State of Alaska to Release Thousands of Sarah Palin’s E-Mails

The State of Alaska will release more than 24,000 pages of former Governor Sarah Palin’s official state e-mails on Friday morning in Juneau at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

Release of the e-mail messages to and from Palin when she was Alaska governor had long been delayed. The e-mails were first requested by various news services and ordinary citizens under Alaska public-records laws in 2008.

When e-mails (even on personal Yahoo accounts) were used on state-owned computers, they became public record, according to advocates agitating for their release. However, others are wondering if all such email messages fall under the “public record” purview.

The Alaskan authorities are charging as much as 3 cents a page for copying or $725.97 for the entire trove. The state will release 24,199 pages in six boxes at the door to the current governor's office, and also provide hand-trucks to help reporters and citizens carry.

The e-mails cover December 2006 through September 2008, when she was named the Republican vice presidential candidate. While e-mails from her final 10 months in office before her resignation in July 2009 are not yet released, another 2,275 pages have been withheld.

Critics say the e-mails will show that Palin used state resources for personal gain, to settle scores with enemies and followed an unprofessional conduct in general.

Among the material that will be made public are Palin's e-mails dealing with state business -- using both her official account as well as private accounts, according to Linda Perez, the administrative director for current Gov. Sean Parnell, CNN reported.