Boat Forum / Boats / July 2009

Yep. This was in the village voice last fall:

THE $12.5 MILLION sports complex and hockey rink that is the lasting
monument to Palin's two terms as Wasilla mayor is also a monument to the
kind of insider politics that dismays Americans of both parties. Six
months before Palin stepped down as mayor in October 2002, the city
awarded nearly a half-million-dollar contract to design the biggest
project in Wasilla history to Kumin Associates. Blase Burkhart was the
Kumin architect on the job-the son of Roy Burkhart, who is frequently
described as a "mentor" of Palin and was head of the local Republican
Party (his wife, June, who also advised Palin, is the national
committeewoman). Asked if the contract was a favor, Roy Burkhart, who
contributed to her campaign in the same time frame that his son got the
contract, said: "I really don't know." Palin then named Blase Burkhart
to a seven-member builder-selection committee that picked Howdie Inc., a
mostly residential contractor owned at the time by Howard Nugent.
Formally awarded the contract a couple of weeks after Palin left office,
Nugent has donated $4,000 to Palin campaigns. Two competitors protested
the process that led to Nugent's contract.
...
A list of subcontractors on the job, obtained by the Voice, includes
many with Palin ties. One was Spenard Builders Supply, the state's
leading supplier of wood, floor, roof, and other "pre-engineered
components." In addition to being a sponsor of Todd Palin's snow-machine
team that has earned tens of thousands for the Palin family, Spenard
hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004. When
the Palins began building a new family home off Lake Lucille in 2002—at
the same time that Palin was running for lieutenant governor and in her
final months as mayor—Spenard supplied the materials, according to
Antoine Bricks, who works in its Wasilla office.
...
Todd Palin told Fox News that he built the two-story, 3,450-square-foot,
four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house himself, with the help of
contractors he described as "buddies." As mayor, Sarah Palin blocked an
effort to require the filing of building permits in the wide-open city,
and there is no public record of who the "buddies" were.

Palin has had 18 ethics complaints filed against her since she arrived on
the national scene.  Isn't that just special?   She has been cleared of all
of them.

She and her family have been subject to a viscous hate campaign.  Her
children have been attacked as well, a tactic that has traditionally been
off limits by the political pundits.   Bush's kids were left alone. Obama's
kids are left alone.   But Palin's kids have been subject to mean spirited
attacks, both in the media and even here, by you and others.    Grow up.

Eisboch

Just for your future reference, Krausie, indictments are handed up,
not "down."

Not me...I say prosecute to the full extent of the law irregardless of
political affiliation.
The few times these people are caught, we have to make an example.
If nothing else, it'll make them more cautious when accepting kickbacks,
bribes , favours etc.