Another lawmaker has stepped forward to provide Alaska citizens access to more than 24,000 pages of emails sent and received by Sarah Palin while she was governor.
The state will release the documents Friday, but is only making one public review copy available in Juneau. State House Speaker Mike Chenault – a Nikiski Republican – has requested a copy for his office in Kenai.
Juneau State Senator Dennis Egan and Anchorage Representatives Berta Gardner and Mike Doogan previously announced they’d be making their copies available at the Anchorage and Fairbanks Legislative Information Offices.
Nobody knows what to expect from the document dump, which covers the first 21 months of Palin’s tenure as governor. Many of the emails are expected to be from private accounts, which Palin often used to conduct state business.
Chenault says he’s as frustrated as anyone by the delay in the emails’ release. The documents were requested by news organizations and activists more than two years ago, when Palin was the GOP vice presidential nominee.
Those who’ve requested copies can pick them up Friday morning at 9 a.m. on the 3rd floor of Juneau’s Court Plaza Building – known as the Spam Can. The state is charging $725 for a set of six boxes.
National Media organizations like the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Network News outlets are descending on Juneau to review the e-mails. The event will be broadcast on Gavel to Gavel tomorrow at 11 a.m.
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Casey Kelly is a reporter at KTOO in Juneau.
