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JUNEAU — Gov. Sarah Palin’s gas line team wasn’t at the table when ConocoPhillips presented its gas pipeline proposal to state lawmakers Wednesday, but a set of documents it prepared played a large role in the hearing.

The documents, which were given to members of the Senate Resources Committee, included an overview of the ConocoPhillips proposal, a 17-page critique of the proposal, and a list of nine “Questions Alaskans should ask ConocoPhillips.”

The critique explains in broad terms why the administration developed the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act and is committed to the process. It also analyzes the individual components of the ConocoPhillips proposal, which was submitted outside the AGIA process.

“Any analysis of ConocoPhillips’s alternative must ask: What benefits does it provide over those to be gained from a proposal that conforms to the AGIA requirements?” it states. “The answer, simply, is none. To the contrary, the ConocoPhillips alternative is riddled with detriments.”

The documents were referenced in a number of ways during the Senate Resources hearing.

Sens. Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla, and Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, criticized Palin’s administration for presenting the documents without clearly identifying on them who had written them.

Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, later asked Brian Wenzel of ConocoPhillips a few of the questions on the list compiled by the administration.

Stedman rebuked the drafters for including a quote attributed to Albert Einstein defining insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

“Are you insane?” Stedman asked Wenzel. “Are any of your superiors insane?”

Stedman read the quote aloud for the record and said he considered that kind of comment “counterproductive” in the overall process of getting a gas pipeline project moving.

A member of Palin’s gas line team said later that the reference was not aimed at ConocoPhillips but at the negotiation process itself.

Huggins, who chairs the committee, said after the hearing that the administration has asked to testify before the committee and will be given the opportunity in the coming weeks.