'First dude' emails released

MSNBC reports in a very long story this morning about the contents of nearly 3,000 pages of Todd Palin-related emails released by the State of Alaska under a Freedom of Information Act request filed by MSNBC and NBC News. The report says that the emails contain evidence of all sorts of stunning behavior that many Alaskans have suspected for quite some time. About 1,200 separate emails were released this week in the request, but 243 of them were withheld on the grounds of executive privilege, and many were heavily redacted. The un-redacted emails show, among other things, that Todd Palin was involved in judicial and state board appointments, contract negotiations with public employee unions, also that he received background checks on a corporate CEO, and passed information marked "confidential" (about what appears to be an awarded employee bonus) from his employer (BP) to a state attorney. The still-secret emails, MSNBC judges from the subject lines, show that the First Dude was involved in a laundry list of additional state issues. There's way too much in the article to pass along here, so you'll have to read more here. For a short summary of major findings, read this USA Today brief.