I've suspected for some time that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's twitter word salad - her twitter stuff is like the tapas version of the salad - is being fed to her through the administration apparatus in a filtered way. It is the most upbeat stuff she comes up with, though she can seldom resist the urge to insert some level of 8th grade humor.
Here's from a comment at The Mudflats:
Not sure if all state departments have received the same “directive” from the Gov’s office but our dept heads have told us to forward to them info for the Gov to tweet about. When we inquired further we were told, in no uncertain terms, ONLY THE GOOD STUFF! So I guess it’s to hell with reality… she obviously wants the whole world to think that everything she touches turns to gold, smells like flowers & basks in holy light.
This shouldn't be surprising. Other governors who twitter probably are pursuing a similar strategy.
It would be nice to find out if there's a paper trail on this, though. How much would that information request cost - $4,000,000.00?
13 comments:
that was sooo weird reading that from a state employee...
Here in Pennsyltucky region, we actually have serious laws against that.
At least in the Kentucky part of Pennsyltucky...that's a complete no-no
Your post is EXACTLY the reason why the Alaskan political blogs are necessary. If the government is trying to use "poppies" to put the electorate to sleep and the state's newspapers are in CYA mode...it's up to the blogs to get the word out on this miserable governor.
10:27--they've been doing that, and a lot more for months on end. where you been??
No, we do have laws also too in Alaska. We're not sure what they're for, exactly, or how to apply them, but yeah, we got 'em.
Ya know, at the time of statehood, we too, we were making that bold effort to grow this great state and progress our vision. And those laws, yep, those laws, that was all about job creation and developing a strong economy. And not dependent on government. Leaving government out of taxpayers' private business. Also public officials, too. So, enforcement leads to more government.
That last paragraph brings forth an interesting point: if the a government employee communicates via twitter, is there any obligation under state law to document the contents of that communication? Where is the paper trail? Is Palin using Twitter to circumvent the meaning and intent of Alaska's public records act?
I notice that employees are leaving more comments lately on blogs. I hope they continue! Please please tell us more! No one will figure out who you are.
Recently on one of the Alaskan blogs, someone wrote something like "please stop making Palin mad, some of us have to work with her!." That is not an exact quote but it is along those lines.
I have worked for a narcissist like Palin, so I know what it is like. It is NOT easy. You are in their good graces, but one false move and you are OUT. No one is more vindictive and unforgiving than a narcissist. And it happens often with them.....
So if have worked with her, tell us some of your experiences. I am sure you can do it without revealing who you are and it might make you feel better. I wonder if she is kind to her staff or not?? Does she recognize them when they are doing a good job?
sauerkraut,
I don't twitter (though the pressure is growing), so am only assuming that by broadcasting the tweets to one's twitter net, the outgoing tweets are public communication. If she's using public resources for the feeding of filtered input for her twitter output, the process then becomes a mixture of privately held incoming publicly-owned info, distributed outward through some sort of a hybrid public/private device....?
I'm not sure what statutes what she'd doing falls under, but I'm sure her personal attorney and AG-designate know it is 100% OK.
Phil: I haven't gotten into Twitter either.
Then again, if I had the misfortune to live in Alaska under this administration, I don't think I'd believe anything that comes out as a presser.
Puppies, kitties and flowers anyone?
Palin had the same policy when she was Mayor of Wasilla. Her minions were ordered to only report GOOD news to her at the City Office. Those that didn't play along were thrown under the bus and out the door.
She also strong-armed the local newspaper publisher into only reporting favorably on her and her policies. She's one nasty, vindictive piece of work, always has been.
And thankfully, now she's just that - one big "has-been".
I think of her not as a has-been, but as a never-was.
She's pretty much sucked at everything. She won her GINO because everyone voted AGAINST Murkowski. She killed off McCain (I owe her for that one). She went to 6 schools to get 1 silly journalism degree (did they pass her to get rid of her????), she LOST her beauty pageant (that makes her an also-ran as well as a never-was).
She hasn't WON anything - EVER.
But....but...she got David Letterman to apologize on national television...twice!
Those that didn't play along were thrown under the bus and out the door.......
___________________
Julie
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