Wayne Barrett, in Wednesday's Village Voice, had a rather long article called The Book Of Sarah Palin.  While I found parts of it interesting, none of it really meade me sit up and pay attention.  Until I got to the last page, that is.

It would appear, should anyone want to do a little more digging, that Sarah could have a new scandal on her hands.  A scandal that would have repercussions far more serious than a slap on the wrist from the Alaskan legislature.

The speculation is that the Palin's may well have pulled a Ted Stevens. That contractors who worked on the Wasilla Sports Complex, may have also provided supplies, materials and labor to build the Palin's $550,000 home, which was completed about the same time as the sports complex.

Here is the relevant passage:

Todd Palin told Fox News that he built the two-story, 3,450-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house himself, with the help of contractors he described as "buddies." As mayor, Sarah Palin blocked an effort to require the filing of building permits in the wide-open city, and there is no public record of who the "buddies" were. The house was built very near the complex, on a site whose city purchase led to years of unsuccessful litigation and, now, $1.3 million in additional costs, with a law firm that's also donated to Palin collecting costly fees from the city.

Dorwin and Joanne Smith, the principals of complex subcontractor DJ Excavation & Development, have donated $7,100 to Palin and her allied candidate Charlie Fannon (Joanne is a Palin appointee on the state Board of Nursing). Sheldon Ewing, who owns another complex subcontractor, Weld Air, has donated $1,300, and PN&D, an engineering firm on the complex, has contributed $699.

Ewing was one of the few sports-complex contractors, aside from Spenard, willing to address the question of whether he worked on the house as well, but he had little to say: "I doubt that it occurred, but if it did indirectly, how would I know anyhow?" The odd timing of Palin's house construction—it was completed two months before she left City Hall and while she and Todd Palin were campaigning statewide for the first time—raises questions, especially considering its synergy with the complex.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-08/news/the-book-of-sarah/5

Now, I doubt that anything will come of this prior to the election, although it would be nice if some of the major outlets would pick it up. 

But even if we can get any traction before the election or not, we can only hope that Alaskans make something out of it.  At laest that way, it may disuade Palin from rearing her head in 2012 or 2016.