Troopergate

When she vetoed $268 million in capital projects approved by lawmakers in the $3.6-billion 2008-09 capital budget, former Gov. Sarah Palin was perplexed at the outcry up and down the state from those whose cherished projects had been cut—with backers of a number of school building projects complaining perhaps the loudest. Fire stations, emergency services and road improvements also got the ax. One unnamed official said she was “stunned by how many school projects were actually cut,” reported Karen Rehfield, director of the Alaska Office of Management and Budget.

ExxonMobil has long been Alaska’s most enduring villain, thanks to the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker accident that spilled at least 11 million gallons of oil, not to mention the years Exxon spent fighting devastated fishermen and others in court to avoid and delay paying damages. Former Gov. Sarah Palin's emails show how much state officials shared in the general outrage over Exxon’s legal tactics. Having already held the case up in the courts for nearly two decades, winning reversal of  billions of dollars in punitive damages by the U.S. Supreme Court,  ExxonMobil lawyers in 2008 filed pleadings to avoid paying interest on  the $507.5 million they'd avoided paying all those years—a total of about $470 million extra, in the end. An appeals court later ruled Exxon did have to pay the interest, but at the time, the oil company was pulling out the stops again to fight it, and Talis Colberg, then Alaska’s  Attorney General, shared highlights of the company’s legal argument in a contemptuous email to his boss.

A leading Democratic senator asked President Bush on Wednesday to rescind the nomination of Judge Laurence H. Silberman as co-chairman of a commission to investigate intelligence failures in Iraq, saying the judge's partisan views would taint the inquiry. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid attacked Silberman's appointment, saying in the Senate that "it's been acknowledged by most everyone that he is one of the most partisan people in our community."

The only witness who can independently confirm the truth of the initial charges in the Paula Jones case has now come down solidly on the side of President Clinton, according to his sworn deposition released last week. This tawdry escapade that has mushroomed into a grave presidential crisis began with criticisms of Clinton's behavior as governor, attributed to Arkansas State Trooper Danny Ferguson, who now points the finger at Jones.

One reason I was drawn to my chosen career is its informality. Unlike doctors, lawyers or even jockeys, journalists have no entrance exams, no licenses, no governing board to pass solemn judgment when they transgress. Indeed, it is the constitutional right of every citizen, no matter how ignorant or how depraved, to be a journalist. This wild liberty, this official laxity, is one of journalism's appeals. It is also one of its myths.

Re "A 'heckuva' night," news analysis, Oct. 3 As a feminist who voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, I am terrified at the prospect of Sarah Palin anywhere near the White House. "She committed no major mistakes" because she dodged most of the questions, answering in beauty-pageant, preprogrammed sound bites. She told the moderator that she didn't have to answer questions directly if she didn't want to. Is it really acceptable to not play by the rules because you can't or won't follow them?

The Enron debacle sheds light on the parochial thinking that dominates this administration's approach to energy. Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay is (or was) a friend of the president and of many key members of his administration. He was by all accounts a major contributor to the energy policy that was formed by the administration, a process that occurred behind closed doors and that Vice President Dick Cheney refuses to open to public scrutiny. This energy plan was clearly crafted to benefit the oil executives.

After Sarah Palin fired her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, setting off a chain of events that would ultimately become known as "Troopergate," she offered him the position of executive director of Alcholic Beverage Control, a demotion that he declined. An investigation by the Alaska State Personnel Board would later find that she acted within her purview when she dismissed him but had acted improperly when she and her husband put pressure on him to fire their former brother-in-law, a state trooper named Mike Wooten.

Sarah Palin feuded bitterly with Senate President and fellow Republican Lyda Green. When Green contacted the governor's office in May 2008 to discuss calling a special session to move stalled legislation, Palin said Green was asking the governor's office to "bail her butt out of the pickle she got herself in. " RELATED: Read the Palin emails "She believes her hide will be saved if she gets us to take on this entire burden and...