Texas evangelicals funded effort to kill Palin 'troopergate' probe John Byrne

Published: Sunday February 8, 2009





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But that's where some of the money that helped an effort aiming to kill a probe investigating whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin acted inappropriately in firing the state's public safety chief came from.



Gift records show that an evangelical group and two law firms working with it shelled out $185,000 to represent six Alaska legislators in an unsuccessful bid to quash the state legislature's investigation into "troopergate."



The evangelical group -- Liberty Legal Institute -- is affiliated with Focus on the Family's James Dobson. Liberty is the legal arm of the Free Market Foundation, which "lists its guiding principles as limited government and promotion of Judeo-Christian values," according to the Anchorage Daily News.



On Friday, Gov. Sarah Palin's husband Todd was held in contempt by the Alaska State Senate. The news was barely reported -- and seemed relatively fruitless from a national political standpoint, since it came months after Palin's failed bid for the presidency.



The gift records also show an in-kind contribution of legal services from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP totaling $120,000, a national lawfirm appearing on behalf of Liberty Legal, and $40,000 from the firm of Alaska attorney Kevin Clarkson.



That brings the total bill for their lawsuit to $185,000.



The suit against the legislators pursuing charges against those probing Palin was dismissed last fall. All six men who filed the suit were Republicans.



"I said so, who is paying who to do this?" Carl Gatto, one of the lawmakers involved in the suit, said. "And they said they were volunteering, the attorneys were volunteering. Then I discovered I had to report it as gifts. So I did."



"If you feel like there is an injustice being done you have a right to file a lawsuit," he added.



The lawyer who defended the Legislative Council against that lawsuit and two others seeking to stop the "troopergate" investigation was shocked when called by the Anchorage Daily News .



"Wow," he said.









