McCain's camp says Palin underwent detailed review
Published Monday, September 1, 2008
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Sarah Palin
Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was his choice as vice presidential running mate on Friday, Aug. 29, 2008.
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Sarah Palin: Growing up Alaskan
Pictures of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's early days in Alaska politics and as a child growing up in the 49th State.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Sarah Palin's path to the Republican ticket started with her name on a list - and a team of some 25 people poring through public records searching for trouble spots without her knowledge. Then came the 70-question survey and a nearly three-hour interview.
The review officially ended Thursday, when John McCain asked the Alaska governor to be his running mate.
In the days since, Republicans and Democrats have privately questioned whether the Arizona senator chose the first-term governor without fully looking into her background. McCain's campaign has vehemently defended the review.
Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., the lawyer who conducted the review, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that Palin underwent a "full and complete" examination before McCain chose her. Asked whether everything that came up as a possible red flag during the review already has been made public, Culvahouse said: "I think so. Yeah, I think so. Correct."
Stoking the notion of a rushed examination, a timeline issued by the campaign indicated that McCain initially met Palin in February, then held one phone conversation with her last week before inviting her to Arizona, where he met with her a second time and offered her the job.
Raising additional questions was the campaign's disclosure Monday that Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter was pregnant, and reports that Palin's husband, Todd, had been arrested in 1986, when he was 22, for driving under the influence of alcohol.
McCain's campaign has dispatched a team of a dozen communications operatives and lawyers to Alaska.
Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser, said the campaign always planned to send a "jump team" to the eventual running mate's home state to work with the nominee's staff, help with information requests from local and national reporters, and answer questions about documents that were part of the review.
Culvahouse said Palin's review, like others, began with a team of two dozen people culling information from public sources. The team reviewed speeches, financial records, tax information, litigation, investigations, ethical charges, marriages and divorces, for a number of potential running mates.
For Palin specifically, the team studied online archives of the state's largest newspapers, including the Anchorage Daily News, but didn't request paper archives for Palin's hometown newspaper for fear the secret review would become public.
Among the findings: Palin had once received a citation for fishing without a license.
Reports on each candidate - 40-some pages and single spaced - then were reviewed by McCain, Schmidt, campaign manager Rick Davis, and top advisers Mark Salter and Charlie Black.
Palin then was sent a personal data questionnaire with 70 "very intrusive" questions, Culvahouse said. She also was asked to submit a number of years of federal and state tax returns. The campaign also checked her credit.
Culvahouse then conducted a nearly three-hour interview. He said the first thing Palin volunteered was that her daughter was pregnant, and she also quickly disclosed her husband's two-decade-old DUI arrest.
The public search also unearthed details of the Legislature's investigation into the dismissal of Alaska's public safety commissioner, allegedly because he would not fire Palin's former brother-in-law as a state trooper.
Culvahouse said he asked follow-up questions, and "spent a lot of time with her lawyer" on the matter.
"We came out of it knowing all that we could know at the time," he said.
Throughout the process, the campaign said, Davis had multiple conversations with Palin.
Community Discussion
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There are just some things that don't matter.
MOVE THE HECK ON and concentrate on whats important. I seriously doubt a DUI 20 some years ago and a teenage pregnancy is going to affect how the world turns...
jeeeeeeeez!
Required for security clearance. NICS will be looking this one over more than likely. Even US Customs, et. al. have to file financial statements every 5 years as part of maintaining their clearances.
One of my uncles was a 30 year Navy man, submarines. Still keeps his TS clearance paperwork under lock and key. Real PITA to reaccomplish that stuff; takes LOTS of time.
So when has Alaska had state tax returns?
Nothing mentioned in the article about state tax returns. It says 'tax information'. Remember the Feds?
Dang, what the heck? We've got two articles here; one mentions one doesn't. It's been awhile, but I don't remember reading about Alaska ever having state income tax; the sales tax was dropped going into the TAPS project however.
As I remember, the Alaska state income tax was set at 16% of whatever your federal tax was. There was also a $10 per year school tax. My last Alaska return was for calander year 1980, but I think everyone got 100% of their money refunded in 1981, and after that there was no more individual state income tax.
Yota -
I had a TS Clearance for years and never had to keep it under lock and key...
wierd...or paranoid
I think we had to redo it every 5 years if I remember correctly - and the S2 took care of the details
Hahaha, the national topic now is about Wasilla and how Palin used around $30m in federal funds to benefit it. The media hasnt failed yet at discrediting McCain's ability to make a good choice. The GOP and mccain has been sitting around thinking that it would be impossible for the democrats to win but the democrats ended their show with a bang. Now that the GOP is on the move, they are now tripping on Palin and the recent hurricane. The democrats did their job, now all they have to do is sit back while the republicans tear themselves apart. Irony eh?
What is all the fuss about? A husband who had a DWI 20 years ago? Any body remember Kennedy? The fuss about a commissioner getting fired. Any governor can fire any commissioner who serves only at the pleasure of the governor and the governor does not have to give a reason to anyone. Clinton's immoral conduct while President and in the Oval Office. For Pete's sake people leave it alone. Sarah did not try to hide any of this. nor her daughter's pregnancy when she was being investigated by the McCain team. How open and honest can you get? Sounds like the perfect person to lead? Obama seems to have gotten a free ride when it comes to his and his wife's background compaired to what's going on with Sarah. Read Obama's life history and even his own books. Read his wife's writings while she was at Princton. Scary stuff! She was not proud of the US even when her husband was a Senator. You dems out there ought to take a closer look at your own Presidental nominee. And the AFL-CIO wants to support an individual who says when push comes to shove he will have to side with the Muslims? Not just the terrorists but the Muslim religion basically says that if you are not Muslim, you are an infidel and either convert or get killed. And no, I don't buy that he is Christian. Look at the church he was married in, his children listened to this "damn America" stuff for how many years. Is this who the USA really wants for their President?
And Opsamk, if Palin used $30 mil in fed. funds to benefit Wasilla that makes a great Mayor. What do you think we elect public officials to do? Getting over $30 million for Wasilla makes her a great Mayor as she will a great VP or even President if needed. We don't have to worry about our taxes going through the ceiling, if we will develop our own natural resources, not worry about our debt increasing to trillions of dollars to countries who hate us and whether we will have the right for every person to defend themselves. Sounds like a great choice to me for VP!
CPW
CPW...to correct an erroneous impression under which you may be larboring, consider the fact that according to Palin's own statement they knew of Bristol's pregnancy since before they were questioned by the vetting committee two weeks ago. Laudably, at that point they chose not to go public with the information. In other words, they kept it from the public and that was their right and privilege to do. Problem is, when squeaky-clean Sarah seemed to be heading for the slightest bit of public tarnish as regards the silly accusation Trig was not her baby she didn't combat the rumor with a simple "No" which likely would have sufficed. Instead, she immediately made it known her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock, making Bristol's very private situation now a matter of national news. In other words, she was quite willing to sacrifice her daughter's privacy for the sake of her own political aspirations.
All in all, it's a rather despiccable thing to do to one's own child.
30 Million as a mayor for a town of 4000 people. It looks great when you're the one who benefits, but if your political platform is earmarks and pork, it doesn't look so good. She wasn't really the reason Wasilla grew, having cheaper homes and people willing to commute to and from anchorage is what made Wasilla. Alot of folks there are stationed at Elmendorf and Ft. Richardson, or were and retired. It's the same thing you see in the DC, Chicago, or Boston Suburbs.
Here experience is small town politics, that includes Alaska's Governorship. Alaska is now looking like a state full of yokels belonging on Jerry Springer.
Ted Stevens, Don Young, the entire Federal probe... and then everything centered around Gov. Palin. It doesn't matter what the FACTS are, people rarely vote that way. It's the impression. And the GOP hasn't given a good impression this election season to the majority of American voters. Gov. Palin might be loved here in Alaska, but Alaska has 3 Electoral Votes that go to the Republicans more than anything. It's Senior Senator and Representative are under Indictment, or pretty darn close.
dobieman:
As you must know, the media rumormill was psoting pictures of her teenage daughters belly online to suuport their theory that Trig was in fact Bristols baby. They went on to describe the bump of her belly.
What an awful thing for an impressionable teenage woman to experience. Clearly, a simple "No" would not suffice. Not to the live in fear, know it all age of media coverage we live in.
I am proud of Sarah Palin, the positive image she presents and her strong family values. I am thankful she is the Vice Presidential candidate. After all, if the McCain/Palin thicket wins, then we don't need Ted or Don or their seniority. We have the ear of the President right down the hall.
Out with the old and in with the new, I say. Except for that old guy leading the ticket.
Palin for President!
Republicans would be having a field day if a Democratic VP candidate had a husband with a DUI, got caught fishing without a license, and had pregnant, unwed daughter. Can you say hypocrisy?
AKhusky said: Can you say hypocrisy?
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Isn't it amusing to watch all the people who STILL bring up Clinton and Kennedy feigning an inability to understand why this is happening?
Either the right wingnuts are being deliberately obtuse or they're suffering from a serious case of cognitive dissonance. I hate to go all hippie on them here but: 'karma'.
Republicans have been beating the Evil Libs over the head with the 'family values' bludgeon since the early 90s and now they can either sit back, shut up and take their lumps on Palin or they can out themselves as major hypocrites.
That Palin decided to make her daughter the most famous pregnant teen in the world is really weird. If the issue was Trig why not just release the medical records of the delivery and be done with it and allow Bristol some privacy.
It's also very weird watching the "Family Values" crowd celebrate with near giddyness teenage pregnancy. They act like something heroic has happened here, rather than just a couple of kids rutting without birth control.
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