Rumors fly about Palin’s ‘iceberg scandal’
Published: July 3, 2009
Updated 4 months ago
Updates: MyFOX National runs article on embezzlement rumors; GOP strategist says ‘inept’ move could seem ’suspicious’ to many; BradBlog now suggests that Palin’s resignation was due to an upcoming Federal indictment for embezzlement. Max Blumenthal at The Daily Beast adds more details.
In the wake of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s surprise resignation on Friday, rumors are beginning to circulate that she might have acted in anticipation of a previously unsuspected scandal being revealed.
Alaskan blogger Shannyn Moore suggested at Huffington Post that “rumors of an ‘iceberg scandal’ have been circulating” even before today’s announcement.
“Resignation is certainly out of character for Sarah Palin,” Moore noted. “Senator Mark Begich had a meeting with Sarah Palin two days ago with no mention of her leaving office. Palin’s press secretary, David Murrow had posted on his Facebook page Wednesday, ‘David Murrow is considering life’s ironies.’ He was hired less than a month ago. Yesterday he wrote, ‘There’s gonna be some fireworks this weekend!’”
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo similarly suggested, “Remember that based on the public record, Palin is a wildly unethical public official, guilty at a minimum of numerous instances of abusing her authority as governor. And a lot of very damaging information has come out about her in the last few days — though mainly embarrassing information about her character rather than new evidence of bad acts. I would not be surprised if this latest round of revelations shook something else loose that we haven’t heard about yet.”
Moore later spoke by phone with BradBlog’s Brad Friedman and told him that “Palin is ‘resigning as part of damage control’ due to a scandal this is ‘not of a family nature.’”
“The governor would not be able to continue her job when it comes out,” Moore told Friedman. “Why would Mark Sanford not resign, but Sarah Palin did? Her family didn’t even know about the resignation until they were standing with her by the lake when she made her announcement.”
Update: BradBlog is now reporting additional information received from Alaskans who follow Palin: “I’ve now been able to get independent information from multiple sources that all of this precedes what are said to be possible federal indictments against Palin, concerning an embezzlement scandal related to the building of Palin’s house and the Wasilla Sports Complex built during her tenure as Mayor. Both structures, it is said, feature the ’same windows, same wood, same products.’ Federal investigators have been looking into this for some time, and indictments could be imminent, according to the Alaska sources.”
Max Blumenthal at The Daily Beast offers additional details:
One logical place to start looking is the affair that has Alaska political circles buzzing: an alleged scandal centered around a building contractor, Spenard Building Supplies, with close ties to Palin and her husband, Todd.
Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002. The home was built just two months before Palin began campaigning for governor, a job which would have provided her enhanced power to grant building contracts in the wide-open state. …
Though Todd Palin told Fox News he built his Lake Lucille home with the help of a few “buddies,” according to Barrett’s report, public records revealed that SBS supplied the materials for the house. While serving as mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin blocked an initiative that would have required the public filing of building permits—thus momentarily preventing the revelation of such suspicious information.
Just months before Palin left city hall to campaign for governor, she awarded a contract to SBS to help build the $13 million Wasilla Sports Complex. The most expensive building project in Wasilla history, the complex cost the city an additional $1.3 million in legal fees and threw it into severe long-term debt. For SBS, however, the bloated and bungled project was a cash cow.
Questions about the construction of Palin’s house are not new. An article last fall by Wayne Barrett at the Village Voice offered many of the same speculations that are now being presented by Blumenthal and others as possible explanations for Palin’s resignation.
If these allegations turn out to be accurate, Palin’s problems would be ironically similar to the scandal which torpedoed former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens’ career. That also involved improvements to his home for which he made no payment.
MyFOX National runs embezzlement rumors article
Saturday afternoon, the blog reports on potential reasons why Palin dropped out hit the mainstream media.
Mike Brody, reporting for MyFOX National, asks “Is Palin Facing Embezzlement charges?”
“When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abruptly announced Friday that she would leave office more than a year early, many wondered what she would do and why she was resigning,” Brody writes. “Now we may have some answers.”
The article, which is being carried by multiple Fox affiliates, continues, “Reports have surfaced that Palin may have quit her job because she was trying to avert a major, yet-to-be-disclosed corruption scandal.”
“The crux of the rumor is that Alaska building company Spenard Building Supplies (SBS) was awarded a contract by Palin to build a hockey arena in Wasilla, Alaska, and in return, SBS helped construct the Palins’ home,” Brody writes, before linking to online reports already noted above.
GOP strategist: ‘Inept’ move may seem ’suspicious’ to many
The former National Campaign Director for the Reagan-Bush 1984 campaign said Palin’s sudden, shocking resignation was not only “inept,” but that it could look “suspicious” to many.
“Everyone’s goint to assume there’s another story,” Edward John “Ed” Rollins told CNN. “You don’t just quit with a year-and-a-half to go as governor. You certainly don’t do this as a stepping stone to run for president. You finish the job that you’re in, and obviously she’s not doing that. I think people are going to be very suspicious because of the timing. You don’t quit on a Friday of a three-day holiday.”
Rollins continued, “If you’re going to do this, you think it through, you give a good speech. You basically have an audience. I think, to a certain extent, this has just made her look totatlly inept.”
However, Rollins’ words should be taken with a grain of salt since he worked as national campaign chairman and senior adviser for Mike Huckabee during the former Arkansas governor’s unsuccessful attempt to garner the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Huckabee, along with Mitt Romney, would probably be two of Palin’s biggest rivals if she chooses to run for president in 2012.
The following video is from CNN.
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Okay enough! This slag heap empty headed gidget has received more than her fair share of fifteen minutes of fame! Enough already, including you RAW!
No need to dignify the likes of her, Coulter,Limbaugh etc. here! Let’s get on with what’s more important!
Getting our fucking country back!!
Thanks!
Have a great day!
peace……..?
May as well give it up, emkay. Shit like this is about stirring up anger, hence, more hits. I’ve written the same thing about the same human garbage and they STILL keep showing up here.
uhhhh maybe its just a story about the former VP candidate and GOP star….
the anger seems to be on you guys, who call people ‘human garbage’ after they have done.. what? exactly? im not remembering any time she ate a truckload of babies or set the river on fire.
“the anger seems to be on you guys, who call people ‘human garbage’ after they have done.. what? exactly? im not remembering any time she ate a truckload of babies or set the river on fire.”
____________________________________________
Wow aren’t you the same guy who screamed “LEAVE BRITNEY SPEARS ALONE!!”, all over the net last year?
It’s an honour to have you here!
I’d rather listen to the undoing of a Palin than hear another word about Michael Jackson.
Palin 2012 = two terms for Obama. Fine with me.
Sorry,
But just 7 months of Obushma is already 7 months too many.
How’s he coming on getting Cynthia Mckinney released from illegal custody after Israel kidnapped her? ANY word out of Obushma’s mouth yet on that?
I don’t celebrate elections like football game wins: That the Republicans “lost” means NOTHING if Obushma just continues the Republican-style government.
Sure Palin bites, but Obama is president, what has HE changed for the BETTER?
Thank you David Letterman!
You don’t take yourself out of an elected position if you’re planning on running for something bigger…unless you’re running from something…maybe she has been discussing her future with the South Carolina governor.
They found some bad tuna in her pants.
Dude, that wasn’t tuna…it was her!
it wasn’t shashimi, it was shaskanky!
It was ME; I was in there…not.
grow up
I detect the distinct odor of misogyny here. Take a whiff of your scrotum, Mr. Crane.
I’ll wait to see what scandal, if any, comes out. Anybody who listened to all or parts of today’s press conference (and who has half a brain) will have written her off as a serious candidate. If a scandal does emerge, hopefully those with at least a quarter of a brain will writer her off, too.
As for the ones with less than a quarter of a brain? Shoot - those were the ones who thought Katie Couric was picking on poor Sarah…. They’re beyond comprehension.
There’s more to this story. Somebody or an investigation has hit home on something that can’t let her stay in office. I listened to her announcement, and it sounded like it was a rushed, put together speech that was done with only her family. If she would have done it with friends or her people, the would have leaked possibly why she was leaving which she really didn’t say but in a round about way that it was becasue the UNIVERSE was mean to her.
Her news conference was more mindless babbling that revealed nothing.
mindless babbling? from palin?
and this is noteworthy because….?
we ARE dealing with a woman who went to 7(!) colleges before somebody finally gave her a piece of paper to go away. that and the fact that she was the hockey team chew toy for so long that the flavor went away.
It is likely that Mrs. Palin will become much more of a threat to our freedom, our intelligence, and certainly our wildlife now that she is retiring from the Governor’s office. After a few months out of office, the Palins will be able to sneak around causing mischief without the scrutiny that goes along with elected office. That doesn’t bode well for anything good.
The strategy that Palin and her family is likely to follow for the next few months is the same one that someone trying to sell a house goes through after a year or so on the market.
The Palins will first suffer through a few weeks of national media coverage of the latest revelations and then you will not see them until sometime before the holidays. For the home seller, they’ll take a bit of a hit at first but once the For Sale sign comes down, everyone will forget the home ever was on the market (hopefully).
During their self-imposed seclusion, Palin will work tirelessly to bone up on a range of issues similar to those a presidential candidate might choose. The homeowner will also spend lots of time painting, sanding, planting, and cleaning in their house in the same way one would do if they were thinking of selling again.
Then, a small sampling of Palin and her family will be doled out to the publc by an obsequious media just before the holidays to “reconnect” with the nation. The homeowner will make sure that the spruced-up
abode is ready for its’ reintroduction to the market by holding a small open house for the neighbors and others.
Fast forward to Palin’s second coming falling flat when she realizes that you cannot cram a lifetime of knowledge into six months of internet research. And as for the homeowner, while the paint job looked good for a short time, the cracked foundation, termite-ridden walls, and leaded drinking water pipes always broke the deal and a complete teardown was really the only answer.
CB
IF - and IF can be a very big word - the rumors turn out to be true, and Palin looks like the Titanic slamming into an iceberg, the fall-out will render sit-coms obsolete.
Why, I do believe I hear Bloomberg announcing Orville Reddenbacher’s stock has just EXPLODED!!
I remember hearing the seagulls in the background yucking it up.
I hope she ends her political career for good. I just abhor her politics.
And all this cheerful talk about doing things that will be good for Alaska? This pep talk about avoiding politics as usual? This has got to be QUITE a disruption for the state of Alaska, and I don’t envy Alaska’s citizens one bit.
Actually, she was found smoking green ciggies in the ballot room with Jose Ventura in Minnesota.
Been in Kentucky politics for 30+ years, enough to know BS and political mumbo jumbo when I hear it and when I smell it
I was in a doctors office waiting room forced to watch and listen to Faux News as this story broke.
It was hilarious to watch and listen to them try to spin this as positive……..first she was temporarily stepping down and Lt Governor was going to be in charge for a short while, and the speculated as to why that was to be
Then they HAD to report that she was actually quitting, and of course, that was so she could run for President FULL TIME (never mind that she ran for VICE PRESIDENT and did NOT resign) and so forth and so on……
I want the other media to replay those Faux comments when the indictment is handed down, when the charges are brought, and especially when the verdict is in
Damn, I was so looking forward to beating the sox off of her in 2012
At this rate Bobby Jindal is up to bat, and he has two strikes on him already.
two strikes being….
1: he’s a republican who is not an old white guy.
2: that whole voodoo thing.
Psst! Keep your eye on Haley Barbour. He’s quickly becoming the dark horse to beat Romney or Pawlenty. And he has those Southern bona fides.
I can see prison from my stolen doorstep……
Who’s going to watch my retarded family while I’m wearing orange?
They were arrested by Sergeant Preston of the Mounties as they tried to cross the border…..developing
“I can see prison from my stolen doorstep…”
–priceless!
I knew there was more to this story, I just knew it. Her house and the Wasalla Sport Complex built by the same company for favors, no wonder she just straight up quit. Andrea Mitchell earlier in the day said after during a break on Hardball was quoted that Palin was totally out of politics. They only do this when the jig is up, somebody turned federal witness and they know it.
What happened to family values? and all that other Jesus uber alles self-rightousness? These people are crap and I can’t not look in the mirror myself, so, I RENOUNCE CHRISTIANITY. Thank you Sarah, Sanford, Vitter, Larry Craig, Jim Bakker et al (the list is looong), I would rather burn in your theoretical hell than be hypocrite.
Indictment.
I really want to know about all those ethics complaints she is fighting..That would tell me a lot about what is going on..This lady still thinks she is entitled..Thats why the truth has to come out ……..She was the most mean spirited politican I ever heard…………….If she ran again she would unite the KKK ,neo nazis and the worst of the worst..Its what she does best..
Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Most appropriate use of that old chestnut ever.
i liike her she pretee she nice laidee i vote four hur presedent
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin’ my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
PS. Viva la Schadenfreude!
HEY CONSERVATIVES …
How’s that ‘ Letterman is a pedophile attack’ working out for you?
Is it still ‘Morning in America’ ?
LOL
bitch, go away.
No one fucks with Letterman.
.
Can’t wait for monday night on david letterman, just can’t wait. During the out and out pedophile branding of David Letterman a few weeks ago, she didn’t look like whe was going anywhere. I guess somehow she found out that they had the goods on her and she wanted to get out of office as fast as she can. To be honest with you, I don’t think that she will last till the end of the month. Because as I said before about the awkward news conference that nobody including her family knew she was quitting, what ever was found out must have been told to her Friday night. And if it’s as bad as it sound, she will just leave.
Is Sarah Palin finished?
http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=5668
.
and don’t forget that picture oh her sucking royal canadian moose cock
From the very start of Palin being on the national stage of politics her judgement has been suspect to me. I still have a problem with the story of her “waterbreaking” and her political commitments be more important than the safety of her fetus, and the fact that the people around her were shocked to find out she was even pregnant. She paraded her family around like a prop for family values with an out of wed pregnant daughter, and then is offended that became a news story.
This abrupt resignation on a holiday weekend, Friday late afternoon, can only be the result of a coming scandal. I am wondering how deep her family ties are with the Alaska Independence Party and if that also plays a role in this sudden departure.
I agree, I bet that baby isn’t hers but Bristols. If it comes out that it is, the GOP will run not walk away from her as fast as they can.
Looks like Ted’s ‘get out of jail free’ card might have had something to do with under the table construction contracts?
The more things change the more they stay the same. You really got to admire Republicans for their intrinsic denial factor.
ha ha ha the Republicans are eating their own. That’s what I first came here to say, but she’s no Republican, although she’s still greedy filth. Up until like 2001 or 2002 or whenever she was part of the Alaskan Independent Party which wanted to secede Alaska from the rest of the nation to become their own country, I guess.
I just saw her floating in the Pacific Ocean on an “iceberg” with some dirty butted ol’ polar bear- wait……..it’s Mccain!!
Maybe she resigned so she can spend more time away from her family soon?
Or what time she may have left free WITH her family :).
You know it’s bad when Joe “the non-plumber” is leaving the party too.
If you factor in the run f or VP on the campaign trail where she was not alaskas gov. plus britols problem in nov. dec,. jan. she served all of 2 years maybe. She quits energy oil and gas commision and she quit gov. job..Their is no crying in politics. This lady needs to stay home as she is not qualified either in smarts or personality..
It used to puzzle me, a few years ago, when Repugs were pushing so hard to change the constitution so Schvartzeneggherr could run for Prexi. I just couldn’t believe they were so bereft of leadership quality within their native born ranks that that they would have to try recruit a former bricklayer who ate roids three times a day as if it was bread. I guess they were and still are.
That guy is such a joke. “Don’t be an economic girley man!” is now “Here’s an IOU. Take it or I’ll slap you with my purse!”
Granted, he’s not the sole problem with California.. There’s enough blame to go around, but he inherited the perfect laboratory, and he blew it up.
Those of us who were watching the election KNEW it was going to go bad when Tom actually had a real, for real, fiscal blueprint which he could explain in actual words..
When asked for his response, R-nolds handlers said he was too busy to talk, cause he was “consulting with world economic leaders” at the moment. (LOL!)
Translation: “What should I say? My opponent has a plan, I’m nothing but an overgrown ding-dong with a speech impediment? Please help me!”
Then the press white washed it and basically gave him a boost. It was pathetic.
While his state drowns, he’s attending photo ops in DC, spitting out nearly un-intelligible soundbytes like a machine gun and mugging for the camera. The guy is a bigger punchline than Palin. I have no idea why he always seems to get a pass.
A deal was probably struck involving Palin resigning in exchange for the feds not prosecuting her and/or her husband.
The DOJ still remains highly politicized, even with President Obama now in the White House and Eric Holder as Mukasey’s/Gonazles’ replacement as Attorney General.
The right-wing politicized DOJ is full of CRAP (Cover Republican Asses, Punks), with recent events in Alaska supporting this conclusion.
Gov. Palin resigning abruptly under a cloud of suspicion that federal indictments were forthcoming.
Don Young (R-AK). Two Republican representatives. Prosecutorial misconduct by Republican-appointed U.S. attorneys (on purpose?). Cases thrown out, no retrial or no trial at all. Elected Alaskan Republicans skate, with the Obama/Holder DOJ continuing the Republican-friendly policies of the corrupt and criminal Bush/Cheney years.
And then there’s the strange case of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman (D-AL) in which there is massive evidence of prosecutorial misconduct by Republican-appointed U.S. attorneys down Alabama way, much more prosecutorial misconduct than that said to have occurred up in Alaska…and yet Obama’s/Holder’s DOJ throws out the Alaska cases while continuing to vigorously pursue and prosecutorially push the Siegelman case.
Thus, the DOJ is still highly politicized. It’s still full of CRAP (Cover Republican Asses, Punks). And the abrupt resignation of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) only makes sense if a deal was struck between the Republican/conservative/DINO-corrupted DOJ and her. And how much do you want to bet that all these rumors of an impending indictment against Palin now come to nothing, now that she has resigned and said she’s leaving politics for good (wink, wink)?
She’ll be back. By resigning she has avoided prosecution, and reduced her legal expenses. Plus, she can definitely make much more money in the private sector (possibly a Faux News gig?) than she currently makes as Alaska’s governor, and she won’t have to bother with those silly state ethics rules anymore. (Of course, she couldt have waited a year until her term in office ended to begin legally reaping all that private sector gold, but something must have occurred to “push” her into making this move now, which indicates to me, at least, that a deal was struck between her and the prosecutors dogging her trail).
It all kind of makes one wonder if a Bush mole at DOJ gave her a head’s up! Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if that were the case.
This is similar to what Trafficant went down for.. Except that in the case of Trafficant, he was basically hated by his peers, many of them as bad or worse than himself.
Still, baring some major mitigating factor omitted here, it is enough to end her Presidential aspirations.
This is a good thing. I don’t share the almost psychopathic hatred many have developed for Palin, but I don’t want her as a Presidential candidate. She’s prone to soundbytes and sloganeering. Based on her words, I don’t think she has a real political philosophy of her own and makes it up based opinion polls and advice from her handlers. She has other neo-con tendencies which also concern me.. Rightfully so, in my view. Been there, done that for 8 long years already.
The fact that one of the only two flags I saw in her office was the flag of Israel gives me pause also. I feel strongly that our representatives should put AMERICA AND AMERICANS first, second and third, doncha know. We need a focus on domestic policy, not more empire and hand wringing over our “ally” over the troubles they constantly bring upon themselves.
So fuck off, Sarah.. been nice knowing ya.
Now if there were only some way to knock Mitt Romeny & Hillary out of the running! That I would be truly excited about!
IF indictments were to come her way…I can hear it now. She’s going to claim (LOUDLY and REPEATEDLY) that it’s all “politically motivated”. She’ll proclaim her usual victim status, blame it on Liberals in general and Obama specifically…wasting taxpayer dollars on attacking her because she’s such a bright light of “freedom” and “individual liberty” and “justice”!
Yep, I can hear it now.
*sigh*