About That Other Shoe Dropping...

*Clunk.*

An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by accepting private donations to pay her legal debts.

The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters.

An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund.

The fund aims to help Palin pay off debts stemming from multiple ethics complaints against her, most of which have been dismissed. Palin says she owes more than $500,000 in legal fees.

A call seeking comment from her lawyer was not immediately returned.

Looks like Raw Story might have been right back all those distant...ummm...God has it only been two and a half weeks?

Bleah.

[UPDATE 5:30 PM] USA Today has picked up the AP story too, AP story updated.

Palin's friends and supporters created the Alaska Fund Trust in April, limiting donations to $150 per person. Organizers declined to say how much it has raised, and had hoped to raise about $500,000. A Webathon last month brought in about $130,000 in pledges.

In his report, attorney Thomas Daniel said his interpretation of the ethics act is consistent with common sense.

An ordinary citizen facing legal charges is not likely to be able to generate donations to a legal defense fund, he wrote. "In contrast, Governor Palin is able to generate donations because of the fact that she is a public official and a public figure. Were it not for the fact that she is governor and a national political figure, it is unlikely that many citizens would donate money to her legal defense fund."

The ethics complaint was filed by Eagle River resident Kim Chatman shortly after the fund was created, alleging Palin was misusing her official position and accepting improper gifts.

Palin was given a copy of the investigator's report a week ago, Chatman said Tuesday.

"It's an absolute shame that she would continue to keep the Alaska Fund Trust Web site up and running," Chatman told the AP.

Now things get...interesting.

Just how much money are we talking about is in that fund? If she used her office to help raise awareness or to solicit donations for her personal legal fund while in capacity as Governor...why, she'd have to resign or something.

If this was the reason she did resign, did she not think this would get out at some point? Did she believe she could secure a pundit/campaign/fundraising job before this issue was revealed? What did she think was going to come afterwards?

So, she resigned pre-emptively as an effort to what, earn points? Hell's Bells.

[UPDATE 6:56 PM] Nate Silver takes myself and others to task for using the "other shoe" metaphor, as this afternoon's political news fails to clearly pass his EMPSCAT test of "Is this scandal a major scandal?" Based on Nate's criteria, it's not...and Nate's been pretty damned good at both defining criteria and deriving conclusions based upon those criteria for quite some time now.

I have to agree with his assessment...after all, she's already going to be resigning this Sunday, and other GOP governors (namely Mark Sanford) have so far held on through much worse than a shady legal fees fund.

We'll see how this pans out.