Alaska emails may shine light on Sarah Palin
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The state of Alaska has released copies of some of former governor Sarah Palin's emails, a move that could shed new light on how the possible Republican U.S. presidential contender conducted business in office.
More than 24,000 pages of printed emails to and from Palin, who abruptly quit as governor of the oil-rich state nearly two years ago, were made available Friday to those willing to pay $725 for copies and hundreds of dollars more in delivery fees.
The six cartons of documents include emails from Palin's official gubernatorial account as well as two private Yahoo accounts she used to conduct state business, a practice that critics said circumvented Alaska's open-records law.
Dozens of reporters descended on the state capital Juneau to get the earliest access to the documents. The New York Times and Washington Post are planning to scan and post the e-mails on their websites, and are asking readers to comment on the contents.
The MSNBC cable TV network is working with data research firm Crivella West to produce a searchable database online, which is expected to be completed by late on Friday.
About 2,400 pages are being withheld because state attorneys have deemed them to contain privileged information. The emails have also been redacted to keep private information confidential.
Journalists and Alaska political activist Andree McLeod initially requested release of the emails under state public records laws in 2008, shortly after Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Palin as his vice presidential running mate.
At that time, Palin was the subject of a legislative probe into accusations that she abused her power as governor to seek revenge against a state trooper who had been married to her sister.
The emails "show a very engaged Governor Sarah Palin being the CEO of her state," said Tim Crawford, treasurer at SarahPAC, Palin's political action committee, in an email reproduced by the Anchorage Daily News. "The emails detail a governor hard at work. Everyone should read them."
'SEAT OF HER PANTS'
Some critics say the emails will show that Palin exhibited a pattern of using state resources for personal gain, the settling of scores with perceived enemies and unprofessional conduct in general.
"She was just flying by the seat of her pants," said McLeod, a one-time Palin supporter who is widely credited with publicly disclosing that Palin was using private Yahoo accounts to conduct official state business.
The emails may shed light on Palin's dealings with the oil and gas sector, including companies such as BP and Exxon Mobil. As governor, she raised taxes on oil companies and clashed with them over a major natural gas pipeline project, while advocating the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeastern Alaska to oil drilling.
Palin has not made clear whether she will run for the Republican 2012 presidential nomination.
An attorney in Alaska who represents the Palin family was not immediately available to comment on the email release.
Palin addressed the issue on Sunday in a Fox News interview with Chris Wallace, saying she was not concerned about the release. "I think every rock in the Palin household that could ever be kicked over and uncovered anything, it's already been kicked over. I don't think there's anything private in our family now," she said.
Some of the emails "obviously weren't meant for public consumption," she told Wallace. "So, you know what, I'm sure people are going to capitalise on this opportunity to go through 25,000 emails and perhaps take things out of context."
The Palin administration and that of her successor, current Governor Sean Parnell, also a Republican, have argued that the records request overwhelmed state resources.
Although Alaska's open-records law mandates a 10-day deadline for delivery of public documents when requested, the Palin and Parnell administrations received numerous extensions from state attorneys.
About 3,000 of Palin's husband Todd's e-mails were released last year after a request by NBC.
(Additional reporting by Bill Rigby in Seattle)
(Editing by Steve Gorman and Will Dunham)