The Library & Trooper gate answers were terrific.
I think Obama has to want to vomit every time he sees her speak.
GIBSON: The other issue is Troopergate, which is very much in the news today, the Associated Press is saying how there's going to be 13 subpoenas that come out, one of them to your husband, Todd. First of all, do you welcome the investigation…
PALIN: Absolutely, there's nothing to hide in this. The personnel board is the appropriate agency or overseeing board to inquire as to whether anybody did anything wrong or not, but here's the issue with Troopergate and I'm glad that you're asking. The trooper in question here did conduct dangerous and illegal activities and our personal security detail when I was first elected had asked us very appropriately, are there any threats against you and your family. And I said, well, you know, ironically, yeah, it's a state trooper who's threatened to kill my dad and bring down me and once I got elected, his threats were he was going to bring down the governor and the governor's family, so it was very appropriate that we brought the concerns to personal security detail -- they asked us to bring it to the commissioner, which I did.
GIBSON: And he was your brother-in-law at one point.
PALIN: Yeah, back in '05 -- yeah.
GIBSON: The -- you mentioned the personnel board, it's a bipartisan legislative group, that's working at it now, which you said was fine, until you got named as the vice presidential nominee, and then you said the personnel board ought to handle it.
PALIN: We've said all along that … the personnel board is the appropriate agency or board to inquire -- our state statute says if there is a question about actions of the governor, lt. governor, or attorney general, you go to the personnel board. So we've said all along that that's appropriate …
GIBSON: Even though they're all appointed by you.
PALIN: No, they're not. In fact, they were all appointed by the prior administration, I had one reappointment on that board, they weren't all appointed by me. But, the issue that people are asking about -- first, they got it wrong when they say did I fire a trooper, because there was an issue back in '05 about him, as he was divorcing my sister. No, nobody fired the trooper, he's still a trooper to this day, he's out there. He had tasered his stepson, he had made those death threats, you know, there were a lot of concerns from not just my family, but from the public about this trooper's activities, and he's apologized for those since, I saw on the air the other day.
But, the issue is the commissioner, who was his boss, was he pressured to fire that trooper, that's the underlying issue here, right, Commissioner Monegan. Commissioner Monegan has said the governor never asked me to fire him, the governor's husband never asked me to fire him, and we never did. I never pressured him to hire or fire anybody. Why I replaced commissioner Monegan was after two years, of he working in my cabinet, as a political appointment, at will, exempt, recognizing after two years, he wasn't meeting the goals I wanted met in that area of public service, there were a lot of things that we were lacking, and a lot of goals weren't being met…
I wanted to bring somebody in with more vision and more energy to beef up public safety, hire more troopers, we increased the budget, yet still we had dozens and dozens of trooper positions vacant, we weren't reaching the goals on recruitment and retention of troopers, so that was one of the issues. I did recognize though that Commissioner Monegan could provide for the state some good public service in another area, so I did offer him another job, as the person in charge of the alcohol beverage control board, he chose not to transfer into that position, he chose then to leave state service, he didn't want that position, so the two issues have nothing to do with each other, the trooper's still a trooper today, Commissioner Monegan was offered another job, he turned that down, and now we're in the midst of a hiring practice for a new commissioner.
GIBSON: You think he should be a trooper? Given what he did?
PALIN: It amazes me still to think we cannot have very, very high standards for our troopers, for anybody in public service, certainly though, those who have a badge and carry a gun. But, I have always put in my commissioners hands their rights, their authority to hire, fire those that they need on their team to provide for better public service, I haven't micromanaged them. So, I didn't tell the guy to hire or fire anybody.
GIBSON: Didn't improperly intercede, not worried about the subpoenas, even to Todd.
PALIN: No, because I know that Todd, too, never pressured Commissioner Monegan. He did, very appropriately, though, bring up those concerns about a trooper who was making threats against the first family, and that is appropriate, in fact, you go to the department of law's web site, and it says right there in Q&A form on their Web site, it says, if you have an issue or a concern about an Alaskan state trooper, you bring that concern to the commissioner of the department of public safety. That's what Todd did, he appropriately did.
But another issue that I think has been lost through mainstream media reporting this, is that the trooper is still a trooper, Commissioner Monegan was replaced because he wasn't reaching the goals that our cabinet members were to reach, find efficiencies, put new vision, new energy into all of our departments. And, it's an issue that should be investigated by the personnel board, and they do -- it's been so politicized at this point, too, I think it's turned into quite the political issue.