Ho hum. Another day, another state law broken by Sarah Palin.

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Election watchdogs weigh Palin comment
(Anchorage Daily News, April 24, 2009)

State election regulators are investigating whether Gov. Sarah Palin violated state law when she said in front of TV cameras last summer that she would vote no on a controversial ballot measure that sought stricter limits on water pollution discharges from mines.

Ballot Measure 4, the "Clean Water" initiative, failed at the polls in August after one of the most expensive campaign advertising battles in Alaska history, costing more than $7 million total. The measure was sponsored by Alaskans who oppose developing the massive copper and gold Pebble prospect in Southwest Alaska. Its biggest opponent was the state's mining companies, which collectively spent more $6 million fighting it.

Six days before the election last August, someone asked Palin during a press conference for her opinion on Measure 4. She responded: "Let me take my governor's hat off just for a minute here and tell you, personally Prop 4, I vote no on that." Palin went on to say that she trusts state regulators to make sure that Alaska mines operate safely.

The supporters of Measure 4 said they were outraged. A governor can't just take her hat off during an official state event and take a private position on a ballot measure, they said. Her comments violated state law and may have been a decisive blow that killed the initiative's chances, according to Brian Kraft, a sport lodge owner and Pebble opponent. He raised the issue against Palin in a more wide-ranging complaint about the state's taking sides on Measure 4.

Palin simply cannot distinguish between her private and public life. She is constantly dragging her family and their trashy vendettas, pregnancies, crimes, etc. into the realm of policy and politics. Now she "takes off her governor's hat" to express her personal opinion on a ballot issue. Not only is this highly unprofessional, it demonstrates her republican birthmark: the combination of arrogance and incompetence that we see from most members of the Lost Party these days.