Members of the bipartisan Alaska Legislative Council have voted 12-0 with 2 absent to release investigator Steve Branchflower's "Troopergate" report submitted today, concluding that Governor Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power in pushing for the firing of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister.

The report found that Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act, which says 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." The report also found that state public safety commissioner Walt Monegan's dismissal by Palin was attributable at least in part to Monegan's refusal to fire Palin's former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, from the Alaska state police. The report states that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda ... to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired." In addition, Branchflower determined that Sarah and Todd Palins' claims of fear of Wooten "were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins' real motivation: to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family related reasons." Finally, Branchflower's report states that the office of Palin's attorney general has failed to comply with an August 6 written request from Branchflower for information about the case in the form of e-mails. The full report is available at the Anchorage Daily News (see also Mudflats).

The McCain/Palin campaign has attempted by all means at its disposal to prevent the release of Branchflower's report, including a failed appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court. The campaign also tried to preempt the Alaska Legislative Council's finding by issuing its own report, which of course found Palin wholly innocent of any wrongdoing in the Troopergate affair.

I look forward to watching the fallout from this report and its effects on the McCain/Palin campaign in the coming days. 

A new video from the Wasilla Project documents the controversial practice of charging rape victims for evidence-gathering exams under Sarah Palin's watch as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. The video includes interviews from late September 2008 with former Alaska state representative Eric Croft, sponsor of the 2000 bill which made it illegal to charge victims for rape exams in Alaska; forensic nurse Tara Henry, who has conducted many such exams in Alaska; Wasilla city council member Dianne Woodruff (formerly a Republican but now an independent); Geran Tarr, chairperson of the Alaska Women's Lobby; and Dr. Colleen Murphy, formerly of the Alaska Violent Crimes Compensation Board. All attest to the wrongful nature of this practice, stubbornly pursued in Wasilla under Palin's watch even in the face of state legislation against it. This video follows a recent ad from Planned Parenthood hitting Palin on the practice of charging victims for rape exams.

Previous reports on Palin's rape exam controversy include a recent written report and video by CNN confirming that when Palin was mayor Wasilla did indeed cling stubbornly to the practice of charging victims for rape exams, even in the face of legislation against it sponsored by state representative Eric Croft. Croft told CNN that the only ongoing resistance he met was from Wasilla, where Palin was mayor from 1996 to 2002. "It was one of those things everyone could agree on except Wasilla...," Croft told CNN, "...We couldn't convince the chief of police to stop charging them."  While some of Palin's supporters say they believe she had no knowledge of the practice, critics call the suggestion "outrageous" and question Palin's commitment to helping women who are victims of violence. As Croft told CNN, "I find it hard to believe that for six months a small town, a police chief, would lead the fight against a statewide piece of legislation receiving unanimous support and the mayor not know about it."

Forensic nurse Tara Henry also spoke with CNN, confirming Croft's comments on Wasilla's intransigence in the matter of rape exams and telling CNN that while several local law enforcement agencies expressed difficulty paying for the exams, Wasilla was the most vocal in its opposition to paying. Charging victims for exams "retraumatizes them," according to Henry: "Asking them to pay for something law enforcement needs in order to investigate their case, it's almost like blaming them for getting sexually assaulted."

Wasilla police have claimed that their intent was not to charge rape victims for their exams, but to charge victims' insurance companies. This claim has yet to be substantiated, however, and provides no answer for what might happen in cases where the victim has no insurance. In any case, police departments have no more business charging rape victims or their insurance companies for rape exams than they have charging for any other type of criminal investigation: this is why we pay taxes.

As Dianne Woodruff notes in the Wasilla Project video, Mayor Palin redecorated her own office multiple times at public expense while Wasilla claimed that it could not afford to pay for rape exams.

With a rape rate 2.5 times the national average, as CNN observes, Alaska has the worst record of any state in rape and murder of women by men.

American women and all Americans should know about Palin's history of opposing fair treatment for rape victims.

The John McCain campaign has been forced to fire its campaign chair in Buchanan County, Virginia, following his publication of a racist newspaper attack on Barack Obama. Bobby May, pictured here, who has also served as treasurer and correspondence secretary of the Buchanan County Republican Party, recently penned a column containing an overtly racist attack against Barack Obama for a local newspaper, The Voice, which lists Mr. May among its columnists. May's column contained a number of inflammatory charges against Obama, including the following on Obama's plans for America if elected:

"FREEDOM OF RELIGION: Mandatory Black Liberation Theology classes taught in all churches - raise taxes to pay for this mandate. Put Rev. Jeremiah Wright in charge...."

"DRUG CRISIS: Raise taxes to pay for free drugs for Obama’s inner-city political base...."

"2ND AMENDMENT: Under Obama will only apply to gang-bangers, illegal aliens, Islamo-Fascist terrorists, and Senator Jim Webb’s aide...."

"FOREIGN RELATIONS: Appoint Rev. Al Sharpton as Secretary of State, Jesse Jackson as UN Representative, and let Bill Clinton handle all other "foreign relations" ... As long as Hillary doesn't find out...!"

"THE WHITE HOUSE: Hire rapper Ludacris to “paint it black.” Taxes to be increased to buy enough paint for the job plus spray-paint for graffiti...."

"THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES: Raise taxes to send $845 billion, most of it to Africa so the Obama family there can skim off enough for them to free their goats and live the American Dream...."

"NATIONAL ANTHEM: Change to the "Black National Anthem" by James Weldon Johnson...."

"US CURRENCY: Update photos to reflect US diversity; include pictures of "great Americans" such as Oprah Winfrey, Ludacris, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Paris Hilton, and Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson (Obama's new Secretary of the Treasury - 50 Cent refused position after learning that he would lose his crazy check if he accepted the nomination)...."

"US FLAG: Replace 50 stars with a star and crescent logo; red stripes changed to green to represent Obama’s tree-hugging radical environmentalism and his lack of experience. Flag lapel pins, having become a substitute for "real patriotism," will henceforth be banned...."

At the end of his column Mr. May challenged Obama to meet him on "County Talk," a Friday morning talk show on radio station WMJD 100.7 in Grundy, Virginia. Mr. May seems quite the local mover and shaker in Buchanan County Republican circles: In addition to his work with The Voice and WMJD, May has appeared in the Virginia Mountaineer with other local Republican leaders. Mr. May's photo above was cropped from a larger photo of him here with GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, formerly posted at the Buchanan County Republican Party's website, now purged from that site but heroically rescued from oblivion and posted at the Daily Kos with news of May's dismissal from Team McCain. According to the Daily Kos, Mr. May also provides the advertising specialties for Virginia congressman Virgil Goode, currently seeking re-election and noted for his opposition to Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison's taking the oath of office on the Quran rather than the Bible. Here is a photo of May with Buchanan County GOP leaders from a March 2006 edition of the Virginia Mountaineer:

GOP MEMBERS elected Saturday [3/25/06] were, from left (front), Delores Childress, treasurer; Leona Ratliff, recording secretary; Harriett McClanahan, second vice chairman; Jerry Lester, chairman; David Lowe, first vice chairman; and (back) Bobby May, corresponding secretary; and Bobby Hall, parliamentarian.
(Photo/Tucker Davis)

First noted in a Los Angeles Times political blog, Mr. May's story spread via blogs such as the Daily Kos (including this blog: see Oct. 5 below). May's dismissal from the campaign was finally noted by Keith Olbermann on the Oct. 8 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, when Olbermann named Mr. May "Worst Person in the World" for his racist attack on Obama (see video). Meanwhile, the Buchanan County Republican Party's website, which contained material by or about Mr. May throughout its pages when I previously looked (including the photo with Bob McDonnell above), has at time of this writing been taken offline as references to and photos of him are presumably being purged, Mr. May himself presumably expelled, any potential career for him in politics presumably ended. Like Trotsky in Stalin's USSR, Mr. May will now be airbrushed out of photos with prominent Republicans like Bob McDonnell. Wild!

The bigot Bobby May has been fired from his GOP campaign job and crowned Worst Person in the World as he deserves, John McCain has taken another notable hit in return for the overwhelmingly negative and "racially tinged" campaign he and Sarah Palin have been waging against Obama, and a county Republican website in Virginia has been forced offline. I call this a score.

Poll numbers indicate that the Obama/Biden campaign has handily won its third of four presidential and vice-presidential debates. A CNN/Research Corporation poll showed 54% of viewers thought Obama performed better in the debate while 30% thought McCain performed better, up significantly in CNN polling from Obama's 51% to 38% win over McCain in the first presidential debate Sept. 26. Meanwhile, a CBS News poll of uncommitted voters shows Obama won 40% to McCain's 26% with 34% saying the debate was a draw, a similar result to the Sept. 26 CBS poll (Obama 39%, McCain 24%). A Media Curves poll shows independent voters favoring Obama in the debate 52% to 34%, down somewhat from the Sept. 26 Media Curves poll (Obama 61%, McCain 39%) but still a sizeable lead for Obama. As the Huffington Post reports, state focus groups by NBC News in Pennsylvania, Survey USA in Washington, and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner in Nevada likewise broke decisively for Obama (PA 60%-40%, WA 54%-29%, NV 38%-30%). Even a Fox News focus group showed a clear majority of raised hands for Obama, a result that reporters at Fox seemed to have a little trouble processing. With three debates down and only one to go as Election Day rapidly approaches, it would seem that McCain's hopes for a "game changer" are growing dim indeed.

As the McCain/Palin campaign gets uglier, so do the crowds at their rallies. Stoked by what the Associated Press called "racially tinged" attacks on Barack Obama particularly from Sarah Palin, by Republican anger at Obama's surge toward victory, and probably by their own deep-seated bigotry, the crowds at McCain/Palin events have begun expressing their Obama hatred in increasingly disturbing terms.

As eyewitness Dana Milbank observes in the Washington Post, Palin's line of attack on Obama at an Oct. 6 rally in Clearwater, Florida, prompted one man to shout, "Kill him!"  (a secret service investigation is currently underway in response to this incident, which is hardly good press for the campaign). Others at McCain/Palin events have shouted "treason" and even "terrorist!" at the mention of Obama's name, as the Huffington Post discusses in detail. At the Clearwater event, as Dana Milbank observes, Palin's media-bashing likewise produced a hateful response from the crowd, who turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse while others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial slur at an African American sound man and told him, "Sit down, boy" (see also ABC News).

Of course one of this looks good for the McCain/Palin campaign, which is coming increasingly to resemble a lynch mob.

Saturday's Washington Post reports that the John McCain campaign is preparing an aggressively negative campaign against Barack Obama in a last-ditch effort to squash the Democrat's presidential hopes as Election Day rapidly approaches. With scarcely a month to go until Nov. 4, as the Post's Michael D. Shear reports at length, Republicans "are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character," including any personal associations they can exploit, believing that to win on Election Day they "have to change the subject" away from the economic concerns which have boosted the Democrats in recent weeks (see also Huffington Post).

"Pit bull" Sarah Palin appears to be leading the charge in this effort. In an interview on Fox News Friday, Palin said that Obama is "reckless" and that some of what Obama has said, "in my world, disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander in chief." Then at a fundraiser on Saturday, Palin accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists," a reference to Obama's tenuous association with '60s militant William Ayers. Obama "is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country...," Palin said, "...This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America." Clearly designed to paint Obama as someone who is "outside the American mainstream" (i.e., exotic, foreign, Other, and dangerous), Palin's comments were described as "unsubstantiated" and "racially tinged" by the Associated Press, who observed also that "John McCain himself may come to regret" them.

In view of their total reliance on negative campaigning, it seems clear at this point that John McCain and Sarah Palin have nothing positive to offer.