Report likely to be skewed for political gain

With state lawmakers poised to release findings today of their investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin used her position to satisfy a family vendetta against an Alaska state trooper, we’re concerned the original intent behind pushing for the probe in the first place has long since been ignored.

It seems clear there’s more interest in using the report as a smoking gun in the final weeks approaching the Nov. 4 general election than finding out the truth for Alaska residents. Should the Legislature’s investigation show Palin abused her power, Democrats and the Obama/Biden presidential campaign are frothing at the mouth to use it to discredit Palin, the Republican running mate. If the report shows Palin acted within her bounds as governor, we’re sure the national GOP is equally prepared to espouse a loud “I told you so” to Palin’s naysayers.

Although the nation has its eyes peeled on our state, this first and foremost must be an exercise in Alaska politics for Alaska residents. Instead, it’s been politicized and punted more than many political footballs.

Gumming up the works has been the refusal, then acquiescence of state employees and “First Dude” Todd Palin to cooperate and testify for state lawmakers. Todd Palin has admitted to being vocal about his disdain for Trooper Mike Wooten, who is the ex-husband of Sarah Palin’s sister.

Even some of our own state legislators sued to halt the investigation, calling it a political witch hunt motivated by party politics.

This is why that, whatever the report says, we fear the residents of Alaska will be no closer to an honest, open explanation of “Troopergate.” Instead, they’ll be asked with the rest of the country to try and read between the party lines.

Send them, we’ll print ‘em

Those who are frequent visitors to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman online, www.frontiersman.com — and there are many — have noticed and enjoyed the swelling of participation in commenting on our local stories since Gov. Sarah Palin was added to the Republican presidential ticket.

We encourage and appreciate public participation in the news, and the ability to frequently and anonymously leave comments about stories (or others who comment) has been lively and entertaining. Of late, there have been a number of posters, and a couple of phone calls to the Frontiersman office, accusing the newspaper of deliberately running out-of-state anti-Palin letters to the editor in an effort to discredit the governor.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Put simply, we run what we receive and can verify.

Although editorially the Frontiersman has supported Palin, we don’t allow that support to influence allowing all viewpoints from being expressed in our letters to the editor.

We print nearly every letter to the editor we receive, provided they meet our letters policy, are not libelous and pertain to a local topic. Of course, Palin is a local topic generating worldwide interest.

We love receiving and printing your local letters to the editor, so keep them coming.