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Palin criticism of Clinton private email brings back memories

Upon hearing about Sarah Palin's recent Facebook post where she paints Hillary Clinton's use of private email accounts as shady and corrupt, I had to call my friend Zane Henning to get his take. As usual, we were both on the same page: Sarah Palin's hypocrisy knows no bounds.

During Palin's time in office, Zane and I exposed Sarah's abuses of power when we filed ethics complaints. He knew Sarah and Todd personally, and I'd dealt with her since 2002, when she unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor. Suffice it to say we knew she didn't belong in the governor's office.

We did not want to shrug off Sarah's FB post. It was another in a long line of false utterances within the culture of lies and deception she practiced during her (undeserved) time in office. It reads as follows:

This Clinton email scandal can't be shrugged off. If this doesn't strike you as shady and corrupt, I don't know what will. Didn't anyone in the Obama administration notice that the Secretary of State for "the most transparent administration in history" was only using a private email account for all her government business? And her answer to all these questions is a tweet? Diplomacy (and cover ups) by Twitter continues

Palin's dishonest Facebook post is no small matter to us since we first "discovered" Sarah's flagrant use of private email accounts for official business in July of 2008, before her Yahoo account was hacked a couple of months later. We separately requested and reviewed four banker boxes filled with emails belonging to Palin aides Ivy Frye and Frank Bailey. We then alerted the media after we found, amid the mostly redacted emails, an email that revealed Palin's gov.sarah@yahoo.com underneath a partial redaction because the highlighter used for blacking out the email addresses had dried up.

It's important to note that Palin's staff and Cabinet knew all along that she used private email accounts and said nothing.

Sensitive and confidential business was sent and received on unsecured and unprotected networks and servers and her cabinet officials, commissioners, aides and nearly all public officials she dealt with did not raise any red flags that official email accounts should be used. How's that for shady and corrupt.

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All the while these communications were traveling the back channels, hardly a day went by without the public having to hear or read Palin's incessant refrain of having the most honest, ethical, open and transparent administration.

It wasn't long before the dissonant cacophony from Palin, her cabinet and aides turned the attention of some brave souls toward her conduct. A handful of citizens, radio talk show hosts, two bankers and one editor went on the offensive to expose Palin's shady and corrupt administration. Most everyone else, especially legislators, shrugged. Palin's poll numbers were daunting.

It was at this time that Zane and I, separately, requested those emails. We became good friends as we launched an epic battle with Alaska's corrupt governor.

Palin's response?

We were derided, maligned and vilified by Palin, her chief of staff, spokespersons, Cabinet members, aides, pals and others …but, the rest is history.

However, there is still work to be done. Alaska's public records and records preservations laws must be updated.

After a trip to the Alaska Supreme Court, (SP•6716 S-13861 McLeod v. Parnell, 286 P3d 509), it became clearer that "public records" includes official business conducted on private email accounts. But, laws need to be changed in order to guarantee that state business is conducted and preserved properly -- and to prohibit the use of private email accounts for official business.

When then Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell took over after Sarah quit, his commissioner of administration initiated a policy that directed all employees to use official email accounts "whenever feasible."

That's not good enough.

Former Rep. Kay Brown took the lead and updated electronic public records and records preservation laws when she was in the Legislature in the early '90s. It's high time they get updated.

The issue is not only the public's right to review official records.

Official business should only be conducted on protected and secure networks and servers, not unprotected and unsecured servers and networks … open to hackers and ne'er do wells.

Also, properly preserved records mitigate the state's liabilities when events are reconstructed in court cases.

Most state workers diligently working away in the trenches of the bureaucracy know how to separate their public and private business and use state-supplied email accounts for official business, according to standard office policies, procedures and regulations. They know they can get dinged for violations, up to termination.

But, when public officials believe they have a right to not follow set protocols, they abuse their power.

As my friend Zane and I finished our call, we parted as usual -- 'thank goodness she quit' -- and rejoiced as Palin's culture of lies and deception hobbles to oblivion.

Andrée McLeod has lived in Alaska since 1978. She is a former state employee and open-government activist.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.

Andrée McLeod

Andrée McLeod moved to Alaska 35 years ago. She is a registered Republican who believes in the power of the citizen to keep politicians in line.

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