Interesting headline. Now read the rest of that site you sent me to.
hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com
October 11, 2008
Troopergate Report: Palin Violated Public Trust But Didn't Break Law
A bipartisan panel of Alaskan lawmakers concluded last night that Sarah Palin violated the public trust and abused her gubernatorial power in trying to get an Alaska trooper, also her former brother-in-law, terminated. She dismissed the trooper's boss, Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who is at the center of the panel's investigation. But Palin did not break the law, according to the report.
The AP: The inquiry looked into Palin's dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute. Stephen Branchflower, a retired prosecutor hired to conduct the investigation, said Monegan's firing was lawful. But the pressure Palin and her husband put on him, he said, was not.
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And what kind of god-forsaken liberal site did you send me to? Just look at these comments abusing poor Sarah! What are these people thinking?
I only posted eight of them, but the rest are pretty much the same.
And this first guy, actually QUOTING the report and saying that it says she did in fact break the law! What an idiot!
And the Anchorage Dailynews must be a liberal rag as well, publishing that abstract. Unbelievable.
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Comments
You're misreading the report if you believe it says that Palin "didn't break law."
Yes, the report concludes that she was within her legal rights as Governor to fire Monegan. So there is no law-breaking in the actual firing.
But the Branchflower report also carefully laws out a clear case that Palin did, in fact, violate Alaska law, specifically stating that
"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..."
The report unequivocally finds that she violated the law.
By aggressively pressuring state employees to fire Wooten (both through her own actions and through her tolerance of the actions of her staff and husband), she used her office to inappropriately pursue a personal interest.
"Abuse of power" is not only illegal under Alaska law, it is always a real insight into the way Sarah Palin views her role as a public official. After the past 7 1/2 years of a Vice-President who regularly abuses the public trust, do we really want another one who already has a history of doing the same?
terje | 10.11.08 11:10 AM
Todd Palin did not write that statement. What a fraud. I would wager he did not know the word "totality" before last week.
mwolf@tedlyon.com | 10.11.08 11:32 AM
How does Palin violate the law and at the same time Not break the law? isn't it the same thing? it would seem that the McCain campaign is already bending the rules to their advantage.. had it been any other candidate in the same situation, they would of had to pull out of the race as this type of charge would certainly damage the the guilty party's winning possiblities. Unless you were as crooked as them- you probably would vote for McCain :)
SabinCali | 10.11.08 11:34 AM
How does Palin violate the law and at the same time Not break the law? isn't it the same thing? it would seem that the McCain campaign is already bending the rules to their advantage.. had it been any other candidate in the same situation, they would of had to pull out of the race as this type of charge would certainly damage the the guilty party's winning possiblities. Unless you were as crooked as them- you probably would vote for McCain :)
SabinCali | 10.11.08 11:35 AM
The cat's out of the bag. Palin's duplicity, compounded with her vindictive spirit is now a matter of record. If ever a candidate was less fit for public office it could only have been in the Nixon and Bush administrations. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this unfortunate state of affairs is that the Republicans have a death wish that trumps their good sense. Add that to their hubris and inability to admit that they were ever wrong, and you'll see a profile of the average McCain supporter.
thorninurside | 10.11.08 11:36 AM
The really absurd thing about this situation is that hard core McCain supporters will choose to ignore the fact that they would be placing a woman clearly lacking in moral principles in that "one heartbeat away from the White House" position and will vote for the ticket anyway. Obama supporters pretty much expected this outcome, and they are going to vote Obama-Biden anyway. One hopes that the independents will look at this interesting development and decide they don't want to take the chance of putting Palin in charge of the country when she has proved to be not only devoid of personal ethics but just too completely ignorant of what comprises decent and appropriate use of one's power. As for her personal behavior, does anyone find it acceptable that the woman is either too dense to understand that an infant with a severe disability is not an object to drag around from rally to rally, or that she is just presenting little Trig as a sympathy factor? Sarah's 15 minutes will disappear, but however cold-hearted it may seem, this child will cost the taxpayers probably millions of dollars for federally funded disability and medical costs throughout his life.
Beverly | 10.11.08 11:51 AM
It is very easy to break one law--an ethics law for putting undue pressure on a public employee for personal gain (the firing of Wooten) and to not break any laws by firing any employee for any reason in an "at will" state.
The Alaska State Ethics Law for the Executive branch says that a state representative, Palin, cannot use their position for personal OR financial gain. Palin's legal team falsely argues that she broke no laws because she had no financial gain. If you read the statute, if clearly says "personal or financial."
The author of this article misleads the readers by stating that it is up to the Personnel Board must decide if a violation has taken place, when the statute says that it is up to the Attorney General, or an Individual to file a complaint, as is the case with the Legislature's findings. Now, it will be up to the Attorney General (appointed by Palin) to decide if he will refer it to the Personnel Board for review.
The Attorney General himself might be liable for ethics violations under the same statute for he may have "assisted others" in the commission of ethics violations by telling investigation witnesses that they did not have to honor the legislature's subpoenas to testify. At worst case, the Attorney General should recuse himself from further oversight of the Palin investigations.
David In Seattle | 10.11.08 01:29 PM
Palin try to spin this to her advantage. But the abstract of the report was in the Anchorage Dailynews:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of a state trooper once married to her sister and by allowing her husband to use the governor's office in a crusade against the officer, a legislative investigation found.
"Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired," concluded investigator Steve Branchflower in his report made public Friday.
The governor let her husband, Todd, use the governor's office and its resources, "including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired," Branchflower wrote.
The seriousness of this case is two fold: Palin abused power for personal gain and allowed her husband to do the same using her office & State resources. Imagine McCain dying in the office and Todd Palin, the member of secessionist AIP, will be the SHADOW PRESIDENT! God Bless USA!
OswaldP | 10.11.08 01:44 PM |
