Todd Palin Is Alaska's (Unelected) Cheney

Todd Palin isn’t just Alaska’s “First Dude,” Mike Madden reports in Salon—Sarah Palin’s husband plays a nebulous but obviously major role in her administration. Todd is involved in both personnel and legislative decisions, getting copied in on many official e-mails, and working directly with legislators. Some call him a “shadow governor,” and see a secretive inside operator not unlike Dick Cheney.

Todd Palin is being subpoenaed for his involvement in the state trooper filing, and he also allegedly worked to have another former friend fired for personal reasons. The full extent of his involvement became clear in a request for administration emails. Sarah Palin’s staff censored most of the messages, but all were sent to Todd. The secrecy, the former friend says, proves Palin’s rhetoric about “open, transparent, honest ethical government is bogus.” (More Sarah Palin stories.)