THE E-MAILS: Read e-mails obtained by Alaska Dispatch that were sent on then-Gov. Sarah Palin's personal Yahoo account: Palin-emails COMING MONDAY NIGHT: In Part II, we look at what Palin's personal e-mails tell us about her first months in office.

PART I: Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor who made open and transparent government the foundation of her rapid climb to national fame, routinely used her personal e-mail instead of a state account to manage official business. That much has been widely reported since September 2008, when a college student broke into her Yahoo account, revealing messages sent and received by Palin regarding state business. The reasons behind this practice have never been fully explained by the former governor.

Within three months of being elected governor, Palin recognized that her state-issued e-mail account could be open to public scrutiny, which would allow average Alaskans access to information she wanted kept private. Early in her term, Palin sent an e-mail to family and friends, including her most trusted advisers, telling them to use her Yahoo account for private or confidential matters because "everyone and their mother will be able to read emails that arrive via that state address." As her short term as governor unfolded, Palin would be seen around Alaska sporting two BlackBerrys, one used for state business, the other supposedly for personal matters -- and, presumably, information she did not want "everyone and their mother" reading.

E-mails written by Palin in the early months of her term show that she wished to keep some state matters out of the public eye by using her own personal e-mail account. Printed copies of the e-mails were provided to Alaska Dispatch by a source, who wished to remain anonymous, as an example of Palin's practice of conducting state business on her personal account.

In a Feb. 2, 2007 e-mail, Palin told her inner circle, including family members, advisors and her chief of staff, that "My NEW personal/private/confidential account will now be: gov.sarah@yahoo.com All other people will be emailing me through the state system at governor@gov.state.ak.us and that is NOT a confidential/private account so -- warning -- everyone and their mother will be able to read emails that arrive via that state address."