DID PALIN HELP POSTPONE THE BUST OF HER DAUGHTER'S BOYFRIEND'S MOM?

Perhaps, according to the Anchorage Daily News:

A Mat-Su drug investigator and the union representing Alaska State Troopers are alleging political meddling in the Sherry Johnston drug case, including a delay in serving the search warrant because of the November election.

Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, who became nationally known in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their daughter, Bristol, was pregnant and he was the father.

... Kyle Young, a troopers drug investigator who was involved in the case, wrote in an e-mail last week to all members of the Public Safety Employees Association, the union that represents troopers and other law enforcement officers around the state ... that after it became clear who Johnston is, "this case became anything but normal."

"It was not allowed to progress in a normal fashion, the search warrant service WAS delayed because of the pending election and the Mat Su Drug Unit and the case officer were not the ones calling the shots," Young wrote.

... John Cyr, executive director of the union, said it's clear to him that the investigation was handled differently because of who Johnston is.

"This really does smack of political favoritism. And if that be the case, it's another example of the Palin administration's direct influence on the public safety unit," Cyr said....

All this, it should be noted, is disputed by the Alaska public safety commissioner, Joe Masters, and Colonel Audie Holloway, director of the troopers.

My favorite detail, from Kyle Young's e-mail, concerns a drug purchase by an informant that was apparently delayed:

"Text messages from Johnston to the informant indicated that she was afraid to meet and conduct one illegal transaction, because of Secret Service presence at her home," Young wrote.

You know, if I'm a hillbilly heroin dealer, and suddenly the Secret Service is hanging around because my son has impregnated the daughter of a VP candidate ... er, I might think of trying to find a new way to earn money. At least temporarily. But hey, that's just me.

*****

Meanwhile, Palin's recent complaint about media reports that Bristol and Levi are "high school dropouts" has caused some more trouble for her. She noted that

Levi is continuing his online high school work in addition to working as an electrical apprentice on the North Slope

-- which led Dan Fagan, a right-wing talk-show host who doesn't like Palin very much, to charge Palin with pulling strings to get Levi into the apprentice program illegally. Fagan asserted (in an Anchorage Daily News op-ed) that it's illegal under federal law to be part of an apprentice program without a high school diploma; in fact, it's OK under federal law but not under Alaska law, at least if you're an electric lineman or electric wireman apprentice.

Oh, and Fagan also questions whether Levi was bumped ahead of wait-listed candidates for the apprentice program. The fun never stops with these folks....