Fair Investigative Journalism Covering Sarah Palin


The Right can complain about commentators on Daily Kos, but there are paid, legitimate journalists who are doing the work that the McCain campaign should have done weeks ago.

Laura McGann at the Washington Independent is doing a fine job going through all the public documents related to Sarah Palin's two terms as mayor of Wasilla. Take a lot at some of her first dispatches from Alaska:

Wasilla hired a Washington lobbyist in 2000 to attract more federal grants.

Palin to Wasilla librarian in 1996: Are you OK with censorship?

Palin on running Wasilla in 1996: "It's not rocket science."

McGann's colleague at the Washington Independent, Mike Lillis, follows-up on the federal lobbyist story:

With Palin remaining receptive to “Don Young’s Way,” Sen Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, has seen an opening. Thursday his office pounced, sending an email blast to reporters proclaiming, “Palin only announced opposition to one ‘Bridge to Nowhere,’ still supports the other one.”

[Lobbyist Steven] Silver, the former chief of staff to the now-indicted Stevens, began lobbying Congress on behalf of Wasilla in 2000. With Silver’s help, the town secured nearly $27 million in federal earmarks while Palin was mayor, according to an analysis done by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group.