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Thirteen people, including Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband Todd, have been subpoenaed to appear before Alaska's Senate Judiciary Committee this morning to testify in an investigation initiated by Alaska Republicans into whether Palin improperly sought to fire her former brother-in-law, a state trooper. Palin initially said she would cooperate with the investigation. Once she became the Republicans' vice presidential nominee, that promise was withdrawn. It is unclear whether her husband will cooperate with the investigation.

Should Todd Palin and other witnesses not appear, their refusal should be seen as part of pattern of ignoring subpoenas set by Republicans under President Bush.

Among the former administration officials who have thumbed their noses at Congress are former Bush adviser Karl Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff.

All were subpoenaed to testify about the alleged politically-motivated firings of a dozen U.S. attorneys and a suspect corruption investigation that wrongly led to the imprisonment of Donald Siegelman, Alabama's former governor. All wrongly claim that they are protected from testifying by executive privilege, though only Bolten still works for the president.

Earlier this week, The New York Times called upon House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a vote to cite Rove with contempt before Congress adjourns in a few weeks. All who care about justice should join that call. Former White House employees are not above the law. Nor are vice presidents, governors and their spouses.

Last year, Vice President Dick Cheney refused to submit documents subpoenaed as part of the investigation into allegations of illegal wiretapping by the Bush administration. To justify his non-compliance, Cheney used the absurd argument that the vice president, who also serves as president of the Senate, is not part of the executive branch. Cheney cited the same logic when refusing to comply with a presidential order that created procedures to better protect classified national security information.

Cheney used the same argument last year to prevent the National Archives Information Security Oversight Office from carrying a mandatory inventory of the vice president's office. That inventory, presumably would have led to a complete accounting of Cheney's papers. This month, out of fear that Cheney could use his bogus legal argument to destroy key records of his actions as vice president, historians joined an open-government advocacy group in asking a federal judge to rule that Cheney's records are part of the executive branch and subject to eventual disclosure.

This has gone on long enough. Cheney, Rove and other former and current Bush administration officials are doing their best to run a secret, unaccountable government. They were first abetted in doing so by former attorney general Alberto Gonzales and now by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who has been not an aide to the pursuit of truth but an obstacle.

Those who have failed to comply with subpoenas should be found in contempt and, if necessary, jailed until they testify. Once Bush leaves office, unless Congress acts, the truth about his administration will leave with him. Which brings us back to the investigation into the allegations of Palin's abuse of power.

It's inconceivable that Palin's belated decision not only not to cooperate with the investigation but also to block it until after the election by having it declared a personnel matter instead of a subject for legislative inquiry could have been made without John McCain's knowledge. The decision suggests that if McCain and Palin are elected, the abuses of open government Bush took to new levels will continue.