AP is reporting here that:
Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.
The article goes on to say:
Despite Palin's boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.
The article goes on to describe how Marty Rutherford (a well respected expert and long time high level government player) had acted as a lobbyist for some time prior to being appointed to lead Palin's team looking into this. THe lobbying ties were minimal but were also not disclosed to the legislature on Rutherford's appointment. The article then details the debate as to whether Rutherford's work as a lobbyist was sufficient to taint the bidding process. Then comes the really damning stuff.
In January 2007, Palin spoke the first of at least two times to Vice President Dick Cheney, the Bush administration's point person on energy issues, according to calendars obtained by the AP through a public records request. Cheney's staff pressed the Palin administration to draw in the energy companies, said current and former state officials involved in those discussions.
As the governor's approach unfolded in the spring of 2007, there were signs it was skewed in a different direction.
Palin said she saw problems if the firms that own the gas also owned the pipeline. They could manipulate the market or charge prohibitive fees to smaller exploration firms, discouraging competition.
OK, I'm impressed - she stands up to Dick Cheney AND the oil companies...good for her, but why?????
It turns out...
Under the Palin process, the pipeline firms had an advantage because they simply pass along taxes paid by oil and gas producers.
and
Once the state issued its request for proposals on July 2, 2007, the level of communication between the government and potential bidders was supposed to decrease drastically, so that no one would be accused of gaining unfair advantage. State lawyers advised public officials to keep their distance, and bidders were told to submit questions on a Web site where answers could be seen by all.
The article then details the many contacts, some of which were apparently kept off official diaries, between government officials and Palin herself with top executives from various pipeline construction projects about the bidding process. Palin even had out of state meetings with at least one top executive.
Conclusion:
So if I have this right, the claim to stand up to the oil companies was really based on her allegiance to a different special interest - the gas pipeline construction industry and, to make matters worse, the gas pipline project was premised on a fundamentally rigged bidding system that was designed as payback for companies in that interest group that had supported her.
The stink just keeps getting worse and worse...and the best that the Repugs can come up with is ACORN? Geesh.
I am pretty much beyond being shocked or even fascinated by the looky lou nature of this train wreck of a campaign by the Repugs...I will just be glad when the soap opera is done on Nov. 4 and she goes back to Alaksa for some further investigation.