Oooh, Snap!

We all recall that Governor Palin recently resigned from office and will soon hold no elective or appointed office. That makes her a private citizen, and private citizens can operate under different rules from public citizens. I'm no lawyer, but it seems that the media might soon learn the difference.

To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as “fact” that Governor Palin resigned because she is “under federal investigation” for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation. This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law. The Alaska Constitution protects the right of free speech, while simultaneously holding those “responsible for the abuse of that right.” Alaska Constitution Art. I, Sec. 5. http://ltgov.state.ak.us/constitution.php?section=1. These falsehoods abuse the right to free speech; continuing to publish these falsehoods of criminal activity is reckless, done without any regard for the truth, and is actionable.

It's one thing to ramble on about the possible motives of a public citizen, they have very little recourse. A private citizen? Not so much. Private Citizen Palin might soon own a couple of nice media outlets.