Â
While we journalists in Alaska slept, the Washington Post was busy reporting on the gifts that Gov. Sarah Palin received while in office. Here's how the story starts:
"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows."
And later in the story: "She accepted 18 gifts after the (ethics) law passed in July 2007. Among other provisions, the law forbade executive branch officials from taking gifts from lobbyists or from interests with pending state business."
According to the Post, among many other gifts, she accepted a $1200 gold-nugget pin from the mayor of Nome, and $2500 from Calista Corp., whose projects the state (as well as the federal government) is heavily involved in.
The story points out that Palin approved about $6 million in funding this year for Nome. It quotes the mayor Denise Michels as saying, "Anything our state can do to help us in capital projects, we're very grateful."
Todd Palin also accepted two "fact finding" missions from Barrick Gold and another from Red Dog Mines. Barrick Gold, which has partnered with NovaGold Company, is proposing to develop a gold mine in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region, where they have been exploring for more than 12 years. It would be one of the world's largest gold mines. The land that the mine sits on is owned by Kuskokwim Corp. and Calista Corp.
The First Dude's heavy involvement in state business has earned him the moniker, "The Shadow Governor." He is a production operator for BP and is a commercial fisherman. Reporters have been remarking privately for months that Todd Palin is always present in meetings pertaining to fishing and to oil, and now, apparently, he's involved in mining issues.
The story points out that mining companies did not give Palin much money for her governor's race. However, Northern Dynasty, Pebble's co-developer, was one of four companies that paid for inaugural balls and travel by Palin and her family for events, the amount of which was not disclosed.
Â