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From the WSJ
Jul. 8th, 2009 06:07 amhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB124700261179807839.html
This situation developed because Alaska's transparency laws allow anyone to file Freedom of Information Act requests. While normally useful, in the hands of political opponents FOIA requests can become a means to bog down a target in a bureaucratic quagmire, thanks to the need to comb through records and respond by a strict timetable. Similarly, ethics investigations are easily triggered and can drag on for months even if the initial complaint is flimsy.
Let. me. get. this. straight.
Sarah Palin. Was chased out of office. By FOIA requests??!?
The prospect of having to tell people what their state government was up to was so daunting that the governor had to quit. As opposed to hiring two new college-educated minions to deal with the massive onslaught of documents.
Look, having to deal with discovery-as-harassment sucks. I admit this freely. But this woman, who has the First Amendment exactly backwards, gets none of my sympathy. The government is accountable to the people, period, end of story. If it took her this long to realize she'd be subjected to more scrutiny as a governor than as a private citizen...
... Sweet Zombie Jesus.
I await the inevitable chorus of FOIA baad!, led by the usual evil suspects.
Karl Rove acknowledges the unusual battering Ms. Palin has endured in recent months, but told Fox News that GOP leaders are still puzzled by her decision. "If she wanted to escape the ethics investigations and save the taxpayers money, she's now done that," he said. Unfortunately, he added, her decision "sent a signal that if you do this kind of thing to a sitting governor like her, you can drive her out of office."
Oh, gee. Karl Rove has an opinion about this. Shock.
This situation developed because Alaska's transparency laws allow anyone to file Freedom of Information Act requests. While normally useful, in the hands of political opponents FOIA requests can become a means to bog down a target in a bureaucratic quagmire, thanks to the need to comb through records and respond by a strict timetable. Similarly, ethics investigations are easily triggered and can drag on for months even if the initial complaint is flimsy.
Let. me. get. this. straight.
Sarah Palin. Was chased out of office. By FOIA requests??!?
The prospect of having to tell people what their state government was up to was so daunting that the governor had to quit. As opposed to hiring two new college-educated minions to deal with the massive onslaught of documents.
Look, having to deal with discovery-as-harassment sucks. I admit this freely. But this woman, who has the First Amendment exactly backwards, gets none of my sympathy. The government is accountable to the people, period, end of story. If it took her this long to realize she'd be subjected to more scrutiny as a governor than as a private citizen...
... Sweet Zombie Jesus.
I await the inevitable chorus of FOIA baad!, led by the usual evil suspects.
Karl Rove acknowledges the unusual battering Ms. Palin has endured in recent months, but told Fox News that GOP leaders are still puzzled by her decision. "If she wanted to escape the ethics investigations and save the taxpayers money, she's now done that," he said. Unfortunately, he added, her decision "sent a signal that if you do this kind of thing to a sitting governor like her, you can drive her out of office."
Oh, gee. Karl Rove has an opinion about this. Shock.
