Any day now, your dog will be able to get a job with the State of Alaska--another episode of the "Alaska Hillbillies."

I listened to KUDO yesterday morning (while still in bed, of course) and heard an interview Cary Carrigan did with Andree McLeod, who filed an ethics complaint against Sarah Palin (the story is in the ADN).

A former state employee and political activist filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Sarah Palin and her staff Wednesday. The charge: The governor's office used its influence to get a Palin supporter a state job.

"Executive branch employee shouldn't be getting involved in the recruitment process unless it's based on merit," said Andree McLeod, who wrote the complaint based on a series of e-mails between members of Palin's team.

Palin said the state fixed a "glitch" that prevented a qualified candidate from moving through the hiring process. In this case a longtime surveyor couldn't apply for a job because of outdated job requirements, she said.

"There were no favors done for anybody."

Within the complaint, it mentions that "Tom and Kate Lamal hosted a fundraiser for Sarah Palin at the Pagoda Restaurant in North Pole on Tuesday, June 20, 2006."

It then lists a number of emails from a number of high-level positions within the Administration celebrating Tom Lamal's appointment to a Right-of-Way Agent II position. One particularly disturbing email was from Frank Bailey to Sarah Palin, Kristine Perry and "Unknown":

"This was a long battle but Kevin pushed it through the road blocks to get Tom Lamal hired into a classified position with FAI at DOT."

A classified position...not an appointee position. Also, it's a position that is at least partially paid-for by the Feds.

As has become much too familiar the last several months, here come the catty-little-attacks against the messenger by the Governor and Sharon Leighow:

"This is the same Andree McLeod that follows us around at public events and camps herself out in our waiting area and hounds us for a job, asking us if there's a way she can go around Workplace Alaska and not have to go through the system to get a job with this administration," Palin said.

She also called her that "falafel lady."

Andrew Halcro's blog shows a big chunk-o-emails that Ms. Palin sent to Andree..."that stalker"..."that falafel lady?"

That was a great letter to the ed. this week Andree. I haven't had time to call but wanted to tell you it was, again, insightful & educational & good writing.

I'm still disenchanted with the whole issue of RR and state politics and am not even very optimistic about the call for an independent investigation. We'll see. I guess I'll believe it when I see it.

Hope you're doing well, staying warm & staying on top of all these state issues I'm hearing about on the news!

Love,
SP

He has many more quotes from Sarah to Andree listed. Is Sarah in the habit of regularly emailing and complimenting stalkers?

Andree's FOIA request targeted a specific time period, which is not surprising.

McLeod said she worked for the state off and on for decades, most recently as Alaska Workforce Investment Board manager. She was appointed to the job by former Gov. Frank Murkowski, she said.

It's a good bet that she knew something fishy was going on when she worked there. When she found out Lamal got the job in Feb of this year, she sent in the FOIA.

Having worked for the Feds for 15 years, I encountered a number of "issues" that were more-than-questionable but not provable without a ton of research. If I was pissed off enough to expend the time and energy on all of that research (i.e. if Sarah Palin had led me on with the promise of a job, like she did to SO MANY folks she got lots of free work out of, only to stiff them later on) does it really matter if that was the motivation?

Survey says?

Just as interesting was the information Kyle Hopkins posted on the ADN Blog last night:

Kevin Brooks, the deputy commissioner of Administration, just sent some paperwork related to yesterday's ethics complaint against the Palin administration.

Once again: Palin, some of her staffers and Brooks are accused in a complaint saying they helped Palin supporter Tom Lamal get a state job. The job was a right-of-way agent post in Fairbanks, and Palin says Lamal is a qualified surveyor who wasn't able to go through the hiring process because of outdated requirements for the job.

Those requirements were changed. Lamal was able to get the job.

HERE are the Right-of-Way requirement changes.

When I saw that Kevin Brooks put out this information, I thought that it would definitively show there was nothing to the charges. Then I started comparing.

The Right-of-Way Assistant position (currently hiring) and the Right-of-Way Agent I (ROWA I) are the ONLY right-of-way jobs that even MENTION college in the "updated" minimum requirements. I applied for a few jobs with the State while working for the Feds but I perused Workplace Alaska regularly. I can tell you I've NEVER seen high-level positions like that without college requirements.

And the ROWA II has a SIGNIFICANT drop in the minimum requirements--Lamal is a ROWA II:

Prior to December 2007:

Five years experience in governmental, public, or commercial acquisition or management of real property involving appraising, negotiation, title examining, land recordation, relocation, surveying, cartography and/or drafting, at least one year of which must have been at the level of Right-of-Way Agent I with the State of Alaska or the equivalent elsewhere.

College education in the fields of public land management, real estate, law, business administration, geology, forestry, geography, cartography, or engineering may be substituted for the required nonspecific experience on a year-for-year basis.

Post December 2007:

One year of trainee-professional experience learning to acquire land for construction of highways, airports, buildings or other public facilities through negotiation or eminent domain action; to provide relocation assistance to displaced persons; and to manage State owned right-of-way property. This experience is met by service as a Right of Way Agent I with the State of Alaska, or the equivalent elsewhere.

OR

Two years of professional experience in any of the following: searching, analyzing, and evaluating real property titles; preparing legal land descriptions; appraising real property; acquiring, managing, or disposing of commercial real estate; as an agent for personal or commercial real property transactions, or in surveying or engineering.

Rumor has it that starting for a ROWA II is Range 16A--that equals $3,697.00. One year of trainee/professional experience acquiring land is worth $44,364.00 a year?? That means that an 20-year-old who worked in their parent's Real Estate business could get that job.

I can almost hear those banjos a-playin'!

Breaking: "Top Kopp" to release his personnel file

Per the ADN:

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Chuck Kopp said today he will release his personnel file from the Kenai Police Department.

Kopp, who has been at the center of a political firestorm, said he will release the file to dispel rumors of a history of sexual harassment.

"I am not ashamed of my past," he said.

Kopp became the center of attention after Gov. Sarah Palin abruptly fired Walt Monegan last Friday from the commissioner's job and then appointed him. The governor has said she wants change in the leadership of the department and wants to take it in a new direction, but hasn't said why the department needed fixing.

That's been my issue all along with the press conference and every statement out of the Governor's office. No one has shown us what "new direction" they are talking about...which causes people to question if that's truly the reason.

Kopp has been accused by a former employee of sexually harassing her with unwanted hugs and a kiss on the cheek in 2005. That employee says a Kenai city investigation confirmed her version of events.

Her lawyer, Chuck Robinson, today said he also believed the city investigation substantiated the harassment.

The Palin administration looked into the 2005 charge and said it learned that it was unsubstantiated, according to governor spokeswoman Sharon Leighow.

Hmmm...I've now learned the lingo and it's "unfounded" (proven false), "not sustained" (can't be verified or proven) or "sustained" (proven). I'm curious to know which it is.

Kopp wanted to dispel another rumor also: He said he was never friends with Palin or any of her family. He first met Palin when she was campaigning for governor in July 2006 in Kenai. Later, Palin made him the head of her Department of Public Safety transition team. Kopp said he also served on former Gov. Frank Murkowski's transition team.

I really don't care when Kopp met Palin. I just want to know if he's going to be a "yes man" to the detriment of the Department and Alaska.

I can't wait to see this report, now that I understand better what I'm looking at (after 270+ pages).

Speaking of "Abuse of Power"...

There were many media folks out there trembling with anticipation for the Governor's Press Statement regarding the Halcro accusations/PSEA Press Conference. Imagine everyone's surprise when spokesperson Sharon Leighow's former radio partner Dan Fagan was reading this Press Release on the air at 3:38...before anyone else even received it!

A certain Program Director immediately called Leighow and was told that the release wasn't ready but would be in a few minutes. When he asked why Fagan was reading it, he got the cold shoulder on later calls to Leighow. He then called Janice Mason (the Governor's scheduler...can we say "where the real power lies?") who said she didn't have it either. When he informed her that Dan Fagan had just read it on the air, she made some exclamation and went to investigate. About 5 minutes later, the statement came from Leighow's office to his direct email.

It seems that others were also left in the lurch by Leighow when it came to the release. (***UPDATE*** While the Program Director got his about 4:05 PM--after he contacted Janice Mason and she seemed as surprised as he--one reporter didn't get his until 7:10 PM!!!)

Interestingly, the ones I know of were all folks who have been publicly friendly/supportive of a certain person who has a rather large defamation lawsuit in the works against Leighow and Fagan (among others).

Coincindence?

If Sharon Leighow is trying to earn badges on her road to "Evil Overlord" status she's already halfway there...she's got the "Evil" down pat. She just needs a lot of help with the "Overlord" part. I would highly recommend that she reads "The Top 100 Things I'd Do if I Ever Became an Evil Overlord" in order not to crash and burn early:

48. I will treat any beast which I control through magic or technology with respect and kindness. Thus if the control is ever broken, it will not immediately come after me for revenge.

I think this might qualify, if you think of "access to the Governor" as "magic or technology."

Sharon, ask your boss how well that whole "alleged" "treating-people-badly-through-revenge" thing is working for her.

To Dan Fagan and Sharon Leighow: Karma is a bitch and sometimes it's REALLY EXPENSIVE

My friend Rishi Maharaj has been through hell the last two years thanks to those two and a few others at Anchorage Media Group. It's been torture not to be able to scream about it from the rooftops until now.

However, I'm glad Brenden Joel Kelley at Anchorage Press wrote the first real article on the entire story. It's excellent; he painted an accurate portrayal of what really happened and how Rishi and all of us felt.

Well almost...

He didn't print the diatribe I spewed about the people responsible for trashing Rishi's career for two years, but that's because he's a good journalist and it wasn't appropriate.

That's why I have a blog.

There aren't really many people I despise. And I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, I don't HATE Dan Fagan or Sharon Leighow because I'd actually call 911...eventually...if either of them was hit by a car and lying in the middle of the road. Hell, Dan is friends with some of my family and his presence wouldn't chase me away. However, he's got a wall of bad Karma a mile high waiting for him and a lot of folks feel it's only justice if he gets flattened by that wall very publicly.

He just might.

First, read the article linked above.

Second, over at the Court site you can find Civil Superior Court 3AN-08-06160CI Maharaj, Rishi vs. Anchorage Media Group et al. Peruse the list of folks being sued.

Third, listen to THIS so you understand why. Fagan pretends like he can't pronounce Rishi's name and the first thing he asks about is Rishi's ethnicity. (Think of the insinuating emails about Obama.) Leighow and Fagan work the conversation so they are repeatedly emphasizing that Rishi should have been fired...that he shouldn't be employed until he's "cleared." In a number of subtle and not-so-subtle ways they insinuate that he's guilty. They report many inaccuracies as fact though they had complete access to the correct information.

I went to several of Rishi's court appearances. The only folks there were his friends...and Sharon...the only media rep. It was almost like she was stalking him. It was creepy.

It's hard to believe this was just a few months before Leighow was hired by the Governor Palin.

It's one of the curious aspects of this whole thing. The fact that it was obvious from the start that the DA had nothing. The fact that this dragged-out for two years and then when the Prosecution had run out of delays, the case was dropped. It always made me curious who might be putting the pressure on the Prosecution?

What person could possibly be connected enough to keep pressure on the Prosecution, especially if a walk for Rishi meant the good chance of a successful lawsuit?

I guess we'll never know.