Undercurrents in this year's governor's race -- ethics and honesty -- bubbled to the surface this week as Republican candidate John Binkley outlined his plan for reforming state ethics rules and opponent Sarah Palin found herself playing defense on an issue that she's embraced since the beginning of the campaign.
Binkley proposed several new rules Thursday, including outlawing all gifts from lobbyists, making former commissioners wait two years before they can lobby and posting the state's checkbook online. But while he suggested changes, Binkley, during a news conference at his Midtown campaign headquarters, stopped short of saying who he believes has actually messed up, except maybe incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski.
Binkley refused to comment, for example, on state Republican Party chairman Randy Ruedrich's tenure on a state commission that led to an investigation and the largest fine ever levied in a state ethics investigation.
"This really isn't to talk about specific individuals in the past; this is really talking about: How can we solve the problem going forward? How can we restore the trust?" Binkley said.
Meanwhile, Palin, who helped bring the Ruedrich case to light, is answering questions about having done campaign work from her office during her lieutenant governor bid in 2002 while she was mayor of Wasilla. Records from Wasilla city hall show that on one occasion, Palin arranged campaign travel from the mayor's office; on another, she had her city secretary print thank-you notes to campaign donors.
Palin dismissed the criticism, saying that it's overblown and she's proud of her record.
Binkley said that was a long time ago. "I'm not going to judge her on that."
Binkley focused Thursday on a dozen steps he says the state should take to make ethics rules tougher. That means introducing legislation to clarify conflict-of-interest laws, making commissioners and senior staff attend in-depth ethics training, and strictly enforcing nepotism rules, he said.
Binkley also talked about making state travel strictly for state business, and said that Murkowski -- whom he and Palin will face in the Aug. 22 Republican primary -- should pay for his use of a state jet if he's using it to campaign around Alaska.
Murkowski spokesman Will Vandergriff said the governor's trips are all based on official state business and his campaign works in events during his downtime.
The ethics issue is a key one for Palin. She is well known for quitting the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after serving alongside Ruedrich, and publicly criticizing him for mixing his political and state jobs, plus leaking a confidential document to a lobbyist. She said she encouraged Murkowski to look into the conflict-of-interest charges that eventually led Attorney General Gregg Renkes to resign.
Before Palin was appointed to the oil and gas commission, she was busy running for lieutenant governor and serving as mayor.
In July, Voice of the Times editor Paul Jenkins requested public records from the city of Wasilla, asking for documents on city computers related to Palin's 2002 lieutenant governor's race, according to copies of those records provided by the city. The requests included phone records, e-mails, Microsoft Word documents and files from Palin's computer and her administrative assistant's computer.
Ruedrich on July 12 provided the Daily News copies of three campaign-related e-mails Palin had sent from her city e-mail address.
In a July 21 column, Jenkins wrote that Palin's city office was "little more than a command center for her lieutenant governor campaign and fundraising effort over a series of months."
Palin says that the accusations are way overblown and she's under attack for her support of an all-Alaska gas pipeline route -- oil companies prefer a route through Canada to the Midwest, and Voice of the Times publisher Bill Allen is also chairman of the oil field services company Veco -- and for challenging Ruedrich. The Voice of the Times is a separate editorial section within the opinion pages of the Daily News.
According to the records, Palin met with advertising firm Herold Advertising Products at city hall on June 12, 2002. The firm then faxed a draft of artwork for labels with a "Sarah Palin Lieutenant Governor" logo addressed to then-deputy administrator John Cramer at the city.
The following morning, the firm faxed an invoice for the labels to the city.
Palin said that was the result of a saleswoman seeking her out at the mayor's office, and that she hadn't requested either fax.
The search also turned up an itinerary for a campaign trip to Ketchikan in May 2002. The stack of public records provided by the city includes a memo saying the administrative assistant, Mary Bixby, worked on the itinerary and plane reservations for the trip.
"It isn't uncommon for staff to arrange travel so that they know where the boss is at all times," Palin said in response.
A thank-you note to campaign donors was also on the administrative assistant's city computer. A memo provided by the city says Palin and Cramer asked Bixby to print 75 copies of the notes.
"For any mistakes like that, that (were) made, I apologize," Palin said, but said she was known as someone who was careful to keep her campaign and city job separate.
In a brief phone interview Thursday, Bixby, who still holds the same job, said she was directed to make the campaign travel arrangements and print the thank-you notes while she was on the clock for the city.
The public records search did not find any evidence that the city paid for Palin's campaign merchandise or for the Ketchikan trip, said Wasilla deputy clerk Jaime Newman.
Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins can be reached at khopkins@adn.com.
