Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said Friday that she owes more than $500,000 in legal fees to her Anchorage-based lawyer Thomas van Flein for work defending her on ten lawsuits, which she did not name. But Palin specified that the lawsuits start with “the politically motivated Troopergate probe,” in which Palin was accused of pressuring a state official to fire a state trooper embroiled in a personal dispute with the Palin family. Palin also said that she could not use public funds to pay her lawyer because “to do so could itself violate state law,” but she might establish a legal fund to help pay the debt. (Anchorage Daily News)JP Morgan Chase will spend $138 million to buy two luxury jets and an aircraft hanger, even after receiving $25 billion in TARP funds, ABC News reports. The Gulfstream 650 jets are described by their manufacturer as the “fastest,” “widest,” and “most comfortable” aircraft ever designed. Though JP Morgan says that no TARP funds will be used, corporate watchdog Nell Minnow called this a “remarkably boneheaded decision” and “completely tone deaf.” (ABC News)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=144658