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From: Cliff on 25 Jun 2010 09:26
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Illegal Sarah Palin defense fund must give back donations

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - A legal defense fund for former Alaska Governor Sarah
Palin was illegal and must repay nearly $400,000 to donors, according to a
settlement with a state-appointed lawyer announced on Thursday.

But Palin, the feisty former Republican vice presidential candidate who has
become a fixture of the conservative Tea Party movement, probably violated a
state ethics act without knowing she was doing so, independent counsel Tim
Petumenos said.

While governor, Palin faced some two dozen ethics complaints, which she said
left her with a legal bill of more than $500,000. Her political action committee
raised a fund to pay for her defense.

A preliminary ruling by another independent counsel last year said the fund was
illegal because it used her official position as governor to raise money for her
personal gain.

Petumenos confirmed the decision and said no such legal defense fund had ever
been set up before for a state official in Alaska.

Palin violated the ethics rules because she was a beneficiary of the fund but
probably relied on bad advice from out-of-state lawyers to conclude it was above
board, Petumenos said at a news conference.

He added that Palin should have checked with the state attorney general before
pursuing the fund.

"It is the responsibility of every public official to make sure they are
personally compliant with the (Alaska Ethics) Act," he said.

The deal requires Palin's fund to give back to donors $386,856 collected while
she was in office. A further $33,546 collected after she resigned will not be
affected by the deal.

Palin, no longer a public official, has launched a new defense fund. She is now
independently wealthy but her lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, told reporters he still
believed she ran up the legal costs in her capacity as governor and so a new
fund was justified.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65O0AG20100625
]
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