Todd Palin Had Big Role in Sarah's Politics, E-mails Show

(Feb. 5) -- Newly released e-mails show that Todd Palin, Sarah Palin's husband, played an active role during her term as Alaska governor and in her campaign for vice president.

Some 1,200 e-mails released to NBC News by the state of Alaska show that Todd Palin's role in policymaking was far-reaching. According to NBC News, "The governor's husband got involved in a judicial appointment, monitored contract negotiations with public employee unions, received background checks on a corporate CEO, added his approval or disapproval to state board appointments and passed financial information marked 'confidential' from his oil company employer to a state attorney."

Todd and Sarah Palin appear on stage during an election night rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 4, 2008.

David McNew, Getty Images

In one e-mail, Todd Palin advised his wife's press chief to remove a newspaper from a press list after it ran an op-ed piece critical of the governor. Here, Todd and Sarah Palin appear on stage during an election-night rally in Phoenix, Nov. 4, 2008.

NBC suggests that Palin and his wife sent many of the e-mails from private addresses outside the state system to try to put the information beyond the reach of public records laws.

The common perception of Todd Palin, often referred to as "the First Dude,'' had him spending his time racing snowmobiles, fishing for salmon and taking care of the Palins' children while his wife was in office. He was also seen as reluctant to dive into the nitty-gritty of the political world. But now that e-mail correspondence between Todd Palin and Alaska state officials has been released to NBC News, after a request was made under public records laws, that view may be up for revision.

Also See: Alaskans Are Over Palin Mania

NBC says the e-mails indicate, among other things, that Sarah Palin detailed to her staff strategies to disguise the amount of electrical work required to hook up a new tanning bed at the governor's mansion. In another e-mail, Todd Palin advised his wife's press chief to remove the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner from a press list after it ran an op-ed piece critical of the governor.

"Take the news miner off the press release address list for a few days, see how long it takes them to realize their [sic] not on the list," Palin wrote in one e-mail.

Citing executive privilege, Alaska officials have withheld 243 e-mails from the media. A review of their subject lines by NBC, however, shows that many written by Todd Palin directly involved state politics.

Among the subjects covered in the unreleased e-mails are "media questions about Todd Palin's work and potential conflict of interests," "strategy for responding to media allegations" and "strategy for responding to questions about pregnancy."