As most people know, Sarah Palin is relentlessly attacked
by those who elevate the state over the individual and by those who
lack faith in any higher power except the regulatory power of
Washington, D.C. Many of these people use – and abuse – the law, and
in the case of Sarah Palin, they have abused our state ethics laws by
repeatedly, remorselessly, and routinely filing false and malicious
claims against her. So too, they have resorted to our courts, where
several civil suits were filed against Sarah Palin. To date, these
civil suits have been rejected by the courts as baseless. But we know
the toll this caused the Palins. Almost a year ago, Governor Palin
pointed out the many groundless complaints, records requests and suits
filed against her, and explained that:
“…it hasn’t been cheap – the State has wasted
thousands of hours of your time and shelled out some two million of
your dollars to respond to ‘opposition research’ – that’s money not
going to fund teachers or troopers – or safer roads. And this political
absurdity, the ‘politics of personal destruction’… Todd and I are
looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to
set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these
silly accusations? It doesn’t cost them a dime so they’re not going to
stop draining public resources – spending other peoples’ money in their
game…. Some Alaskans don’t mind wasting public dollars and state time.
I do. I cannot stand here as your Governor and allow millions upon
millions of our dollars go to waste just so I can hold the title of
Governor.”
The past year has confirmed that Governor Palin was right. The
number of false claims, records requests, mendacious accusations and
ridiculous posturing by the left and street corner ethicists dropped
dramatically – at least as applied to the mechanics of state
government.
But it did not all go away when she stepped aside – some claims and
suits are pending and are getting resolved in time. A judge in
Anchorage recently issued a ruling throwing out a baseless claim against
Governor Palin – and indirectly involving Todd Palin. In this civil
claim, Todd Palin was being attacked because he was a close and trusted
advisor to his wife, the Governor. That he was should surprise no
one. The claimant asserted that because Todd Palin was not being paid
by the State of Alaska, any emails copied to him could not be protected
by the standard law of deliberative process privilege – a privilege
that essentially protects the decision making process in government in
order to allow the decision makers the freedom to honestly discuss
policy and process and promote the open exchange of ideas. The
claimant demanded the right to see emails that were sent to Todd Palin.
In a well reasoned opinion, the judge explored state law, federal law
(including an historical discussion on First Lady Sarah Polk, wife of
President James K. Polk), and invoked a too rarely used legal principle
– common sense – to throw out this lawsuit. In so doing, the court
concluded that Todd Palin, as the First Gentleman, though unpaid, was in
essence a privileged consultant to the Office of the Governor, and the
court compared Todd Palin’s privileged consultations to First Lady
Hillary Clinton, in which a federal court determined that the chief
executive’s spouse “acts as the functional equivalent of an assistant to
the President.” And, with state government employees assisting the
first spouse, Todd Palin had a clear and obvious privileged consultative
function and is analogous to a de facto state officer.
The court ultimately concluded that “common sense and Federal law”
compel the conclusion that “Todd Palin could properly… act[] as an
advisor to the Governor” and therefore he was appropriately involved in
policy discussions, emails, and deliberative discussions, all of which
are protected from disclosure.
It is refreshing to see a court resort to common sense and historical
precedent. Further, as more and more women get elected to high
office (What are they called now? – “Mama Grizzlies”?), it is notable
that challenges such as this, which were based on sexist notions and
demeaning attitudes towards women, are being rejected. This suit
challenged Todd Palin’s role as a first spouse and was implicitly
premised on the idea that a male spouse must somehow exert too much
influence over a female chief executive. Hence the demand to “see those
emails” from Todd Palin; but contrast this with decades of silence
relative to communications to prior executive spouses – female spouses.
That dismissive and contemptuous posture towards the new brand of
feminist leaders was appropriately condemned by the court as lacking a
basis in reality.
There are, of course, some remaining issues to address. The attacks
against Sarah Palin will continue. They are distractions meant to keep
her off message. There will be times when Sarah Palin will have to
take one for the team in order to continue on with her message to the
country and simply resolve matters without having to incur crushing
personal debt. That is the cost, unfortunately, of public life today.
When that happens, read the details closely – like the details in this
court opinion. Every time you do you will see that Sarah Palin has
always acted with honest intent. You will see that again soon. Today’s
ruling is a positive step not just for Sarah and Todd Palin, but for
all female chief executives currently in office – and waiting to take
office in November.
- Thomas Van Flein, Attorney for Sarah Palin