Troopergate report was in high demand

It was a mad dash to get one of the green, thickly bound Troopergate reports this afternoon. (You can read a copy at www.legis.state.ak.us)

After the Legislative Council voted to make the document public, reporters from around the globe tried to be the first to see it.

Some state employees were nice enough to give local media first crack at the report, which begins with investigator Steve Branchflower's findings, then provides transcripts of testimony from key subjects.

The so-called Palin Truth Squad made its way over to the Legislative Office Building shortly after the findings were made public. Spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said, in a statement e-mailed to reporters, that Branchflower's findings "vindicate the governor," even as the report declares Palin abused her power in office.

It's unclear what will happen now that the findings of the legislative investigation have shot around the world. More news is likely to come out in the following days.

On another subject, earlier in the day I ran into Andree McLeod, the former state employee suing to make Gov. Sarah Palin's office preserve state business e-mails sent on a Yahoo account.

McLeod was carrying her court order from a state judge who sided with her and has instructed the Palin adminstration to attempt to retrieve and make public e-mails sent on the Yahoo account.

McLeod said she wants to see the e-mails because state business is supposed to be open to the public.

"Good ethics requires constant vigilance," she said.

McLeod said the judge did not instruct Palin to stop using private accounts for state business, however. Palin recently shut down two Yahoo accounts after a hacker got into them and posted screen shots on the Internet.

—Michael Rovito, Reporter