Official: Palin Abused Authority In Troopergate
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Alaska, Ethics, Law, McCain, Palin
Looks like there was enough “there” there for a 12 person legislative committee to unanimously decide to release this report and find her guilty of ethics abuse.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state’s public safety commissioner.The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn’t the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely was a contributing factor.
The Republican vice presidential nominee has been accused of firing a commissioner to settle a family dispute. Palin supporters have called the investigation politically motivated.
Monegan says he was dismissed as retribution for resisting pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor’s sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.
Again, this was a 12-0 vote. This was not a partisan witch hunt. She abused her power and now she has been called out on it.
No word yet on what type of punishment she’ll face, but this certainly couldn’t come at a worse time for McCain.
Meanwhile, I’m not holding my breath for this to appear as a massive headline with flashing red lights on Drudge.
More…
“Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda,” the report states.
And here’s the link to the full report.
UPDATE:
Here’s an excerpt…
Finding Number One
For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.Finding Number Two
I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.Finding Number Three
Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim property and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled.Finding Number Four
The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of emails.
Seems pretty straightforward. Firing Monegan was legal, but her conduct was unethical.
This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Alaska, Ethics, Law, McCain, Palin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Drudge won’t make this a flashing headline. That’s my prediction.
October 11th, 2008 at 3:56 am
This Just In: Sarah Palin Abused Power…
by Blue Stockings | Quelle surprise! We’ve got a result in Troopergate. At Open Left, Chris Bowers deadpans:Unsurprisingly, the report which Palin tried to block through lawsuits, stall through non-cooperation, discredit through personal attacks again…
October 11th, 2008 at 6:23 am
[...] a link to the full report and here’s a summary of the findings: Finding Number One For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor [...]
October 11th, 2008 at 10:04 am
[...] kangaroo; Pamela Leavey of The Democratic Daily; Ron Chusid of Liberal Values; Justin Gardner of Donklephant; Andrew Sullivan of The Daily [...]
October 12th, 2008 at 1:50 am
1) The “Troopergate” report is one (clearly biased) investigator’s opinion - the members of the investigative commission merely voted to release the report, without expressing agreement or approval at this point - in fact, it appears (from preliminary statements) that there is substantial controversy over the validity of the report as released. At least one member of the Alaska Legislature has publicly expressed serious doubt concerning the veracity of the report as released - it seems likely that there will be more to come.
2) The first two “findings” in the released report are directly contradictory, and it appears that the investigator has stretched his own interpretation of the statute cited in the first “finding” extensively beyond anything logical or even reasonable, purely in order to try to produce a conclusion that is unfavorable to Governor Palin. The second “finding” - that the Governor acted properly and well within her authority in reassigning (NOT “firing”, as the investigator alludes) Monegan - is clearly the substantially more important matter, and (despite the investigator’s expressed OPINION concerning motive, which is NOT supported by fact, and which is contradicted by Monegan’s own prior statement) is also clearly in the Governor’s favor.
3) This report, as bloated and wordy as it is (all 263 pages’ worth), is NOT the whole report - there is much more which has not yet been seen - nor has it been reviewed, debated, agreed with, nor in any way, shape or form been accepted by any part of the Alaska Legislature; nor, in fact, has it even been approved of by the Legislative Council who voted to release it. It is entirely the work of one partisan and clearly-biased individual, motivated and paid for by one Alaskan Senator who is also clearly an advocate for Barack Obama, and an enemy of Sarah Palin. It cannot, therefore, be considered to be anything more than an attempt to besmirch Governor Palin as a purely political ploy by one or more advocates for Obama/Biden. The only useful part is the second half of the second “finding” - the rest is slanted, partisan dreck.
Sorry to burst your little bubble - but them’s the facts.
For reference, check out Beldar’s Friday post in Hugh Hewitt’s column at Townhall.com
October 13th, 2008 at 5:00 am
[...] The Branchflower report and the McCain camp’s clearly dishonest spin was bad enough, but it looks like the McCain campaign opened up Palin to even more scrutiny when they didn’t even need to. [...]