Alaska AG suing to kill subpoenas in 'Troopergate'

[babylonsister]

Alaska AG suing to kill subpoenas in 'Troopergate'
By Sean Cockerham | Anchorage Daily News


Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg is suing to kill subpoenas issued by the state Legislature in its Troopergate investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Colberg filed the complaint Thursday in Anchorage superior court, arguing the state Senate Judiciary Committee lacked authority to issue subpoenas demanding that potential witnesses testify in the investigation. He wants a judge to rule them invalid.

The attorney general’s lawsuit against state lawmakers is the first time Palin’s executive branch has brought the courts into its war with the legislative branch of government over the investigation. Now that Palin is the Republican nominee for vice president, the stakes are huge.

Palin's husband, Todd, and two state officials have refused to honor the subpoenas, leaving some state legislators suggesting jail time is a potential consequence. Colberg’s suit is on behalf of seven other subpoenaed Palin administration officials who are supposed to testify today but won’t.

"A normal subpoena wouldn’t be voluntary," Colberg, a Palin appointee, said in a Thursday interview. "We have questions about the validity of these particular subpoenas because of how they were done."

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/election2008/story/53108.html

[bullimiami]

1. palin didnt clean up the govt in alaska, she just shoveled the crap to the other corner of the sty.

[babylonsister]

2. This little tidbit on the AG Palin picked is also telling:

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/09/24/fredo-of-the-north.aspx

Fredo of the North


So, who exactly is Talis Colberg, the Alaskan Attorney General who, despite a raftload of conflicts of interest, has proven so central to Sarah Palin's efforts to squelch the ongoing Troopergate investigation? An Alaskan lawyer (and blogger) explains:

Prior to being plucked from obscurity by Sarah Palin, Talis Colberg was a home grown Mat-Su Valley homeboy who practiced workers compensation law by himself out of a small office in downtown Palmer, a farm town (of sorts) down the road from Wasilla. When news of his nomination reached Anchorage, to the man and woman, I and every other lawyer of my acquaintance said, “Talis who?” No one, and I mean no one (other than the few attorneys who practice in Wasilla), had ever heard of the fellow.

Talis Colberg was so obviously unqualified to be attorney general that a number of members of the Alaska Legislature, including many Republicans many of whom were in leadership positions, threatened not to confirm him. But, in the end, they reluctantly agreed to give Sarah her guy....

During his confirmation hearing, the members of the House Judiciary Committee questioned Talis quite hard to try to determine who, if he became attorney general, he thought his client would be. The people of Alaska? Or Sarah Palin? I was not there to hear it. But I am told by people who were that Talis’s answer was a confused muddle.

On the other hand, he does have a doctorate. His dissertation title (I kid not): "M.D. Snodgrass: The Founder of the Alaska State Fair."