This is great reading. We learn that:
1. The New York lawyer that John McCain sent to Alaska to help defend Sarah Palin, Edward O’Callaghan, is not a members of Alaska’s Bar. That’s a problem? (Updated for clarity: O’Callaghan admitted to Newsweek’s Michael Isakoff that he’s providing legal advice.) The author notes:
The pickle O’Callaghan’s wagging tongue has gotten its owner into is that, pursuant to Alaska Statute 8.08.230, a person who is not a member of the Alaska Bar who while physically present in Alaska “engages in the practice of law” is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. And in Alaska the “practice of law” includes “rendering legal consultation or advice”.
2. Alaska is one of only a few states where the Attorney General is appointed by the governor. Sarah Palin’s pick?
Prior to being plucked from obscurity by Sarah Palin, Talis Colberg was a home grown Mat-Su Valley homeboy who practiced workers compensation law by himself out of a small office in downtown Palmer, a farm town (of sorts) down the road from Wasilla. When news of his nomination reached Anchorage, to the man and woman, I and every other lawyer of my acquaintance said, “Talis who?” No one, and I mean no one (other than the few attorneys who practice in Wasilla), had ever heard of the fellow.
Perhaps, in choosing Sarah Palin herself, McCain was just following her lead. Being Mavericky! Talis Colberg has since gone into hiding. It would be hilarious were it not indicative of how a McCain-Palin administration would operate.
3. Troopergate is a partisan witchhunt? Not quite:
[C]onservative Republican Charlie Huggins cast the deciding vote [to isssue subpoenas]; which puts the lie to Van Flein and O’Callaghan’s repeated bald assertions that the Troopergate investigation is a partisan Democratic witch hunt.
Enjoy: How Alaska’s AG defied the public’s interest to cover for Palin in Troopergate