Can Sarah Palin and employees of the

Mat-Su medical facility be found guilty of criminal conspiracy? Most definitely.

Here is the relevant federal law:

US Code 
Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure 

§ 371. Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor.

How are U.S. attorneys to interpret that law? The United States
 Attorneys'
 Manual, deals with that question at length here:

http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm00923.htm

The summary statement at the end that section says those activities that fall under 18 U.S.C. § 371 affect the government in at least one of three ways:

1.              They cheat the government out of money or property;

2.              They interfere or obstruct legitimate Government activity; or

3.              They make wrongful use of a governmental instrumentality.

Is a community hospital that takes Medicare and Medicaid payments a “government instrumentality”? Of course it is.

So let’s review. Somebody at the Mat-Su medical facility allowed Sarah Palin to obtain a maternity suite late in the evening on April 17, 2008. Palin did not give birth, and the top administrators at Mat-Su surely knew that. Palin the next day sent out a press release on official letterhead of the office of the governor claiming she gave birth, when in fact she had not.

The statute says a crime is committed if “two or more persons conspire … to commit any offense against the United States …” Palin announced she was seven months pregnant on March 5, the day after McCain wrapped up the nomination for the Republican Party, even though, almost comically, a reporter wrote of her that day, “the governor … simply doesn’t look pregnant.” Moreover, this AP picture of her appeared on March 14 showing her without the least sign of pregnancy:

A strong case can be made that the intent of the fraud was to fool McCain, the Republican Party, and the American people to allow Palin to become, by means of an elaborate hoax, the vice president of the United States. Can this hoax therefore be construed as “an offense against the United States?”

It damned well should be construed that way! The Feds have a far more compelling, not to mention fantastically newsworthy, case against Palin than they had against John Edwards – and he's going to trial on felony charges.

So who exactly was the top administrator at Mat-Su on April 18, 2008? Sir, get yourself a lawyer.

Was Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson on hand at the hospital that day? Doesn’t matter, really – her public comments make her part of whatever happened. I would hate to think of her facing criminal conspiracy charges, but she and her lawyers need to think very carefully about her options, as long as she still has some.

And now it’s time for the U.S. attorney in Anchorage, Karen L. Loeffler, to move forward on this. (In fact, I have reason to believe she is already preparing her case.)

Sarah: Talk to your lawyers. Find a way to come clean before the Feds come after you ... before they start looking at where all that SarahPAC money went.


Anyone with information relevant to this case, please send it to: Mary Francis Rook, FBI, Special Agent in Charge, 101 E. Sixth Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501, anchoragefbi@ak.net, (907) 276-4441.