Kristen Teal is the person with the department of Homeland Security that acknowledged receipt of my appeal regarding my request for documents under the FOIA. Those documents included statements of David Chaney regarding any introduction of him to Shailey Tripp by Todd Palin. Due to the lack of interest in this matter by Joe Leiberman, it is more important than ever that there be a recognition of an “overriding public interest” in producing the documents requested. Please join me in sending an e-mail to Kristen Teal at Kirsten.Teal@oig.dhs.gov appealing to her and driving the point home that there is an “overriding public interest” in the production of these documents. Here is my e-mail:
“Dear Ms. Teal,
Please accept this as a supplement to my appeal referenced above. Today I received the following e-mail from the office of Joe Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
“Dear Mrs. Litman:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate the opportunity to know your opinions on the pressing issues facing our nation. Regrettably, due to the huge volume of mail that I receive, I am only able to research and address comments sent to me from Connecticut residents. If you are not from Connecticut, you may want to consider sending a message to the Senators from your state of residence. You can do so by visiting http://www.senate.gov for a link to the websites of each member of the United State Senate. If you are currently residing out of state, but are still a Connecticut resident or have a connection to Connecticut, please be certain to use your Connecticut address or indicate your Connecticut connection in the first paragraph of your email.
I value having the benefit of your thoughtful concerns, since I do receive detailed weekly reports from my staff providing a sampling of comments from across the country on timely issues before Congress.
Thank you again for sharing your views and concerns with me. I hope you will continue to visit my website at http://lieberman.senate.gov for updated news about my work on behalf of Connecticut and the nation. Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress.
Sincerely,
Joseph I. Lieberman
UNITED STATES SENATOR”
It was Senator Lieberman who said during the televised Senate hearing with the head of the Secret Service that “a culture which turns a blind eye to this kind of behavior is simply unacceptable. ” Yet it is Senator Lieberman whose office has confirmed that he is uninterested , unconcerned, and willing to turn a blind eye to any evidence of corruption within the Secret Service unless it comes from a Connecticut resident who would be in a position to re-elect him. This is an outrageous example of the “overriding public interest in exposing the culture of corruption within the Secret Service.” When the Senator entrusted with responsibility of oversight of the Homeland Security Investigation into the Secret Service culture of corruption is interested in only hearing from people who can re-elect him, citizens of the United States have no power to influence this culture of corruption. In the absence of production of documents requested in my FOIA request regarding David Chaney, Todd Palin, and Shailey Tripp, Americans have no reason to believe that the Senate or the office of Homeland Security is anything other than part of the “culture of corruption.”
Malia Litman
22 comments
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July 10, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Who?
Sent my email to Kristen. This is so outrageous Malia. Joe Lieberman is a fake and weasel. I hope he is NOT re elected. They are covering up. There are more people involved. We cannot let up. Gotta put heavy pressure on them. Everyone contact Kristen and your state senators, represenatives, attorney generals, governors etc.
July 10, 2012 at 7:34 pm
malialitman
Who?
Thank you for doing what you can. I agree this is outrageous, and to think that this goes on, and nobody will disclose the truth is outrageous!
July 10, 2012 at 9:35 pm
lazrgrl
Joe is not running for another term. The state of CT breathes a sigh of relief.
July 10, 2012 at 10:20 pm
ks sunflower
I was under the impression that Senator Lieberman is retiring from the Senate.
July 11, 2012 at 9:33 am
malialitman
ks,
He is reported to be retiring, but he wouldn’t be the first Senator to change his mind.
July 10, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Amie
Dude, they’re all the same. There are no selfless politicians. Thats been proven. I guarantee that Malia’s having a hard time because our federal govt is up to their eyeballs in the business. Todd Palin may have been a lowly player at one time but he is small potatoes and inconsequential – and that was the past for him.
July 11, 2012 at 9:55 am
Who?
I received my reply within 14 hours from kristen. They denied my request for the information.
July 11, 2012 at 9:58 am
Who?
Next up. My represenatives. Gozar, McCain, Kyl, Gov. Brewer and whoever else I can summons. Their all republicans and mcnut and brewer with direct ties to the palins.
July 10, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Sassy
My email has been sent as follows:
Malia Litman sent information to Senator Joe Lieberman, Senator in Charge of the Homeland Security Subcommittee regarding the link between David Chaney, Shailey Tripp and Todd Palin. With no investigation apparent, and no interest by Lieberman, Mrs. Litman requested any documents under the FOIA which included statements of David Chaney regarding any introduction of him to Shailey Tripp by Todd Palin.
Senator Lieberman has now informed Mrs. Litman in writing that “Regrettably, due to the huge volume of mail that I receive, I am only able to research and address comments sent to me from Connecticut residents … I hope you will continue to visit my website at http://lieberman.senate.gov for updated news about my work on behalf of Connecticut and the nation.”
Lieberman who is Senator in Charge of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Senate apparently doesn’t care what has been alleged and is unwilling to look into this. It would appear that there is a “culture of corruption” which permeates through the office of Homeland Security, or Lieberman would be concerned enough to investigate whether or not Todd Palin, husband of a Vice Presidential candidate at the time, was involved in obtaining prostitute(s) services for a member or members of the United States Secret Service, a department of the Department of Homeland Security. Since prostitution is a crime, pimping is also a crime against the public.
July 11, 2012 at 9:46 am
malialitman
Sassy,
That message is great! I hope they read it. Thank you for your help!
July 10, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Celia Harrison
When you contact state senators they will excusify that what you are discussing is federal, when you contact the federal level senators they will excusify it is state, if anything about a court case is mentioned they will say, ahh that is another branch entirely even thought it is their lack of action that is forcing you to take the matter to court. They give you the runaround hoping you will drop the matter for very long periods of time. This is done to protect themselves from getting involved in controversy or stepping on the toes of someone who may not cooperate with them in the future or may keep them off that powerful committe they they wish to be on. Telling you they can only take emails from people in their state is another method of giving people the runaround. This Homeland Security Committee is on the federal level and effects everyone in the country. Not every senator from every state is involved with it. Those on this committee represent all of us. Sigh.
July 10, 2012 at 10:28 pm
ks sunflower
Malia, I have run into this “unless you are from my state” just go away routine repeatedly from Senators and Representatives. What they don’t understand is that their votes and their power on committees affect all Americans. They should have two email options: one for residents of their state and one for non-residents and both should be reviewed and responses given on questions and concerns.
Many in the Senate and House also now subscribe to those hateful little “match the letters and numbers” hoop that must be acknowledged before they accept an email, even from residents. I cannot understand that because we are required to give our names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers in order to have the privilege of contacting our elected officials.
That letters-and-numbers-gateway tool often did not work on my Kansas Senator’s sites. It has seen been improved and usually works unless you are submitting an email from a environmental or progressive site. Then the darn thing just keeps saying “sorry, please submit again.” I sometimes suspect it is designed to discourage interaction from constituents. Anyone else having problems like that?
We pay their salaries, their benefits, and their generous retirement packages – why the heck do they try to block us from contacting us. I understand the argument about trying to weed out spam, but really, they carry it too far.
Good luck with this project. I will send an email on this issue per your request.
July 11, 2012 at 9:29 am
malialitman
ks sunflower,
Thanks for your encouragement. I’ll send the e-mail to several people.
July 10, 2012 at 11:38 pm
Fupp Dukk
First, just for the record, Lieberman ain’t running for reelection. He’s retiring from the Senate at the end of his current term.
Second, as a retired Federal agency employee who used to handle correspondence referred to my office from members of congress, I suggest you rework your letter to Lieberman into a letter to your OWN Senator or better yet your representative (it’s Congress, not the Senate, that controls Federal agency purse strings).
Your letter will be forwarded by your rep’s office to the DHS, where it will be assigned to the appropriate office. A tracking number will be assigned to it, and it WILL be answered. The DHS spokesperson may stonewall YOU, but they won’t stonewall an inquiry from the constituent of an elected official whose office forward it to them. Those letters are taken VERY seriously.
You may as well not waste your time on this project otherwise. You simply will not get anywhere by communicating directly with the DHS. You probably won’t get what you want following my suggestion, either, but you’ll have a better shot at it.
July 11, 2012 at 9:23 am
malialitman
Fupp Dukk,
I’ll follow up today with my Senator.
July 11, 2012 at 7:50 am
Jeanabella
Tweeted & emailed a note to Ms. Teal with reference to your blog & letter Malia!
Thank you for your tenacity.
Jeanabella
July 11, 2012 at 9:15 am
malialitman
Jeanabella
Thanks for your help making Ms. Teal aware of the importance of these documents.
July 11, 2012 at 2:07 pm
Johnell McLean
Here’s my letter to DHS
Dear Ms. Teal:
Almost as embarrassing as the actions of the Secret Service agents and their relationship with Todd Palin and prostitute Shailey Tripp, is the refusal of DHS to investigate and explore these inexcusable actions. Your service is supported by the citizens of the US through our taxes and we expect value for our hard earned dollars. If our President is put at risk by the actions of a renegade few, it is your job to fully explore the depth of the iniquity and I expect you to do so. The sloppiness of your agency in dealing with this issue is a matter of national concern.
Consider me a disgruntled citizen who is still waiting for the results of Malia Litman’s FOIA query. I am informing everyone in my circle of friends/acquaintances of the dereliction of duty apparent in your agency’s handling of this request.
Johnell McLean
13232 Fox Farm Rd.
De Soto, MO 63020
314-578-1095
July 11, 2012 at 4:20 pm
malialitman
Johnell McLean,
Thank you so much for your help and support! I’ll keep you apprised of any response I get.
July 11, 2012 at 5:35 pm
The Lawman
Question: if a specific amount of people filed papers in a court to ask a judge to look at this – wouldn’t that judge have to? Class-Action lawsuit?
Washington DC is where you should file it – in federal court…then the Supreme Court judges have to look at this…make them look at the intel…
They hate it when you do that – you know that already – stir the pot…
Nothing like a taste of ones own medicine…in front of panel of judges too!
July 12, 2012 at 8:47 am
malialitman
The Lawman,
My understanding is that if the FOIA appeal is denied that the procedure is to file a suit, so of course that requires money to pay an attorney. I may have to look into activating my license if this happens as I am on “inactive” status now, but this might be a good reason to re-activate my license.
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Nona
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