Posted on 10/10/2008 6:02:54 PM PDT by Chet 99
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her power as Alaska's governor in the firing of her former public safety commissioner, but violated no laws, a report for the state Legislature concluded Friday.
Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's refusal to fire Palin's ex-brother-in-law from the state police force was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor to sack him, the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower states.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Is it not libel for CNN to say she broke the law when the report literally says she didn’t?
I remember when they used to call it pulling rank, but that doesn’t sound nearly sinister enough. The guy was sacked for insubordination and there’s no abuse of power in firing him.
However, this will be the weekend story and the focus of the Sunday lineup.
He serves at the governor’s pleasure. She can fire him for any reason or no reason, and it is NOT an abuse of power. However, she had good reason, as she said he was interfering with policies she was carrying out.
Goobermint is so out of control that firing someone in goobermint is almost illegal and might get you impeached. Incredible!
Look at the CNN headline now - they’ve omitted “but broke no laws.”
yeah, AP lying again that it was unlawful
The MSM has profoundly abused their power since the New Deal was put into operation, but, to this day and counting, no lawyers really go after them!
Rush correctly calls it APO, Associated Press Obama.
She should ask for an immediate retraction by CNN
Two things come immediately to mind. First the report includes as evidence of her violation of Alaska ethics law actions she took before she was governor. Secondly the report never does state just how she benefited or her family benefited from her actions or how her actions were actually detrimental to Wooten. Calling up and requesting status reports and saying why you think someone is unfit to serve is sure as hell not the same as trying to illegally or unethically influence a course of action. No one said that they made a finding because they feared retribution by Palin or because they had been promised compensation for doing so. So where the hell is this so called violation?
Also what the heck does a divorce judges snarky remark about Palins sisters earning capacity and Wootens possible job loss have to do with anything at all. That should be stricken from the record as irrelevant. I mean is Branchflower claiming this is proof that Palin was using her office to get Wooten fired?
The whole thing is major BS and I hope Palin strongly rebukes the findings.
Violated no laws? That’s not what AOL is saying.
In any event, this report and its release at this time are a political manipulation by Democrats. It appears to me that the public is invited into the political process by politicians, to be manipulated by politicians. It further appears that if you want to win at the game of electoral politics, you have to be prepared to play dirty.
Well, for one thing she didn’t fire Monogan. She transferred him to another department. As his employer she had every right to do that.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
How true! Does anyone listen to their radio news service? It's hard to differentiate between theirs, MSNBC's and NPR's.
This is just like the AG’s Bush fired and they tried to say it was illegal. This is the type of investigations we will get with Dems in charge.
News that is NOT news, spun to make news!!
AOL says her firing was unlawful.. How can these people face a mirror?
The MSM is counting on a running a headline, not anyone actually reading this crap.
“It actually says both of those things in the report.”
Sounds like the authors of the report are confused. Well, it was a rush job in the first place. The only reason any report is coming out now is that Palin is the Vice Presidential nominee. And the authors are Democrats, so confusion of terms is to be expected.
Finding Number Two
I find that, although Walt Monegans 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 Palins firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.
This clearly states that nothing improper about the "firing" which, I had thought was actually a resignation.
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 39.52.11O(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.11O(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.
To be able to explain this finding it took 29 pages of text.
If she was actually found guilty of anything, it is deemed to be an ethics violation. The DNC should welcome her with open arms!
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