Officials release 24,000 Sarah Palin emails

ALASKA officials released thousands of pages of Sarah Palin’s emails from her first 21 months as governor, giving a fresh glimpse of her as she struggled with gossip about her family before she rose to national prominence as the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

Reporters and photographers crowded into a small office to pick up the six boxes of emails — 24,199 pages and weighing 100lb. Some carried boxes down the stairs and others, wheeling them on dollies, scrambled to be the first ones to reach elevators.

Within minutes of the release, Palin tweeted a link to the webpage for “The Undefeated”, a documentary about her rise and time as governor.

Tim Crawford, the treasurer of her political action committee, Sarah PAC, said in a statement that everyone should read the emails.

“The thousands upon thousands of emails released today show a very engaged governor Sarah Palin being the CEO of her state,” he said.

“The emails detail a governor hard at work.”

In the months before she was named the vice-presidential nominee, Palin’s emails showed a governor dealing with complaints, rumours and gossip about her family.

In several, she asks about the identity of someone who alleged that she had not buckled her son, Trig, properly into his car seat.

In another, she laments about gossip about her family and marriage. Palin and her daughter, Bristol, appear to be travelling in a car, and Bristol emails a Palin staffer in July 2008: “Mom and I were just praying about the hurt and anger that comes with her job. Thank you for your faith in God. We share it and we love you!”

Bristol wrote from her mother’s personal email account.

Palin resigned partway through her first term, in early July, 2009. Requests also have been made for Palin’s final 10 months in office. State officials haven’t begun reviewing those records. Sharon Leighow, the spokeswoman for Gov. Sean Parnell, said she doubted the release of those emails would come soon.

The emails were first requested during the 2008 White House race by citizens and news organisations as they vetted a nominee whose political experience included less than one term as governor and a term as mayor of the small town of Wasilla.

The nearly three-year delay has been attributed largely to the sheer volume of the release and the flood of requests.

Alaska is releasing the thousands of emails in paper form only in Alaska’s capital city, accessible by only air or water.

Palin told Fox News Sunday that she was unfazed by the release of emails, saying there are no more rocks that could be turned over about her life or time as governor.

The state said it was not practical to provide electronic versions of the emails.