Todd Palin Resigns BP Oil Production Operator Job

Todd Palin, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband, holds Trig Palin at the governor's picnic in Anchorage, Alaska on July 25, 2009. Todd Palin resigned as a production operator for oil giant BP PLC effective Sept. 18. 2009 to spend time with his family.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The husband of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has quit his oil field job on the North Slope.

Todd Palin’s resignation as a production operator for oil giant BP PLC comes almost two months after his wife stepped down as Alaska governor and shortly before the release of her highly anticipated memoir in a deal rumored to be worth millions.

“Todd loved his union job on the Slope and hopes to return,” Meghan Stapleton, Sarah Palin’s personal spokeswoman, said in an e-mail Friday. “For now, he is spending time with his family.”

The resignation was effective Sept. 18, according to BP spokesman Steve Rinehart.

Former Govenor Palin Finally Reports Gifts

Palin received a gun case and a statue of the Virgin Mary among over a dozen gifts, also including a glass elephant, according to a Monday filing.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has reported receiving more than a dozen gifts last year, including a gun case, a glass elephant and a statue of the Virgin Mary.

In a filing Monday with the Alaska Public Offices Commission by her attorney, Thomas V. Van Flein, Palin listed 15 gifts worth more than $250. Under state law, the former Republican governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate is not required to disclose the many gifts that she received — often at political events — that are appraised at less than $250.

The 15 gifts came from a dozen different states. None were from Alaska, though a Canadian woman from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, sent some prints.

Only one gift came from Washington, D.C. — 10 copies of the book “The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama’s War on American Values,” from Associated Television News.

Palin Leaves Alaska With a Mountain of Ethics Issues

The raft of ethics complaints against Palin has lawmakers mulling changes to the law, and Palin herself still needs to report a ‘garage full’ of gifts.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin gave her rambling resignation speech in Fairbanks, Alaska on July 26, 2009, leaving many legal questions in her wake.

Anchorage, Alaska – Sarah Palin is no longer governor, but Alaska is still trying to tie up the loose ends of her time in office.

A host of ethics issues tied to her term as governor remain unresolved. They range from proposed changes to the state’s ethics laws to gifts to Ms. Palin piling up in her garage, still unreported to the Alaska Public Office Commission.

Alaska Attorney General Proposes Reforms to Ethics Laws Following Palin Complaints

Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan answers questions during a news conference in Anchorage, Alaska on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. Sullivan is recommending sweeping reform to state ethics law and the process of dealing with complaints filed against public officials.

FAIRBANKS — Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan today unveiled a proposal to reform the state ethics act. Former Gov. Sarah Palin said alleged abuses of the act drove her, in part, to resign her office.

His plan would create penalties for abuses of the ethics act, would allow the state to foot legal bills for exonerated public officials, and would extend greater confidentiality for complaints.

During a press conference, Sullivan said several months of ethics complaints against Palin, as well as potential abuses, propelled the lengthy report, which is part legal opinion and part research document.

He said the opinion will seek to re-balance the need for an ethics act and opportunity for citizens to launch complaints, with the need to protect people in public service and to protect the long-term interests of Alaska. People filing a complaint are not barred from speaking publicly about their charges against executive branch officials.