She's Nailed!

The Alaska Inquiry concludes what I suspected. Palin abused her power for personal gain.

Finding Number One

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.

Will it have an effect on the race? Maybe a small amount. Will she or her supporters care? No.

UPDATE: I missed the most depressing aspect of this report: the seemingly irreconcilable findings that effectively exonerate Palin. Even though the report concludes with

[Palin] knowingly, as the term is defined in the above cited statutes, permitted Todd Palin to use the governor's office and the resources of the governor's office, including state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get trooper Wooten fired.

The second finding in the report states that

Governor Palin's firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.

The first finding says she violated ethics laws through the actions of her husband, but the second finding says she did nothing wrong in the specific act of firing Monegan. So... did she do anything wrong? Cynical politics in 2008 says a resounding "No!"

Writing this blog certainly isn't a way to cheer myself up.