""James Svara, professor of public affairs at Arizona State University and author of "The Ethics Primer for Public Administrators in Government and Nonprofit Organizations," suggested such behavior is part of small-town politics.

"Small towns are first-person politics, and if people are close, it's hard to separate one's own personal interest and one's own personal property from the work of the city," Svara said. The key questions from an ethics standpoint include whether the politician makes a potential conflict of interest known and removes himself or herself from actions related to it, he added.

"I think in a small town there is a greater likelihood that people will accept that you will pay careful attention to friends and neighbors," he said, adding that there may be some local gossip about it, but not a lot of public scrutiny. "At the national level, there will be far more people watching, there will be far more pressures to come forward to try to influence the outcome.""

This is not change~ it is the same old cronyism that led to "heck of a job Brownie". This is not a "maverick.

Sage, I tried to contribute but I "broke" the thread so I deleted it. I'll take that as a sign and bow out.

So Palin gets a waiver on a house that she NEVER brought into complainance with the law; a waiver issued to her by the same good-old-boys" she claims to despise?  Apparently she's giving this particular group of good old boys a pass on that commitment.  Free facials and free gifts and free political favors and she's a maverick?

This goes to McCain judgment. She is eye-ball deep in scandal in her own state, no where near capable of being vice president, and McCain thinks she got what it takes to lead the free world?

Eye-ball deep in scandal and her favorability rating sits in the 80 to 90 percent range?  Someone's eye-ball deep in something, HM, and it isn't her.

How many sleeze seeking MSM "journalists" are in Alaska and this is the best they can come up with?  

 Eye-ball deep in scandal and her favorability rating sits in the 80 to 90 percent range?

And just where do you come up with those numbers? Try 68% favorable 27% unfavorable in Alaska, a 14 point drop in a matter of a few weeks:

http://politicalwire.com/ar...

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/...

And let's not even begin to speak about national polling.

What I find interesting about the posted article is that a welding shop sent Palin flowers.  Sounds to me like she did them some favors, among other businesses.  She's just the run-of-the-mill politician - which makes her like everyone else. 

14 point drop, huh?  People like you, the Democrat Party, and the main stream media can pat yourselves on the backs for that.  You can proudly point out that character assasination works. 

Oh, I love it!  It's called politics.  It's funny, because the more you and some of the other conservatives on this blog whine about this, the more apparent it is that your party is desperate to gain additional votes.  You're backed into a corner, and you know it. Both sides of the political spectrum dig as much dirt as they possibly can - don't you dare deny it! Politics = dirty.

This isn't character assassination, it's character suicide.  Sarah Palin is an adult, and she consciously has made decisions in her life that are seen as questionable.  Every single major political candidate falls under the same scrutiny - McCain has, Obama certainly has, Biden has, Clinton, Dodd, Pelosi.. you name it, they've all been through this gauntlet before.  Name me one politician who hasn't been on the hot seat whilst holding a position of potential electability.

However, Sarah Palin is really destroying her political future every time she opens her mouth without the aid of a teleprompter.  The McCain campaign is literally kicking it's own ass right now trying to divert the attention away from her, and focus it instead back on McCain himself.  Of course, Thursday night will be very telling - either Sarah Palin will prove that she's able to study up on the material, cram more information into her head than she did during her college days, and spit it out in concise and complete sentences without making the majority of people scratch their heads in confusion; or she'll have her 4th major unrehearsed speaking engagement full of failure and inaudible crap.  I'm banking on the latter, considering she's consistently shown a complete lack of knowledge or comprehension of the issues, and instead has relied on a Yogi Berra-esque style of uniquely worded soliloquy of which barely anyone can comprehend. 

Ironically, some of the most conservative talking heads agree with my assessment, yet there are plenty of you who still don't see the light.  What's even more funny to me personally is that had McCain not chosen Palin, there was a much higher chance of me actually supporting him in this election!  Therefore, you can put me with the Democrats all you want, but in the end, this independent will continue to walk his own path without being permanently attached to one political label or the other.

Of course, being you're obviously a permanent holder of the Republicard, you have tunnel vision.  I have pity on you for that.

I hear the phrase "it speaks to His/Her" character all the time among my right-leaning friends. Gander,goose and all that.

Apparently Palin is being investigated in another case, other than Troopergate, that wasn't revealed until recently:

http://www.washingtonpost.c...

I'd like to send her a gift for being so graceful in the midst of all of the mud-slinging and pitiful efforts to discredit her that have been going on by those who feel threatend by potentially powerful conservative women. 

I'm sure that a contribution to her legal-defense fund(s) would be greatly appreciated.

I am not sure how one sees inquiries into possible law breaking as "those who feel threatened by potentially powerful conservative women. " But I believe most can see a question of ethical wishy-washy here,at the least.

When it becomes a politically motivated witch hunt, you have to kind of take the investigation with a grain of salt.