This is the best he could do?
Oct. 10th, 2008 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobellehttp://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6004368&page=1
Troopergate Report: Palin Abused Power
Unanimous but Contentious Vote to Release the Report to the Public
By JUSTIN ROOD and JESSICA RUTHERFORD
Oct. 10, 2008—
Sarah Palin abused her power when she fired her Public Safety Commissioner this July, a state investigation has concluded.
The Alaska legislature voted to release the 263-page report on the "Troopergate" scandal, a state kerfuffle which has come to haunt Gov. Sarah Palin's vice presidential bid. The scandal centered around her firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan and others believed Palin fired him because he refused to take action against Mike Wooten, a state trooper under him who had been involved in a messy divorce with Palin's sister, Molly.
The investigator, Stephen Branchflower, found that Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten "was not the sole reason" but was "likely a contributing factor" to his firing.
Branchflower also said Palin's attorney general failed to provide him with emails of Palin's that he had requested as part of the probe.
Palin violated the state Ethics Act, Branchflower found.
"The evidence supports the conclusion that Governor Palin, at the least, engaged in 'official action' by her inaction if not her active participation or assistance to her husband in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired [and there is evidence of her active participation]," he concluded.
"[Palin] knowingly ... permitted [husband] Todd Palin to use the Governor's office and the resources of the Governor's office ... in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."
The McCain-Palin campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 14-member, Republican-dominated Legislative Council met in closed session this morning with Branchflower. After seven hours of exhaustive review, the legislators voted unanimously to release the report to the public.
"I'm going to vote to release it, but it's not a vote in total agreement," said Republican Sen. Gary Stevens.
"There's not a consensus for the conclusion," said GOP Rep. Bill Stoltze. He said he expected there would be "robust and vigorous intellectual debate on that in other corners."
Stoltze said he had received hundreds of e-mails from all over the country calling for the public release of the report. The state added extra servers to handle the traffic expected when the report is posted electronically to the legislature's Web site.
The Legislative Council voted unanimously to initiate the investigation in late July, shortly after Palin fired Monegan . The probe was to determine whether she fired Monegan because he refused to take action against a state trooper who had been through a messy divorce from Palin's sister.
Palin denied wrongdoing and initially voiced support for the investigation. But after she joined the national Republican ticket, she and her supporters said the legislature had no right to investigate her, and accused legislators involved in the probe of supporting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's presidential bid.
A lawsuit to stop the probe, which echoed many of the campaign's charges, was thrown out yesterday by the state Supreme Court.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
Troopergate Report: Palin Abused Power
Unanimous but Contentious Vote to Release the Report to the Public
By JUSTIN ROOD and JESSICA RUTHERFORD
Oct. 10, 2008—
Sarah Palin abused her power when she fired her Public Safety Commissioner this July, a state investigation has concluded.
The Alaska legislature voted to release the 263-page report on the "Troopergate" scandal, a state kerfuffle which has come to haunt Gov. Sarah Palin's vice presidential bid. The scandal centered around her firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan and others believed Palin fired him because he refused to take action against Mike Wooten, a state trooper under him who had been involved in a messy divorce with Palin's sister, Molly.
The investigator, Stephen Branchflower, found that Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten "was not the sole reason" but was "likely a contributing factor" to his firing.
Branchflower also said Palin's attorney general failed to provide him with emails of Palin's that he had requested as part of the probe.
Palin violated the state Ethics Act, Branchflower found.
"The evidence supports the conclusion that Governor Palin, at the least, engaged in 'official action' by her inaction if not her active participation or assistance to her husband in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired [and there is evidence of her active participation]," he concluded.
"[Palin] knowingly ... permitted [husband] Todd Palin to use the Governor's office and the resources of the Governor's office ... in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."
The McCain-Palin campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 14-member, Republican-dominated Legislative Council met in closed session this morning with Branchflower. After seven hours of exhaustive review, the legislators voted unanimously to release the report to the public.
"I'm going to vote to release it, but it's not a vote in total agreement," said Republican Sen. Gary Stevens.
"There's not a consensus for the conclusion," said GOP Rep. Bill Stoltze. He said he expected there would be "robust and vigorous intellectual debate on that in other corners."
Stoltze said he had received hundreds of e-mails from all over the country calling for the public release of the report. The state added extra servers to handle the traffic expected when the report is posted electronically to the legislature's Web site.
The Legislative Council voted unanimously to initiate the investigation in late July, shortly after Palin fired Monegan . The probe was to determine whether she fired Monegan because he refused to take action against a state trooper who had been through a messy divorce from Palin's sister.
Palin denied wrongdoing and initially voiced support for the investigation. But after she joined the national Republican ticket, she and her supporters said the legislature had no right to investigate her, and accused legislators involved in the probe of supporting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's presidential bid.
A lawsuit to stop the probe, which echoed many of the campaign's charges, was thrown out yesterday by the state Supreme Court.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures