East Tennessee politicos weigh in on Sarah Palin emails

The Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | June 15, 2011 | Suzanna McCloskey

[2ndDivisionVet]

East Tennesseans — both Democratic and Republican — agree that the release of more than 20,000 pages of Sarah Palin’s email messages by the state of Alaska last Friday will not affect her possibility of running for president in 2012.

Those involved in local and state-level politics did, however, disagree on what weight should be given to the email and how much probing the government should do into one woman’s life.

“Sarah Palin is an interesting case study,” Brandon Puttbrese, director of communications for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said in an attempting to explain why the country is fascinated about so much email from one person.

The release follows a three-year media battle to receive paper copies of the electronic messages under Alaska’s freedom of information laws. The state of Alaska released 24,199 pages of Palin’s email from her time as governor and withheld 2,275 pages that were confidential or about topics deemed nongovernmental.

Knox County Republican Party Chairman Ray Jenkins said he too was surprised at the amount of coverage over the release.

“We’ve got unemployment, we’re $14.5 trillion in debt, we’re fighting three wars in the Middle East and we’re worried about what Sarah Palin said in emails three years ago,” he said.

Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Chris Devaney shared a similar view, saying the U.S. should focus more on current affairs rather than old email.

“The issue they need to be more concerned about is that it takes the average unemployed American close to 40 weeks to find a new job,” he said....

[2ndDivisionVet]

Hahahahaha! They want to move on, it seems.

[The Bronze Titan]

"shssshh", I have a hunch.

There are 2 important dates coming up...

The national release of UNDEFEATED: JULY 15

The Fox News Republican Debate: AUGUST 11

My 'hunch'?..... to capitalize on 'BIG' EXPOSURE due to take place starting on JULY 15th, and participate in the FOX NEWS Debates, Sarah Palin announces that she will be a candidate for President on JULY 4th, or immediately prior to JULY 15th.

You heard it right here!

[annieokie]

But,there still so much more to read. lol There just has to be something!!!! There has to be some Alaskan DIRT somewhere.

She should send them some.

[American Dream 246]

What about this date July 26 - exactly 2 years after she resigned because of the lawsuits..er..something?

I copied that somewhere on Fr...I apologize for not remembering his name - his english is so much better than mine so here it is:

I don’t think Palin’s going to announce until after July 26, which will be the two-year anniversary of her last day as Governor of Alaska.

If I understand correctly, the anklebiters can still file nonsensical ethics complaints against her OR HER STAFF if she’s in a political position (either as governor or as presidential candidate) for up to two years after she served as governor, and she’d still be subject to that dumb rule that says she’d have to pay the cost of investigating the complaints out of her own pocket. After the two years are up, she can form a legal fund to handle the nonsense, and the playing field becomes a lot more level.

[unseen1]

not one of these scums took the opurtunity to defend gov Palin form the witch hunt. Not one neither dem nor republican...at leaset form the excerpt you posted.....I’ll read the rest later but it doesn’t llok promising.

[EDINVA]

Stupid Republicans comments. They might have expressed some concern about privacy, especially since it was a TN boy, son of an elected Democrat official, who hacked her personal account and stood trial for doing it.

[unseen1]

ok read the whole thing. nope not one defense on the witch hunt. the gop has the fighting instincts of sheep.

[EDINVA]

I can’t believe two years out that the AK governor and legislature hasn’t changed that law. It’s prohibitive for an individual to run for office and face those charges, and a disincentive for good people to want to run for and hold office.

They could implement a law that the grievant is responsible for costs if their charges can’t be substantiated. The office holder would only be responsible for the investigation costs if the charges hold. That would put an end to the anklebiters real fast. And, rather than appear self-serving, it could take effect with the next elected governor and legislature.

[American Dream 246]

I fully agree with you. I don’t know if this is true anyway but if it is, that’s why Sarah has to wait until July 26th. Just one month so hang in there..May be it is not true and then I think July 4th would be a good guess. But hey...we know Sarah is unconventional so we will have the surprise - can’t wait!

[jennings2004]

This stated by politicians who don’t know ANYTHING about the current POTUS...what stupidity!