Documenting the partisan witch hunt

The Republicans are out in full force again today alleging that the investigation has been politicized. The latest talking point? John Fund suggests that Branchflower's investigation be replaced by an independent counsel.

Let that one sink in.

And now, via Mudflats, I yield to floor to Alaska State Rep Les Gara.

Here are a few things they failed to say. There are a few small facts that make it hard to style this as a Democratic investigation. One is that Alaska is a Republican State. We have a Republican Governor and a Legislature of 34 Republicans and 26 Democrats. This summer the Legislature’s Legislative Council voted 12-0 (8 Republicans and 4 Democrats) to hire an investigator, and appointed Democratic Senator Hollis French, a well-respected former prosecutor, to find an investigator. Governor Palin stated she and her employees would comply with the investigation. French then hired Steve Branchflower, a former DA who most recently was hired by legislative Republicans to run the state’s Office of Victims rights.

And on Friday the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 (2 Democrats and 1 Republican in favor); and the House Judiciary Committee issued a 7 - 0 (5 Republicans, 2 Democrats) advisory vote, to issue subpoenas to witnesses the McCain camp had previously stopped from testifying.

Over the last two days McCain’s outside operatives have vilified former prosecutor Hollis French - as an Obama supporter who must have called this investigation to hurt the McCain ticket. But French was appointed to oversee the investigation by a 12 - 0 Legislative Council vote, and is probably the state’s most respected legislator - by Republicans and Democrats alike. He’s so popular the Republican Party couldn’t find anyone to run against him this year. |Les Gara|

Addendum: Something I hadn't noticed before. Let me go ahead and quote a bit of the CNN article linked above.

"As state employees, our clients have taken an oath to uphold the Alaska Constitution, and for that reason, they respect the Legislature's desire to carry out an investigation in support of its lawmaking powers," Attorney General Talis Colberg, a Palin appointee, told the investigation's manager in a letter released Wednesday. |CNN|

Leave content aside. Apparently Colberg is no longer recused from the matter. Why, then, is Thomas Van Flein getting his salary paid by the state of Alaska?