A pending embezzlement indictment may explain why Sarah Palin on July 3 suddenly announced her mid-term resignation as the governor of Alaska, leaving her future plans unclear.
The former U.S. vice presidential nominee, who's attracted an ardent following among conservative Republicans, may not be resigning because she's contemplating a run for the White House, as many media pundits are speculating.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announces that she is stepping
down from her position as Governor in Wasilla, Alaska,
on Friday July 3, 2009. The former GOP vice presidential
candidate made the surprise announcement, saying she
would step down July 26 but didn't announce her plans.
(AP Photo/Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Robert DeBerry)
She may not be resigning because she's sick of all the ethics attacks and verbal abuse from the political left, and she may not be resigning due to revelations in a recent Vanity Fair article about her poor relationship with the 2008 presidential campaign of John McCain.
More to the point, she may not be resigning for the reason declared in her press conference Friday that because she's decided not to run for governor again in 2010, she's quitting her job to avoid being a "lame duck" governor. That feels to me like a lame excuse for Palin suddenly bailing on her duty to the citizens of Alaska.
Instead, I'm considering the assertion of investigative reporter Brad Friedman in The Brad Blog, citing story confirmation from "multiple sources" in Alaska, that Palin will resign July 26 because of pending criminal charges for embezzlement during her term as mayor.
The charges, Friedman claims, flow from federal investigators discovering that the Wasilla Sports Complex and Palin's house in Wasilla feature the "same windows, same wood, same products" – all supplied and installed by the same construction contractor, Spenard Building Supplies (SBS).
As supporting evidence, Friedman excerpted an October 8, 2008, Village Voice story that the same contractors building the $12.5 million sports center and ice rink in Wasilla (SBS) also assisted Todd Palin with building his family's two-story, 3,450-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house in the town. Todd Plain described these contractors as his "buddies."
If Palin or her husband, Todd, is indicted for misappropriating construction materials meant for the town sports complex to build the Palin's home, the ensuing embezzlement trial would make the many past accusations of local and state ethics violations pale by comparison. If convicted, Palin or her husband could be looking at prison time.
Friedman said his sources in Alaska told him that federal investigators had asked them to remain quiet about the looming indictment, so none of his sources have gone on the record with their names. Further, Friedman said he was unable to gain confirmation from any federal sources.
Consequently, without named sources, the reliability of Friedman's report remains in doubt. In fact, an FBI spokesperson has denied that Palin is being investigated by that federal agency.
Logically, however, the FBI denial does not rule out an investigation by some other federal agency, especially the IRS, or maybe a state agency. If the IRS is involved, the alleged crime may be filing a fradulent tax return by failing to report embezzled construction supplies and services as income.
Perhaps Friedman's Alaska sources mislead him, yet I must concede that he's repeatedly proven his credibility in the past by breaking many other far-fetched stories that later proved to be true, such as the 2000 and 2004 voting "irregularities" in Florida and Ohio.
Naturally, I'm waiting for all the facts to emerge, but I have to admit that Friedman's reason for Palin's sudden resignation makes a lot more sense to me than anything else I've heard so far.
Gov. Palin survived "Troopergate" and other state ethics scandals, so I can't imaging this "pit bull with lipstick" would resign because she's tired of the political in-fighting that she's been winning.
And given that Palin's gubernatorial term ends in 2010, I cannot see any logic in ruining her chances for a credible presidential race in 2012 by prematurely resigning as Alaska governor. Her seasoned political advisors surely must have warned her that a "quitter" stands scant chance of ever being elected to the White House.
And when I listen to Palin's disjointed performance at the hastily called news conference near her Wasilla home yesterday (see below), her inexplicable sports analogy of passing the basketball for the good of team Alaska only makes sense if she's about to face some challenge that would prevent her from performing her duties as governor, such as a criminal indictment.
Finally, when I observe that the press conference yesterday sounded more like a Tina Fey Saturday Night Live comedy sketch than a serious press event from a serious potential presidential candidate, I'm increasingly led to the conclusion that Brad Friedman might have nailed the inside story, again.
Did Sarah Palin resign as the governor of Alaska because she's about to be charged with a federal or state crime? There may be a conservative backlash against anyone asking the question or even reporting the allegation, yet that's predictable. Rather than attacking the messenger, let's see what the weeks and months ahead reveal.
- Palin resignation leaves questions on 2012 run
- Palin abandons Alaska, cites 'politics as usual'
- Sarah Palin may be prosecuted by feds for embezzlement (video)
- Gov. Sarah Palin resigns: the latest episode in her ongoing soap opera
- The Top Ten reasons Sarah Palin is resigning
- Did Sarah Palin just abandon a sinking ship?
- Palin resigns as governor, leaves plans secret
- Palin won't seek re-election in 2010, stepping down within weeks
- Palin to resign as Alaska Governor July 26
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ABOUT COMMENTS: Feel free to agree or disagree with the column, yet accept that comments which are off-topc or
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Comments
it certainly does make sense. Perhaps the news will surface now that she is passing the baton.
Great article, good story - what news should be like.
:-)
Don't get it. Assume that she IS about to be indicted. What advantage does she get by resigning now?
= Robert says:
= Don't get it. Assume that she IS about to be = indicted. What advantage does she get by = = resigning now?
= July 4, 12:15 PM
==========================================
Finish & sell book before indictment announced. Unsellable after, probably a 50% to 90% drop in potential buyers (esp. due to upright conservatives, and i guess self-righteous rednecks, ditching.)
More funds to pay for the couple's defense.
If she finished after: the book would appeal mainly to the prurient.
Not true at all: bit.ly/mAokY
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-palin5-2009jul05,0,7018263.story
What you mean is you hope she has a pending federal embezzlement indictment. Joey CheeseStick of the Joey Cheesestick.com blog claiming to have "multiple sources" down in AK is hardley a source to be quoting. I don't care that you site that he was right about something that has never been proven to be true accept in your mind.
And you up above here. This isn't a "report" or reporting. This is an opinion. One serious problem we have in this country is apparently people can't tell the difference anymore. My freedom is jepordized by all of your stupidity.
All this could be true about Palin. All bets are off as far as politicians ethics are concerned but this is nothing but gossip that fits your world view. You put off all the failed attempts to catch her doing something illegal as scandals but they are merely failed attempts to discredit her. The scandal is her opponents.
I never heard of this "Examiner" before. Gee I wonder who is putting the money up for this misinformation?
Sarah Palin not under FBI investigation, agency spokesman says
Reporting from Washington -- A day after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin resigned, a federal official in her home state dismissed one potential explanation for her sudden and unexpected resignation: a rumored FBI investigation into the former Wasilla mayor on public corruption charges.
Despite rumors of a looming controversy after the Republican governor's surprise announcement Friday that she would leave office this month, some of them published in the blogosphere, the FBI's Alaska spokesman said the bureau had no investigation into Palin for her activities as governor, as mayor or in any other capacity.
"There is absolutely no truth to those rumors that we're investigating her or getting ready to indict her," Special Agent Eric Gonzalez said in a phone interview Saturday. "It's just not true." He added that there was "no wiggle room" in his comments for any kind of inquiry.
latimes.com/news/nationworld/nati
Judah, nice to see you've come back to post again. Your sane voice has been missed.
I agree with Susan. I'm glad you are back, Judah, and I hope you post often despite all the ugliness from those who try to shout down anyone challenging their dogma.
I always know you've hit home when the right wingers attack you, which is why I love your new comments policy.
If anyone wants to disagree with you, if they do so with civility, offering facts and clear reasoning (like drjohn below who reported the FBI disclaimer), you welcome that, I gather.
But I support you in removing all the flaming angry SHOUTING comments. I feel that insulting those who disagree is unacceptable. I doubt these people do so on their jobs or with their families. I think they vent their bile here at Examiner only because they are anonymous.
I hope other Examiners copy your policy and start removing hate-filled comments. Let there be "ardent" debate, but without the hate-speech.
Actually, I wish Examiner would let writers moderate comments like I can do on my blog.
A friend told me about this Sarah Palin posting and warned me that the headline is a lie. As a lawyer, I've now analyzed both the article and the headline.
In the first half of his article, Mr. Freed factually reports that an allegation about Sarah Palin has been made. He tells us who made the allegation and what evidence is behind the claim. I personally do not believe the allegation, but Mr. Freed is acting properly as a journalist in truthfully reporting that the allegation exists.
In the second half of his article, Mr Freed says why he thinks the allegation MAY be true. By the process of elimination, he concludes that a possible (IRS?) indictment makes more sense to him than any other explanation. I disagree with him, but he has a right to his opinion, and he labels it as such.
His headline says a federal indictment MAY explain why Palin resigned. I disagree, but he is correct that it MAY be an explanation. He closes by saying we must wait and see. I'm okay waiting.
The cost to defend such a charge will be paid by whom? I expect that Rockefeller may be helping out with the costs? I might be wrong about that. To "suspect" this without the evidence is evidently just a way to try and devastate Ms. Palin. further. Big Deal.
OK, hindsight is 20/20. Care to take any of this back Judah?
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