Ouch: Panel: Palin abused power in trooper case

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/10/palin.investigation/index.html

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her power as Alaska's governor and violated state ethics law by trying to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police, a state investigator's report concluded Friday.

The bipartisan Legislative Council, which commissioned the investigation after Monegan was fired, unanimously adopted the 263-page public report after a marathon executive session Friday. About 1,000 more pages of documents compiled during the inquiry will remain confidential, the council's chairman, state Sen. Kim Elton, said.

Wonder how the McCain camp will spin this one?

The panel also found that she had the power to fire him and no laws were broken. Seems like everyone has forgotten about Travelgate.

More of the same for sure... same kind of unethical crap the Bush Administration has done for 8 years.

so she had the power to fire him but she did so in a legally unethical manner and she didnt break any law???

and nice following of the playbook by jumping to old clinton news that we the dems decided we didnt want as a representative of how we want governed. i have certainly expressed my disgust often for the many clinton issues so i am not among those who have forgotten. i wont post any of the idiotic things from any of the neocon politicians at this point for you to ignore/come back with another clinton bash. altho i am sure your armed and ready

"Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda," the report states.

Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's refusal to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten from the state police force was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor to fire him, the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower states.

The investigator's report states Palin's efforts to get Wooten fired broke a state ethics law that bars public officials from pursuing personal interest through official action.

So the Travelgate scandel was not unethical? Geez, he was our President at the time, at least someone didn't end up dead like in the Clinton scandal.

LTRT, are you sure you are not FeatherHead using a different nickname? You and He both spew the same line of attack at every issue. Sarah violated her constitutional powers and the best you have is to say "well Clinton did too and he was worse". FeatherHead blames Clinton for every bad thing that happens and Reagan gets credit for every good thing that happens. You and FeatherHead must listen to the same poison and like I tell him daily, you just look silly. I feel bad for you neocons and how disgracefully you guys lose ... talk about sore losers. So far we have not stolen the election from you like you did us in 2000 and you guys are already crying and screaming and kicking. SAD.

floridafun wrote:

i see on the original post my lipstick pig smiley doesnt show...just a little box where if i move my mouse over it says its the pig smiley. WHAT THE FUCK is so cute about whichever admin apparently is really getting off on fucking with ANYONES posts??? this isnt the first admin-gone-over-the-line. we never used to have this little problem here. i challenge the totally selfish and disrespectful abuse of admin behavior on this sort of thing. i hope the guilty party stops playing this game now.




so NOW it is showing in the original post.....whats up???

floridafun wrote:

floridafun wrote:

i see on the original post my lipstick pig smiley doesnt show...just a little box where if i move my mouse over it says its the pig smiley. WHAT THE FUCK is so cute about whichever admin apparently is really getting off on fucking with ANYONES posts??? this isnt the first admin-gone-over-the-line. we never used to have this little problem here. i challenge the totally selfish and disrespectful abuse of admin behavior on this sort of thing. i hope the guilty party stops playing this game now.




so NOW it is showing in the original post.....whats up???

Florida, I really doubt an Admin is changing your posts? I could be wrong, but I highly doubt it.

i think your right bman...now the pig shows ok....but when i posted my little tirade it didnt show. i think it must have been a system glitch....so i apologize for my tirade against admin. but like todd palin i reserve the right to use it in the future or change it if my memories of any past events change (reference to his responses regarding troopergate)

ok back to topic....here is the transcript of a five minute conference call with Sarah Palin, Meg Stapleton, the Anchorage Daily News, and local TV stations KTVA, and KTUU. The journalists got one question each with no follow up.

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/

Finding Number One as it is written:

“For the reasons explained in section IV of the report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.11(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

“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.”

the Legislative Council, made up of TEN Republicans and FOUR Democrats voted unanimously to begin the investigation, and unanimously to release the results of the investigation. Ten Republicans, four democrats. Remember that, because it comes up later.

Alright. So here is the transcript. The emphasis is mine, and used on those passages that defy reality, and/or leave me speechless.

Palin: Hey, thank you so, Meg. Thank you so much. Thank you also to our local reporters up there in Alaska. Even hearing your names make me feel like I’m right there with you at home. It’s good to get to speak with you. Let me talk a little bit about the Tasergate issue if you guys would let me and, Meg, you want me to just jump right on in there?

Stapleton: Sure governor, go ahead.

Palin: OK cool.

Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that. Todd did what anyone would have done given this state trooper’s very, very troubling behavior and his dangerous threats against our family. Todd did what I think any Alaskan would do.

And he, Todd did what the state’s Department of Law Web site tells anyone to do if they have a concern about a state trooper. And that’s you go to the commissioner and you express your concern. And Todd did what our personal detail asked him to do. Bob Cockrell early on as I was elected and was asked are there any threats against ya, and Todd brought the concern as I did to Commissioner Monegan about the state trooper’s threats. He did what any – I think — any rational person would do so again, nothing to apologize there with Todd’s actions and again very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing.

(Stapleton invites the first question).

ADN: Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case?

Palin: Not at all and I’ll tell you, it, I think that you’re always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving. In this case I knew that I had to have the right people in the right position at the right time in this cabinet to best serve Alaskans, and Walt Monegan was not the right person at the right time to meet the goals that we had set out in our administration. So no, not having done anything wrong, and again very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all.

ADN: Have you read the whole report? (No response; Stapleton invites question from KTVA reporter).

KTVA-Channel 11: … The report that came out yesterday, do you think that the end result is partisan?

Palin: Yeah, I did think it did turn into a partisan circus to tell you the truth. Yes I did. You know from Day One it’s been the Personnel Board that clearly laid out in state statute there — Personnel Board deals with any issue of question regarding a governor, a lieutenant governor or an attorney general in the state of Alaska. What this legislative investigation — quote unquote — turned into was a political circus.

KTUU-Channel 2: Governor, so good to hear from you. Do you approve of the way that your campaign has handled themselves here in Alaska? We’ve had a lot of people voice concerns about what they call attacks of good people in our state while you are away.

Palin: Well I haven’t heard of any attacks on good people in Alaska from our campaign. If you have specifics there, maybe I could answer specifically. But no, in John McCain’s mission here, in taking the high road, as you’re going to see too with a lot of unfair shots he has taken in this campaign with some of his opponents’ supporters, McCain and I taking the high road, being positive. I wouldn’t support nor would I condone taking shots at any good Alaskans.

KTUU-Channel 2: Let me answer your question since you asked for specifics.

Palin: Sure.

KTUU-Channel 2: Walt Monegan was called “rogue.” How do you feel about that?

Palin: Rogue isn’t a negative term when you consider that in a cabinet you need a team effort going forward with a governor’s agenda. And our agenda has been to find efficiencies in every department and make sure that we are serving the people of Alaska to the best of our ability given the resources that we have. And remember I fought very hard to increase funding for state troopers so that we could fill positions there and goals not being met that included not being able to recruit and retain all the state troopers that I wanted to best serve Alaska. That could be characterized I think as a cabinet member who – it’s not a negative term I think — being rogue in terms of not meeting those goals.

floridafun wrote:i think your right bman...now the pig shows ok....but when i posted my little tirade it didnt show. i think it must have been a system glitch....so i apologize for my tirade against admin. but like todd palin i reserve the right to use it in the future or change it if my memories of any past events change (reference to his responses regarding troopergate)

I think the same glitch happened to me earlier this week. My picture of Barack Hussein Obama with the cigarette in his mouth was replaced by an earlier avatar (the phoenix one) I had from a few weeks ago. Odd that the glitch didn't happen when I had a desparaging picture of John Sidney McCain.

floridafun wrote:

floridafun wrote:

i see on the original post my lipstick pig smiley doesnt show...just a little box where if i move my mouse over it says its the pig smiley. WHAT THE FUCK is so cute about whichever admin apparently is really getting off on fucking with ANYONES posts??? this isnt the first admin-gone-over-the-line. we never used to have this little problem here. i challenge the totally selfish and disrespectful abuse of admin behavior on this sort of thing. i hope the guilty party stops playing this game now.




so NOW it is showing in the original post.....whats up???

Are we showing our true paranoid side or Alzheimers?

If this is all you Hussein supporters can bitch about, we are in good shape.

floridafun wrote:

floridafun wrote:

i see on the original post my lipstick pig smiley doesnt show...just a little box where if i move my mouse over it says its the pig smiley. WHAT THE FUCK is so cute about whichever admin apparently is really getting off on fucking with ANYONES posts??? this isnt the first admin-gone-over-the-line. we never used to have this little problem here. i challenge the totally selfish and disrespectful abuse of admin behavior on this sort of thing. i hope the guilty party stops playing this game now.




so NOW it is showing in the original post.....whats up???

wrong!!!!!!!!!

Trooper gate holds only one single significant fact for me....

She couldn't get him fired as Governor. Weak. Lame. Limp.