1. Mr. Palin objects to the Subpoena on the ground that the Judiciary Committee lacks authority to issue subpoenas or otherwise investigate matters relating to the Office of the Governor, the Department of Administration, or the Department of Public Safety. Pursuant to Rule 20 of the Uniform Rules of the Alaska Legislature, the Judiciary Committee's jurisdiction is limited to "the programs and activities of the Alaska Court System and the Department of Law, and the legal and substantive review of bills referred to it for that purpose." Pursuant to Rule 20, the State Affairs Committee is the legislative committee with jurisdiction over the Office of the Governor, the Department of Administration, and the Department of Public Safety.
Who even knows where to start with that? How about here. The current Chair of the State Affairs Committee is Bob Lynn. We know we can count on him to run an unbiased investigation because he's one of five legislators who filed suit a few days ago attempting to stop the independent investigation.
As to the rest, I'm not quite sure what to say. I never understood why the subpoenas came from the Judiciary Committee in the first place. What is clear is that it was always the plan:
French told the council the investigator will go to work gathering evidence and then could come back to lawmakers if "some people just won't talk." The House and Senate judiciary committees could then issue legislative subpoenas to compel testimony.|7.29.08|
The Legislative Council does have broad powers and it's pretty easy to imagine ways for the legislative council to use those powers to accomplish this result. I can't find a copy of the enabling motion, but surely it could have given special jurisdiction to Judicial Committee.
Here's a question for the lawyers. Have you ever heard of a court taking it upon itself to interpret and enforce the rules that a legislature has set for itself?
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