Alaska Fund Trust at $500,000 in donations now
In this Fox News article about the independent investigator's potential bias, they mention a good news:
Palin's supporters say the governor, who will resign on Sunday, needs the legal fund because of a quirk in Alaska law that prevents state officials from defending the state's chief executive against ethics allegations.
"The whole situation is nuts," said John Coale, a prominent Washington attorney who helped set up the legal fund, which so far has accepted $500,000 in donations. "Alaska has an ethics law that is unsustainable."
That's up from the $300,000 figure I read in an article around the beginning of July (i.e. when Gov. Palin announced her intend to resign). Perhaps the increased exposure helped the fund (as the publicity also helped SarahPAC). This should cover most of the governor's legal bill, if the legal defense fund is allowed to pay her bills.
BTW, as for the independence of the investigator, from what little I know, I doubt his politics affects his job. I've read the leaked report, and he was entirely fair and, well, surprisingly conservative ("I can only apply the law") and entirely lacking in the judicial activism that Democrats are so fond of. And although the Fox News report doesn't highlight it, his 7-page report did stress over and over that there is something broken in Alaskan laws (mainly that it didn't anticipate for assholes willing to exploit the system for political ends), and he recommended that the governor get the state to reimburse her for her legal fees. It's a twisted recommendation (the state wastes money to investigate these baseless claims, as it is obligated to, and now it spends more money to defend against its own investigation), but the only one possible unless the legislature acts to change the rules.
A good man can be independent regardless of his personal views and beliefs. My belief in God the Creator does not affect my job—I don't work from the assumption that laws of physics come from an intelligent designer, mainly because I know God doesn't need my help to prove that he exists. My political beliefs do not spill into my classes—other than that because my libertarian beliefs go beyond politics I allow my students more leeway, within rules clearly pronounced from the beginning. And really, if you can't accept this as presented with what is public knowledge,
Daniel told FOXNews.com that any lawyer hired to investigate a complaint is going to have political views, but that shouldn't interfere with the task at hand.
"This is not intended to be a political process," he said. "It's intended to make a determination of whether there is probable cause of an ethics violation."
At least 19 ethics complaints have been filed against Palin, most of them after she became the Republican party's vice presidential candidate last August. Palin has cited the toll of the probes as one of the reasons she is resigning as governor.
The bulk of those complaints have been dismissed, and Daniel recommended dismissal in five of the cases.
"This is the only one of the six that I found probable cause," Daniel said. "If you look at the whole record, it shows that I have not exhibited any bias."
You are effectively saying that some jobs are First Amendment-free zone. Is that the America we want?