Government Dirt

The Register reports: US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin isn't saying citizens interested in open government can't get access to her emails. She's just saying it will cost a little.

The office of the Alaska governor, which by state law is required to make such messages public, says it could cost more than $15m for anyone conducting an exhaustive search. Even then, Palin - who ran for governor on a platform of running a clean and transparent government - says requests won't be honored until November 17, two weeks after the presidential election is held.

It's fair to say that interest in Palin's email has spiked since Republican presidential nominee John McCain named her as his running mate. Not only has her office been swamped with requests for copies of state records, but her personal Yahoo email account was breached and some of its contents were posted to the Wikileaks site.

The leak offered evidence strongly suggesting that Palin conducted official state business using the very unofficial gov.palin@yahoo.com email address. Messages sent to it bore subject headings such as "Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger," "Court of Appeals Nominations" and "CONFIDENTIAL Ethics Matter." Critics say her use of the Yahoo account could violate Alaska open records laws that require official communications to be available to members of the public.

An Alaska state judge has ordered Palin to preserve the contents of the account.

The emails Palin's office has valued at $15m were sent by various state employees to her husband, Todd, who is not a state employee. State bean counters say it will cost $960.31 to search each employee's account. If email for all 16,000 employees are processed, the exact figure is $15,364,000.96. They figure it will take 13 hours per email account. That figure doesn't include the cost of the paper. The office will only make the email available in hard copy.

Sixty-five U.S. Nobel Laureate scientists have sent "an open letter to the American people" urging support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
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An Open Letter to the American People

This year's presidential election is among the most significant in our nation's history. The country urgently needs a visionary leader who can ensure the future of our traditional strengths in science and technology and who can harness those strengths to address many of our greatest problems: energy, disease, climate change, security, and economic competitiveness.

We are convinced that Senator Barack Obama is such a leader, and we urge you to join us in supporting him.

During the administration of George W. Bush, vital parts of our country's scientific enterprise have been damaged by stagnant or declining federal support. The government's scientific advisory process has been distorted by political considerations. As a result, our once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk. We have lost time critical for the development of new ways to provide energy, treat disease, reverse climate change, strengthen our security, and improve our economy.

We have watched Senator Obama's approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation's competitiveness. In particular, we support the measures he plans to take – through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research – to meet the nation's and the world's most urgent needs.

The former Monty Python star shares his unsparing thoughts and views about vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin.

StopThinkVote.com Reports: The Palin family home is a two-story, 3,450-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house situated on Lake Lucille.

According to Palin's income tax returns, the house was assessed at more than half a million dollars — $552,000 to be exact.

Todd Palin told Fox News that he built the 3,450 square-foot, half million dollar home himself with the help of some "buddies." Since Sarah Palin blocked an effort to require the filing of building permits as mayor of Wasilla, there is no record of who Todd's "buddies" were.

Coincidentally, at the same time that Todd and his "buddies" were building the Palin house, the $12.5 million dollar Wasilla sports complex and hockey rink was under construction right down the road.

The architect who was awarded the $12.5 million sports complex, Blase Burkhart, is the son of Roy Burkhart, a Palin campaign contributor and the head of the local Republican party. Additionally, several of the subcontractors on the sports complex - including Spenard Builders Supply - were also contributors to Palin's campaign.