New Web site launches ad blistering Palin investigation

October 01, 2008

A still shot from a Web ad (KTUU-TV)

by Jason Moore
Tuesday, September 30, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- While Gov. Sarah Palin prepares for Thursday night's vice presidential debate, her campaign is stepping up its efforts to discredit the Legislature's investigation of the governor's firing of Public Safety commissioner Walt Monegan.

The campaign is now taking the fight to the Internet, with new ads at palintruthfiles.com.

The ads are the latest effort by the campaign to attack the investigation it calls politically partisan.

"As the ad shows, led by ringmasters and Obama supporters Senators Kim Elton and Hollis French, each act becomes more preposterous than the last as they cling desperately to an investigation that aims only to drag Governor Sarah Palin through the mud," McCain-Palin spokesperson Meghan Stapleton said.

Investigator Steve Branchflower is said to be preparing a report to come out Oct. 10, despite several state officials -- and the governor's husband -- not showing up for testimony after receiving subpoenas.

The McCain-Palin campaign thinks the report could be damaging to the governor.

"If it says what Senator French said it was going to say several weeks ago it will be damaging to the governor," Ed O'Callaghan, another spokesperson, said. "That's what Senator French said he believed the report would show."

The campaign also said partisan politics and the media are to blame for the drop in Palin's approval rating since she joined the McCain ticket.

"I think after weeks and weeks of vial partisan attacks her approval rating is still quite strong," Stapleton said. "And they would naturally fall when you are dealing with constant attacks and falsehoods and miscommunications on behalf of the media."

In related news, an Anchorage judge has agreed to take up a motion for a temporary restraining order to block the Legislature's investigation.

Judge Peter Michalski set a hearing for Thursday to hear arguments.

Michalski is also taking the case filed by Attorney General Talis Colberg challenging the subpoenas served on several aides of Palin.

Contact Jason Moore at jmoore@ktuu.com

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