Hey, wait a minute!  The queen of transparency . . . miss “Hold Me Accountable” . . . Sarah Palin AND her staff are NOT going to testify in the Alaska Troopergate Inquiry (bi-partisan, I might add, with 6 Republicans and 2 Democrats).

First, there was the “I don’t know anything about it” phase where  Sarah Palin argued that she was unaware of what Walt Monegan was EVEN discussing.  This phase was short-lived and quickly followed by “I have done nothing wrong.”  Sarah Palin accentuated the point by adding the wonderful, news-ready headline, “Hold Me Accountable!” (There is a really good overview at Think Progress >>)

Next, there was the nomination.  I wonder if the 1-conversation vetting process with John McCain sounded more like confession than a professional discussion, or if all of the subsequent corruption was revealed later?

After the nomination, there was the release of the recorded phone conversation between her staffer, Frank Bailey and the Alaska State Troopers Office.  (You can listen to it here at Alaska Daily News >>)  Governor Sarah Palin put her staffer on PAID leave and said it was the product of staffers wanting to “gain the favor of the governor.” [The PAID leave thing irks me.  It is like a 4-month vacation that the taxpayers are funding.]

The next part of the saga: Governor Palin hired a private lawyer (because the State Attorney General made calls to pressure Walt Monegan and was implicated in the abuse) who filed an Ethics Complaint against HERSELF–in an effort to strip the investigation from the Legislative Investigation.  This was denied.

Governor Palin’s aides and husband refused to testify to the informal requests.

And, now, the Governor’s aides (including the Alaska State Attorney General) has elected to break the law and are refusing to testify to the legal subpeonas–because she has declined to participate.

In my opinion, this is the worst possible form of corruption.  Would any citizen of the United States be able to “decline to participate” and refuse to show up for a lawful subpeona?

Nope–we would be arrested.