Alaska Supreme Court to Hear Troopergate Appeal

[Blue_In_AK]

http://www.adn.com/palin/story/545140.html

By SEAN COCKERHAM | [e-mail]

The Alaska Supreme Court has agreed to hear an emergency appeal from lawyers seeking to shut down the Legislature's Troopergate investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin.

The action comes the day after Anchorage Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski threw out their lawsuit attempting to halt the Legislature's investigation of what's known as Troopergate. The suit was filed on behalf of a group of Republican state legislators who oppose the investigation.

In a written order issued about 4:30 p.m. today, the Supreme Court said it would hear oral arguments on the appeal at 3 p.m. Wednesday, and agreed to rule by the end of the next Thursday.

The urgency on timing is because Steve Branchflower, the investigator hired by the Legislative Council, is set to release his report next Friday. Branchflower is looking into Palin's dismissal of her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, and whether she improperly pressured him to fire a state trooper divorced from her sister.

Texas-based Liberty Legal Institute and Anchorage attorney Kevin Clarkson, representing the group of anti-investigation legislators, filed the emergency appeal.

<snip>


The attorney general's office has not joined the appeal to the state Supreme Court. Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Colberg would not be saying what his next move would be until he has a chance to discuss it with the subpoenaed state officials.

[napi21]

1. Awe, Alaska is having their own mini Florida! How fitting, since

it's been mentioned several times that their Governor is Bush, Cheney & Rove all wrapped up in a skirt!

[DCBob]

2. Anybody know the composition of the SC there? Are they pro-Palin?

There must really be some dirt in that report for them to push so hard to block it.

[sattahipdeep]

3. WTF

"The plaintiffs and Alaskans will suffer irreparable harm if the investigation at issue continues and if the resulting investigative report issues as planned on Oct. 10, 2008," they wrote in their appeal.

http://www.adn.com/palin/story/545140.html

[soccermomforobama]

4. Yeah, they will find out that their Governor is a FRAUD!!!!!

And that Todd Palin has really been running the state.

[olegramps]

26. Yeah, truth is a real bitch

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Our Supreme Court tends to lean a little left.

I've known the chief Supreme Court justice since the mid-70s. She's a good person, was formerly the Public Defender for the state before she was a Superior Court judge and then was appointed to the Supremes. I feel pretty confident that they won't overturn Judge Michalski's decision. He is a respected and objective judge with many years experience. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

[Cha]

11. They are..for the good guys.

Toes, too.

[DCBob]

23. Sounds promising. Thanks!!

:thumbsup:

[ProgressiveEconomist]

9. More to the point, are they pro-Republican Party? And the answer must be YES, because

Alaska has been a solid Red state for most of the past generation.

McCain's campaign would not have appealed to the ASC if they did not really fear the disclosure of the investigation results three weeks before the election.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. We're a solid red state

but it seems like our Supreme Court has been very objective and maybe a little left for most of its history. It has consistently upheld since 1975, despite challenges, that our state constitution permits the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use, and a couple of years ago they ruled that same-sex couples employed by the state are entitled to the same benefits as married couples -- which caused a bit of a stir in some circles when it first came out, but the legislature hasn't taken any steps to rewrite the law, so it still stands.

Here's a list of this year's opinions. http://www.touchngo.com/sp/sp.htm I haven't had a chance to look at these, so they could prove me completely wrong. This sort of a judicial dispute -- legislators against the executive, and legislators against legislators -- is something we haven't seen here before that I can recall.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

15. I agree--the decision apparently won't automatically go to the Rs. See post #14

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Sarah has only made one appointment

to the Alaska Supreme Court, and he, as is the case with all the justices, was vetted by the Alaska Judicial Council, who have done a good job in the past.

I'm feeling pretty confident that they will uphold Judge Michalski's decision. From what I've read, the brief presented by the plaintiffs in this case was pretty pathetic, not well cited, while the one filed on behalf of the defendants was filled with case citations and precedent.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

14. I misspoke: Rs have been AK Governors for only 14 of the past 34 years. So there have been

there have been 20 years of Democratic and AK Independence control of the Governor's Mansion in which to select ASC justices that would not necessarily want to help McCain:

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Alaska :

"List of Governors of Alaska

Republican . . . . . . . . . . . . 1974-1982 Jay Hammond
Democratic . . . . . . . . . . . . 1982-1986 Bill Sheffield
Democratic . . . . . . . . . . . . 1986-1990 Steve Cowper
Alaskan Independence 1990-1994 Walter J. Hickel
Democratic . . . . . . . . . . . . 1994-2002 Tony Knowles
Republican . . . . . . . . . . . . 2002-2006 Frank Murkowski
Republican . . . . . . . . . . . . 2006-???? Sarah Palin"

[Blue_In_AK]

16. And Jay Hammond was as close to being a Democrat

as a Republican could be. I voted for him in 1978 and would have again if he'd been allowed to run.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

17. Interesting--There goes my "Dance with the one who brung ya" theory for predicting

judicial decisions--at least for 2008 Alaska.

What about Hickel? Was he closer to being a Democrat or a Republican?

[Blue_In_AK]

19. Hickel is a very interesting character

and I'll come back and tell you about him after Bill Moyers. :)

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Wally Hickel is closer to being a Republican

than a Democrat, but he's got a real strong Libertarian streak. I first became aware of him when he resigned (or maybe was fired) as Richard Nixon's secretary of the interior because he disagreed with how Nixon treated the war protesters. I always kind of liked him for that.

He's a big builder, he's always got big plans. I remember back in the '80s when he thought we should build a pipeline from Alaska to California to transport water, just like the oil pipeline. Everybody kind of laughed at him, but sometimes it seems like it might not be a bad idea. He loves pipelines.

He was a mentor and strong supporter of Sarah Palin's, but he had parted ways with her recently over her gasline project. Many people here, including Wally, think that any natural gas pipeline should be kept within the state, following the route of the existing pipeline, supplying Alaska's communities along the way, and then any excess being shipped from Valdez down to the Lower 48. I don't know the details of Sarah's plan, but the deal she made with Trans-Canada (with the legislature's approval, after a lot of arm-twisting) is that the pipeline would run through Canada, and the word is that the natural gas will go to extract Alberta's tar sands.

I found this little piece at Alaska Dispatch that's a good profile of Wally Hickel today at 89. He's a feisty old guy, still sharp as a tack.
http://alaskadispatch.com/tundra-talk/1-talk-of-the-tundra/23-hickel-stands-by-his-words-stevenss-time-is-over.html

About Sarah:

At one point, Hickel expressed his unhappiness with Gov. Sarah Palin, who last month pushed the Alaska Legislature to grant Calgary-based TransCanada an exclusive state license to build a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline. Hickel, of course, has long favored an “all-Alaska gas line,” with the pipe running to Valdez, where the gas would be turned to liquid and shipped on refrigerated vessels. When Palin was running for governor in 2006, Hickel appeared in advertisements supporting her and the Alaska pipeline.

“I made her governor,” Hickel told me, “but when she did that deal with the Canadians, I wrote her a letter and I told her, ‘I’m never going to support you again.’ Now we’ve got to replace her."

But as a good Republican soldier, he did end up endorsing the McCain/Palin ticket. I'm sure pressure was applied. http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=8955455&ClientType=Printable

[ProgressiveEconomist]

21. Thanks for that--He was in Nixon's Cabinet? So that's why his name sounded familiar

[Blue_In_AK]

22. I found this old October 4, 1971, article from Time Magazine

about old Wally that's kind of fascinating reading this far out. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905435,00.html

[spanone]

5. and mccain has the nerve to use the word 'change'. this is as bu$h-like as it gets

[vaberella]

6. Blue..how's it really looking and sounding in Alaska to you?

Is it really going to be heavy or do you think there might be a chance this gets dismissed.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. I'm not certain it will be resolved before the election

but from all accounts Branchflower has said he will be delivering a report, albeit maybe incomplete, by next Friday. Even if it isn't resolved before November, I feel certain there will be repercussions when the legislature reconvenes in January. The way McCain and Palin have handled this has upset a lot of people here, all acros the board -- particularly with the interference of the out-of-state lawyers. See this post if you missed it... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4154042&mesg_id=4154042

[DCBob]

24. Thanks for all your comments on this. Who knows what will happen but it does sound hopeful...

they will let this investigation proceed as they should. I am astounded by the all the pressure and legal tactics the McCain/Palin team have used to block this investigation. They must be terrified of what it could contain.

[ShadowLiberal]

10. I don't like the sound of it that they agreed to hear the case

If they were going to rule that the investigation should continue then why not just turn down the request to hear their appeal?

If that happens then we need to start screaming up a storm about Palin and Alaska being filled with ultra corrupt and power abusing republican politicians, and how a republican controlled legislature decided Palin had acted inappropriately enough to launch the investigation.

[Blue_In_AK]

13. They probably decided to take it

to at least give the appearance of being politically neutral. I worked as a legal secretary/paralegal here for 25 years, and from my experience they usually don't turn cases down flat, unlike the U.S. Supreme Court. And I would guess, especially in a case as hot as this one, they would want to take special pains to appear unbiased.

[4lbs]

25. They're going to rule by next Thursday? Big deal.

The investigator said he'd be done by Friday, Oct 10.

So.... what are the odds that the Alaska Supreme Court will stall until late Thursday, and then the investigator issues his report and findings a day earlier, right before they rule?