Posted on 08/29/2008 5:27:33 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The July firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan by Gov. Sarah Palin, who was announced as John McCain's running mate on Friday, has unearthed a stream of soap-opera-like details about Palin, her husband, her family and top state appointees. The controversy has also cut against Palin's reputation for holding an ethical line and standing up to colleagues in the Republican Party over matters of principle.
Monegan, 57, a respected former chief of the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview with The Washington Post's James V. Grimaldi on Friday that the governor repeatedly brought up the topic of her ex-brother-in-law, Michael Wooten, after Monegan became the state's commissioner of public safety in December 2006. Palin's husband, Todd, met with Monegan and presented a dossier of information about Wooten, who was going through a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly. Monegan also said Sarah Palin sent him e-mails on the subject, but Monegan declined to disclose them, saying he planned to give them to a legislative investigator looking into the matter.
Palin initially denied that she or anyone in her administration had ever pressured Monegan to fire the trooper, but this summer acknowledged more than a half a dozen contacts over the matter, including one phone call from a Palin administration official to a state police lieutenant. The call was recorded and was released by Palin's office this month. Todd Palin told a television reporter in Alaska that he did meet with Monegan, but said he was just "informing" Monegan about the issue, not exerting pressure.
"She never directly asked me to fire him," Monegan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
With her sexy librarian glasses, she probably is a better shot than Cheney. ;)
I feel for Mrs. Palin....she and her family are about to be run through a meat grinder by the dems. No dirt?....a soros check can create dirt and disinformation.
It’s going to get ugly.
Well, the court case is still on-going. See here :
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5687512&page=1
Palin Could Be Deposed in Probe
Former State Official Claims He Was Pressured to Fire Gov.’s Former Brother-in-Law
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s surprise vice-presidential pick, is the subject of a legislative probe into claims that she abused her office by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper.
Palin is likely to be deposed soon in the case, according to State Sen. Hollis French, who leads the state Senate’s Legislative Counsel Committee.
French’s committee unanimously authorized an investigation into the dismissal of the state’s public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, who claims he balked at pressure to remove Trooper Mike Wooten, who had an acrimonious divorce from Palin’s sister.
“I saw e-mails from [independent investigator Stephen] Branchflower two days ago to the Department of Law saying it’s time to schedule a deposition of the governor, her chief of staff and the attorney general who had some contact with the case,” French tells ABCNews.com.
While Palin was being introduced to the world at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, today, thousands of miles away in an Anchorage office, Branchflower was preparing to interview principals in the case, French said.
Branchflower did not return calls for comment.
Palin’s press secretary Bill McAlister says that the governor denies that she pressured Monegan, attributing his dismissal to “other issues with the public safety commission as to how he was doing his job.”
McAlister says that Palin only discussed Wooten once with Monegan, at a routine security briefing shortly after she won election in 2006 when she cited her former brother-in-law as someone she was concerned about as a security threat.
As for Wooten, McAlister maintains that her concern was justified, alleging, “He Tasered his 11-year-old stepson. He was observed drinking and getting into a squad car. And he illegally shot a moose, which doesn’t sound like much — but in Alaska, state troopers have wildlife authority.”
Wooten was suspended over the allegations for five days in 2006, but is still on the job.
Two weeks ago, one of Palin’s aides, former boards and commissions director Frank Bailey, was placed on administrative leave by the governor after admitting he made phone calls to Wooten’s boss, Lt. Rodney Dial, in which he asked why the trooper still had his job. Bailey told reporters at the time that no one asked him to make the call, explaining, “My fear was (Wooten) could fly off the handle and do something that was irreversible.”
A woman who answered the phone at Wooten’s house declined to put him on the phone, saying, “He’s putting his children first ... and has nothing to say about the campaign or Palin.”
The legislative investigation centers on Palin’s dismissal of Monegan, who says that he was contacted several times by the governor and her husband, Todd Palin, and that they pressured him to fire Wooten, who was locked in a contentious divorce and custody battle with Palin’s sister, Molly McCann.
“Obviously, there was an issue,” says Monegan, who claims that the governor talked to him twice and e-mailed him two or three times about the issue. “And did she want us to do more than discipline him? Yeah, anyone can tell you that.
“No one ever — not her, not her staff — has ever said, ‘Fire Trooper Wooten,’” adds Monegan. “They all said, ‘He’s not the sort we’d like to have represent Alaska state troopers.’ But the intention was clear.”
Monegan says that he also met with Todd Palin in the governor’s office in January 2007 and claims, “He showed me ... private investigator reports, letters, correspondence” that raised issues suggesting Wooten should be punished.
But Monegan says when he brought the information back to his office and compared it to the commission’s internal file on Wooten, which contained complaints filed by Palin’s sister, he says he didn’t find anything new.
Monegan says Wooten had already been disciplined by his predecessor for the same complaints raised by Palin and her husband.
“They were already done deals and he had already been punished,” says Monegan, who adds that the governor called him late at night on his cellphone a few days after his meeting with Todd Palin.
“There was no new evidence, and I called [Todd Palin] back and told him it was a closed case,” Monegan says. “He wasn’t happy to hear that. I got a subsequent phone call from the governor about it, and she wasn’t happy, either.”
In total, Monegan says he and his office received 24 calls over 17 months from the governor, her husband and her staff about Wooten.
But Monegan says when he brought the information back to his office and compared it to the commission’s internal file on Wooten, which contained complaints filed by Palin’s sister, he says he didn’t find anything new.
Monegan says Wooten had already been disciplined by his predecessor for the same complaints raised by Palin and her husband.
“They were already done deals and he had already been punished,” says Monegan, who adds that the governor called him late at night on his cellphone a few days after his meeting with Todd Palin.
“There was no new evidence, and I called [Todd Palin] back and told him it was a closed case,” Monegan says. “He wasn’t happy to hear that. I got a subsequent phone call from the governor about it, and she wasn’t happy, either.”
In total, Monegan says he and his office received 24 calls over 17 months from the governor, her husband and her staff about Wooten.
Monegan suspects Todd Palin was tracking Wooten’s activities because Monegan says the governor’s husband once called to complain that the trooper, who was on light duty because of an injury, was snow-machining at his residence far from Palin’s home.
Monegan declined to discuss details of Wooten’s alleged misdeeds, citing the ongoing investigation and Monegan’s upcoming Sept. 10 interview with Branchflower, the independent investigator hired by the state senate’s Legislative Counsel Committee.
On July 11, Monegan says he was called to the governor’s office where chief of staff Mike Nizich told him he was being removed from his position because Palin wanted to take the Department of Public Safety in a different direction.
Monegan is convinced that his refusal to discipline Wooten was a major factor in his dismissal. He says he understands Palin’s passion about the issue.
“I’ve been a cop for a long time, and I know how emotional divorces can get,” Monegan says. “If, in fact, it turns out to be the case [that the investigation determines that Palin abused her office by exerting pressure], she’s just being human.”
The alleged meetings with Monegan may have been just the latest steps in Palin’s apparent campaign to alert Wooten’s superiors to his alleged misbehavior.
In 2005, less than three months before she began her campaign for governor, Palin sent an e-mail from her personal account to the head of the Alaska state troopers about Wooten. The e-mail was obtained by ABC News and other outlets.
In the message, Palin relayed more than two dozen incidents in which she or others alleged Wooten had driven drunk, made threats, violated game hunting laws, hurt his son, abused his authority as a law enforcement officer, been unfaithful to his wife, and more.
Palin noted allegations that Wooten had threatened to “bring Sarah Palin down,” as well as make Palin’s father “eat a f******* lead bullet.”
The allegations, taken together, “would lead a rational person to believe there is a problem inside the [state troopers’] organization,” asserted Palin in the e-mail.
“I have objectively separated the divorce and Wooten’s threats against me and my family with the fact that the troopers have a loose cannon on their hands,” Palin wrote.
Good. When she’s elected I hope she uses her position to bust some righteous butts among the political prostitutes of the press, and the ample butts of all those other fairydiddles who make a great living either directly off the big teats of the government or from its major codependency occupations, such as lobbyists, special interest advocates, community organizers, and other candidates for the coveted title of lords of the flies.
Learn the truth first.
LLS
Cop knows how to use rules of evidence and non lawyer Palin doesn't. Palin can't fire bad cop, fires chief instead. Palin's sister is ex wife and victim of bad cop, that's the personal connection.
If the Republicans don't Scooter Libby this thing, the truth will out that the left supports drunken, violent, lawbreaking cops.
I forgot the link: http://www.adn.com/politics/story/476430.html
Another note, the stepson was 11 years old.
Don’t taser me bro....I mean dad.
‘’Palin is Dick Cheney with tits.’’ — Barack campaign spokesman.”
They are just jealous because Michelle Obama wears the balls in the family.
ROFL @ Obama Mel Gibson! :)
I don’t think even Obama’s campaign workers are THAT stupid, but it sure does sound an awful lot like the tripe I’ve been reading at DU and YouTube! These people are unbelievable. The thing is — thanks to the PUMAs, more people than ever are starting to see just how screwed up the Dems really are.
Out of great respect for Mrs. Palin, I will not repeat here the incredibly sexist, deplorably objectifying and degrading commentary that passes for “civil discourse” among the crowds over on DU. I don’t suggest going over to take a look unless you’re REALLY ready to get REALLY fired up, and angry though...
To Democrats, Equality = JUST WORDS
Pales in compoarison to Biden and his lobbyist kid connections.
But it’s the only thing they have on her, so we’re bound to hear about it for awhile.
I’m sure the McCain people have more than vetted the whole situation.
But you of course realize that the media will lie as much as their demigod Obamessiah directs them to do. It is crucial that sites like FR remain vigillant to report the full truth (like the brother-in-law resigned, he was not fired).
Ha! You jokin’?
Sadly, there isn’t going to be any fair play (as we already know). We may as well get used to it now — not like we aren’t used to it already — and move forward as best we can.
Today’s VP running-mate announcement made one heck of a leap forward and I plan to let the joy stay with me during the Holiday.
Best Regards,
BR
We know the whole story so they can’t get away with anything here.
___________________________________________
Actually, the matter is currently under investigation. The final report is scheduled to be released November 2nd.
>> The commissioner showed very poor judgement for not firing the cop who is obviously unstable.
That might prove to be the backchannel detail that is consistent with her reputation as a corruption fighter.
Maybe the commissioner was part of an “old-boy” network protecting the loose cannon cop; she had personal knowledge of this particular case because of the family connection, investigated, and then put her foot down.
The JMC campaign might be able to turn it into a positive.
’Palin is Dick Cheney with tits.’’ — Barack campaign spokesman.
I made it up, but expect to see it at DU soon
OH, GOOD! Another Dick Cheney would sure suit most of us!
The Washington Post has done more investigative research in 12 hours on Palin than they have in four months of Obama.
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