Confidante says ambition not Palin’s motive

MAT-SU — Gov. Sarah Palin’s surprising resignation announcement Friday apparently won’t affect a legal defense fund set up to cover expenses related to numerous ethics complaints.

The Alaska Fund Trust was established in April to help pay down the estimated $600,000 in legal fees generated by an onslaught of complaints filed over the past year. Since July 28, 2008, at least 18 known complaints have been filed against Palin.

Kristan Cole, a Valley Realtor, a Palin appointee and friend of the governor, is the sole trustee of the fund and said the effort to cover Palin’s legal expenses will continue.

At least 13 of those complaints have been dismissed, Cole said, “but she is still required to defend herself.”

Like most, Palin’s decision came as a shock to Cole, who was in Washington, D.C., at the time. Cole, who also serves on the state’s Board of Agriculture and Conservation, said she received a heads-up about two hours before Palin’s press conference in Wasilla that she would make a big announcement.

“But I did not know what the announcement was,” Cole said, adding she spoke with the governor over the weekend and believes her motives are “totally honorable.”

“Once she had made the decision (to resign), she felt it was the right decision for the right reason,” Cole said. “A lot of people have questioned her motives. The truth is, it’s one of the most selfless things I’ve seen anyone in government do.”

While many speculate Palin may be trying to set herself up for running for a national office, Cole said that’s not the case. The continuing distractions caused by the ethics complaints and media scrutiny are taking away from Palin’s ability to be effective.

“For her, to have all of these ethics complains continue and cost both the state and her to investigate and defend each one of those, it took away from her time to do what she was elected to do.”

That reasoning doesn’t fly with Kevin Brown, chairman of the Mat-Su Democrats.

Brown said he was disappointed by Palin’s resignation and said the governor needs to be more forthcoming with her reasoning.

“If Gov. Palin is leaving office for personal reasons, she could’ve said that,” Brown said. “If she’s leaving because the press is making her uncomfortable, she should say that.”

Palin also announced Friday she would not seek re-election and said that being a lame-duck governor is “the quitter’s way out.”

“That seems really odd,” Brown said. “She’s leaving to avoid quitting? If she were to run for president, and if she were elected and then lost re-election, would she immediately leave office because she (were a lame duck president)?”

One thing Cole and Brown have in common is a distaste for the wildfire of speculation that has erupted in the national media over the past few days. They said pundits guessing and hypothesizing about Palin’s reasons for resigning and her political future are not helpful.

“What I can tell you is her decision on Friday had nothing to do with politics in the future,” Cole said. “I know of lot of people want to speculate and assume that it did, but it didn’t. Did she do this because she has higher aspirations? Absolutely not. ... In my mind, when you really know what her heart is, she gave that all up in order to best serve Alaska.”

Brown said he wants those gazing into their crystal balls to determine Palin’s future to exercise some patience.

“I can’t agree with (Cole) until I know why she stepped down,” he said. “We just absolutely don’t know because we haven’t gotten a good explanation. ... I don’t think that the speculation is at all helpful. I hate to think wild-guessing about things is what our government has become.”

That Palin’s time to do her job has been squeezed by the ethics complaints also doesn’t wash with Brown.

“She may find that to be the case, but I honestly don’t know,” he said. “She spent a lot of time out of the state doing things not related to doing the job of governor.”

For now, Cole will continue her work on the state agriculture board and the Alaska Fund Trust. The trust’s first quarterly report is due out in August. Although Cole wouldn’t say how much the fund has raised to date, “We are making really good progress. We will meet that ($600,000) goal before the end of summer.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.