Still Needs To Learn How To Read

NBC's Savannah Guthrie tonight claimed that according to the Branchflower Report, Sarah Palin "broke no criminal laws, but violated ethics rules."

Guthrie needs to learn how to read. From page 8:

Finding Number One

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides

"The legislature reaffirms that each public offer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust."

I don't know about Guthrie, but where I come from, when you violate a statute, you're not just breaking the rules, you're breaking the law.

Update (6:48PM): Just to be clear, I'm not disputing the claim that Palin "broke no criminal laws." I'm disputing the claim that Palin merely violated "rules" when in fact she violated the law.

Update 2 (6:53PM): Another important point -- Branchflower never considered whether or not Palin violated Alaska's criminal code. He determined that while she had violated the state's ethics laws, the state's constitution gave her authority to hire and fire virtually whomever she pleased in Monegan's position. So the fact that his report does not find any criminal law violations is about as relevant as the fact that it does not contain the ingredients list for a pepperoni pizza.

Guthrie might as well have said: the report found Palin "didn't bake a pizza, but broke ethics rules."

Update 3 (7:01PM): As I note above, Branchflower did not explore whether or not there were any criminal violations. He limited his review to the state's executive branch ethics laws. However, given his finding that Palin violated those laws, it may be worth opening an investigation as to whether her behavior constituted official misconduct. That would involve a criminal investigation. (In Alaska, official misconduct is defined in AS 11.56.850.)