can be used as a political weapon against an elected
official, and it takes a battalion of lawyers to figure out how to fund a
defense and counter-attack.
In any event, the legal team concluded that the fund they had created
was lawful in all respects. I relied in good faith on that advice and
advised Governor Palin of that advice.
Ultimately, the Alaska Fund Trust was borne, and within a day or two,
a complaint was filed against it challenging its legality. (And like
everything else, the public knew because someone – likely the
complainant – violated the law and publicly released the accusation.)
And so started another prolonged legal battle – this time to determine
if the legal fund created to defend Governor Palin against frivolous
ethics complaints was itself ethical. Quite a circle really. We made
it clear that no money would be paid out on until the matter had been
resolved.
Thus, to this very moment, the money received was frozen and no one,
not the Palins, not the Palins’ attorney, no one ever received a penny
from the Trust on the Palins’ behalf.
The Personnel Board initially appointed an “independent”
investigator. That investigator, we later learned, had connections
with, and was associated with President Obama. The Personnel Board had
hired President Obama’s personal law firm as an “independent”
investigator to review whether a fund created to raise money to
eliminate a debt incurred as a result of Governor Palin’s opposition to
President Obama was appropriate. We objected to both the illegal leak
and the blatant political influence, and a new investigator was
appointed.
The new investigator spent considerable time reviewing the old
information and collecting new, but I think it proved to be too
difficult to reverse an already-public decision. He concluded that the
Trust fund violated Alaska law in two respects. His biggest heartburn
was that we used the word “official” on the website. And he was
distressed that we turned down an offer from a former White House
Special Counsel to serve as trustee and instead chose an Alaskan whom
Alaskans would recognize – Kristan Cole.
Kristan sat on several state boards as a volunteer public servant.
The investigator concluded that because she sat on such boards,
Governor Palin as governor was technically her boss, and therefore she
should not be the trustee of the fund. That is his conclusion and we
respect that. The law is not clear on this aspect, and not one member
of the legal team saw this as an issue, but again, we respect the
conclusion here and it is not worth the time or money to dispute that.
But we do want to thank Kristan for taking on that otherwise thankless
task. What is it they say about no good deed?
The other conclusion needs context. There was a point where it
appeared that people around the country wanted to start legal defense
funds for Governor Palin. The support and good will the people of this
country have shown to the Palins is inspiring. But a concern was
raised whether all these other potential funds would comply with
various laws, including donation limits, limits against contributions
from lobbyists or contributions from foreign nationals. So we used the
word “official” in the website to distinguish the Alaska Fund Trust
from ones we were not sure would be compliant. In our view, that was a
solid and common sense reason to use the word “official,” but the
investigator believes that it made it appear that the website was
sponsored by the State of Alaska, and thus would be a use of Governor
Palin’s ”official” office to raise money. We are not terribly
persuaded that really would be the case or that any member of the
public could be confused, but we respect the investigator’s evaluation
of this point and it is not worth fighting about. Again, Governor
Palin’s prime directive was simple – if this fund could be set up
lawfully, she would support it. If not, it would not have her support.
So Governor Palin has reached a point where she decided to agree to
resolve this matter with the investigator rather than spend time and
money fighting an ethics complaint about a fund that was created to
reimburse her for the money she has spent fighting bogus ethics
complaints drawn up by insiders and outsiders violating and abusing
Alaska law. Really, this is simple pragmatism and common sense.
As you know, we love a good fight, but we must pick our battles
carefully. As a chief executive, Governor Palin makes the calls, and
she knows that this battle, though important to her personally, does
nothing for the country. She has bigger battles to fight, battles to
restore our strength internationally and stand by our allies, battles to
stop the downward slide of our economy, and battles to take back
control of Congress.
However, I know and you know that no public official should ever have
to bear the financial brunt of these attacks. And Governor Palin can
lawfully raise money now through a brand new – not official but let’s
call it “real” – legal defense fund without any risk of offending an
investigator or state law. And such a fund now exists at http://www.sarahpalinlegaldefensefund.org/donate.php.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Alaska Fund Trust. Your
heart was in the right place. And Governor Palin and her family have
been overwhelmed by your generosity. If you want to, you can contribute
to the new fund. In the meantime, we will try to contact you to get
your donation returned from the old trust.
Now – back to motherhood for me! And common sense.
P.S. One last thought as we approach the anniversary of Governor
Palin’s “reloading,” thank God she had the fortitude and wisdom to look
down the road and see what she did – the state’s bills would have
amounted to millions upon millions more and her personal legal bills
would be personally insurmountable. I don’t know who would want to hold
office under these circumstances and with loopholes our Alaska
legislators refuse to close.
- Meghan Stapleton, Mom, Wife, and Now More Knowledgeable Than
Ever About Legal Defense Funds