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October 13, 2008 
Tom Van Flein
So it comes as no surprise that Sarah Palin has already exercised her queenly prerogative as Alaska’s Chief Executive to pursue a vendetta agains her brother-in-law Mike Wooten in the “Troopergate” scandal that the Alasks Legislature is currently investigating. See the ABC news report below. What is surprising is this newsflash, that Palin has filed an “ethics complaint” against herself in an effort to head off the Legislature’s investigation. This is a blatant absurdity, because no one files a complaint against themself, and indeed, Palin’s complaint is not a complaint, but rather a claim that she is guiltless! Further, she has filed the “ethics complaint” with the three-person Personnel Board that is staffed with her own appointees. In the law biz, we are familiar with these strategies. You can sue someone that you think might sue you in a “declaratory relief action,” that is filed preemptively to beat the other side to the courthouse with the argument that a prospective plaintiff “has no claim.” And filing a complaint where you expect to get a judge who favors your side is called “forum shopping.” Strategically, it is also a smokescreen behind which she can back away from her public promise that she and her aides would cooperate with the investigation. After she and all seven of her aides reversed course from that commitment last week, the investigators for the Alaska Legislature decided to ask the investigating committee to issue subpoenas. That’s when her lawyer, this nice-looking guy named Thomas Van Flein, pulled this smooth move. He graduated from University of Arizona, right here in Tucson, according to his resume. He might want to watch out — his client’s a pit bull wearing lipstick, and the bodies are starting to stack up behind her.
Like as not, he’ll be muscled aside soon by the Beltway heavyweights anyway. Last week we heard the RNC sent a bunch of lawyers up to Alaska, and the press speculated they were going to Alaska to finish vetting Palin — now it looks like they were going to block the progress of the investigation. The killer argument? The Legislature — the people’s elected representatives who are supposed to check executive power — has “no jurisdiction” to investigate the Governor. Prediction: this is headed for the Alaska Supreme Court, where the Republicans hope to bottle up the investigation until sometime next year, when if all goes as rigged, Palin will enjoy executive immunity! Tell ‘em you heard it here first.
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