Palin Must Save Her Yahoo E-Mails

[cal04]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/11/palin_must_save_her_yahoo_e-ma.html

An Anchorage judge has ordered Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to preserve e-mails from private accounts she has used to conduct state business.

Superior Court Judge Craig Stowers on Friday also ordered Alaska's attorney general to recover messages from a Yahoo.com account of Palin's that was breached by hackers last month. That break-in prompted Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign to order closed at least one additional private account Palin maintained.

The judge issued the orders at the request of Andree McLeod, an Anchorage activist whose pursuit of Palin's e-mails revealed that the governor did considerable state business from a Yahoo e-mail address -- an arrangement that avoided the safeguards and accountability of the state's secure e-mail system.


(snip)
"On one hand, I'm pleased that the judge saw fit to order the retrieval and preservation of these e-mails, to the extent of going to the providers to get them," said McLeod, a Republican who was formerly close to Palin. "But on the other hand, I'm amazed that I even have to go to court to get the governor to comply with Alaska's public record laws."

McLeod is also seeking the release by Palin of some 1,100 e-mails the governor held back from an earlier public records request, citing executive privilege. McLeod's lawyer asserts that Palin waived that privilege by routinely copying messages to her husband, Todd, who is not a state employee.

[TooRaLoo]

1. K&R!

[ulysses]

2. what kind of...well, yahoo...does state business over a yahoo account?

[FloridaGrl]

3. K&R nt

[CitizenPatriot]

4. it's also great that the guy hacked her accounts

because somewhere he has the originals emails. he never released the damaging ones, which was a good ethical move (as far as hackers go- I mean, he could have really ruined her).

he has them somewhere....it's kind of comforting.

I know I should be against what he did; but she has lied and cheated trying to avoid the law. I do want her to be brought to be accountable to the constitution. TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE-- no one is above this rule. Not even *.

[Frank Booth]

5. I'm sure any incriminating emails were deleted long ago.

She probably wanted this order, so she'll look squeaky clean handing over what's left.

[cal04]

6. Sarah Palin's Email: A Crime Used To Expose A Crime?

http://www.crooksandliars.com/jamie/sarah-palins-email-crime-used-expose-crime

By now everyone has heard about David Kernell, the 20 year old college student who hacked into Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account. He was indicted this week on charges for illegally accessing Palin's account and could get up to five years.

This case has raised a few flags to some in the public. First it leaves one wondering why the DOJ took such an active role in going after this guy. Email accounts get hacked on a daily basis, not to mention bank accounts and other items of higher fiscal value, yet the DOJ puts these on a low priority list.

The other big flag is that the hacker actually uncovered some violations by Palin:



DOJ Goes Long for Sarah Palin
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/10/hbc-90003672

Sarah Palin has been systematically violating the Open Records Act. As David Corn has noted at Mother Jones, Palin relied heavily on private email accounts for improper purposes. As governor of Alaska, she was obligated to maintain as public records her communications with respect to her discharge of official duties. Palin skirted this obligation by turning to private email accounts for government related dealings. In fact, the hacker in question helped flush out Palin’s violations. The hacker also helped establish a motive for the illegal conduct: Palin regularly involved her husband in official business, and it’s easy to understand why she did not want to leave behind evidence of her husband’s involvement.


Palin's (Functional Equivalent of an) Email Cover-up
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/10/10122_palins_email_cover-up_open_records_act.html