The Opposition Research Training Blog

Palin Quits Giving Conflicting Message

In a news conference today Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin gave a passionate speech saying:

“People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing’s more important to me than our beloved Alaska,”  and “Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.”

And with that she put in her two weeks notice and quit with more than a year left on her current term.

“I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path,” said Governor Palin after the announcement. “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success. I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence.”

I am not sure who is advising Palin about her political future, especially a possible 2012 presidential bid, but this will just make things harder for her. If she does decide to run in 2012 she will be tagged as “The Quitter” early in the campaign. Hardly a day will go by during the race where she would not hear from her opponent's camp that she “cut and run” when the going got tough.

MySpace Suicide Case Dismissed

U.S. District Judge George H. Wu  decided yesterday to dismiss the case against Lori Drew who had been convicted of computer fraud stemming from an Internet hoax that prompted a teenage girl to commit suicide. Drew, of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., was convicted in November of three misdemeanor counts of illegally accessing a protected computer.

The decision by Judge Wu will not become final until his written ruling is filed. Wu said he was concerned that anyone who violated the terms of service could be convicted of a crime. In a previous hearing Judge Wu had grilled government attorneys about whether they had prosecuted Drew under the appropriate laws when they asserted that violating MySpace's terms of service amounted to a crime.

This should put an end to the colossal waste of taxpayer money by the U.S. Attorney’s office is pursuing criminal charges in what is clearly a civil matter. Whom ever authorized this prosecution at the Department of Justice should be fired. It is ludicrous to think that someone who is not truthful when they provide personal information to use a free service is guilty of  a crime.

FEC Fines PA Lawyer for Illegal Contributions

Roll Call is reporting the Federal Election Commission has fined Pennsylvania lawyer John Karoly, Jr. $150,000 for illegally reimbursing campaign contributions made by friends and relatives. Karoly reportedly reimbursed contributions made to the Gephardt presidential campaign in 2004. It is not known if any complaints have been filed with the Pennsylvania Bar concerning the alleged illegal conduct.

This is not Karoly’s first brush with the law. He was indicted for fraud in September of 2008. Karoly, his son John P. Karoly, III and John Shane, an expert witness Karoly has used in the past, were indicted for forging the will of Karoly’s late brother and his wife.

Additional charges were filed by federal prosecutors in March 2009 accusing Karoly of failing to report taxable income and laundering money as charitable proceeds through a church.

Searching Social Networks

Snitch.Name is a new social networking search engine in beta. The search engine allows you to search social networking sites along with general search engines like Google and Live, as well as government records. Search results are loaded on one page with a box for the results from each search engine.

Monica Conyers Pleads Guilty on Corruption Charge

Monica Conyers, the president pro tem of the Detroit city council and the wife of Rep. John Conyers, the chairman of the US House Judiciary committee, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. Conyers was accused of taking at least $6,000 in cash bribes to help steer a wastewater treatment contract to Synagro Technologies. The Detroit Free Press has full coverage here.

“States of Disclosure” Report Issued

The Center for Public Integrity has released their latest report on disclosure laws in state legislatures for all fifty states. The report is an update to their last survey done in 2006. A number of states improved their rating while twenty failed.

Missing South Carolina Governor Found

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has been found alive. He disappeared more than a week ago.  His wife and family had no idea where he went, his staff said they had no idea where he was, then falsely claimed he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. His Lieutenant Governor was in the dark as well.

Today Sanford held a press conference to say he had traveled to Argentina to break off a year long affair. Sanford apologized to his family and staff and asked for a "zone of privacy" for the sake of his family. He said he would resign immediately as head of the Republican Governors Association but said nothing about resigning as governor.

Pundits quickly began pointing out that it is unclear what impact this episode may have on Sanford’s political future. Are they kidding? How can a governor who ditches his security detail, and leaves the country for a week without telling anyone, be fit for any public office?

Virginia to Review Candidate Expenditures

The Roanoke Times is reporting the Virginia State Board of Elections is drafting policies for the detailed investigation of candidates' financial expenditures. Future candidates are likely to face stricter examination of their campaign expenditure filings.

The Board moved to adopt the policy change after it had begun to take a closer look at the campaign filings of Roanoke Delegate Onzlee Ware. The Board requested amended expenditure filings from Ware after receiving a complaint from the opponent Ware defeated in the recent Democratic primary.

The move by the Board to have candidates actually complete filings with detailed information in a timely manner is refreshing. Candidates often file expenditure reports with vague entries using terms like reimbursements, vendor, and services. Donor records sometimes contain incomplete names and addresses.

Virginia is one of only four states that allow unlimited donations to a candidate as well as donations from companies. With this anything goes approach to campaign finance in the Commonwealth, the more transparency the better.

House Disclosure Forms Released Early

The Clerk of the House release the latest financial disclosure forms two days ahead of the scheduled Friday release date. The forms can be viewed on the LegiStorm web page.

Edwards Knows of Investigation

The Charlotte Observer reports that John Edwards is aware authorities are examining campaign expenditures to determine if  campaign money was used to cover up an affair with a campaign worker.

Edwards has publicly admitted to an affair with Rielle Hunter who is said to have provided video services to the campaign. Records indicate Hunter was paid for her services by a political action committee aligned with Edwards. One of the lines of inquiry made by federal investigators will be to determine if Hunter was paid appropriately for services rendered. If there is an indication Hunter provided services with a reasonable fair market value of say $20,000 but was paid $100,000 the matter could quickly end up before a federal grand jury.

Overpaying for services has been a favorite way for politicians to funnel money to friends and relatives for years. One recent example of this can be found in the Politico story about Charles Rangel paying a company owned by his son $80,000 for two web pages that looked like high school kids had done them. Experts who viewed the web pages valued the work in the $2,000 range and nowhere near the $80,000 paid by the campaign.