When I wanted to keep up with the Sarah Palin “Troopergate” issue, I read Mata Harley at Flopping Aces who has covered this thing from the day Ms. Palin was nominated to be the VP candidate, mainly because the media’s coverage of this borders on useless. So yesterday, the 263-page report on the investigation was released and it actually cleared the Governor on the main charge of firing her pubic safety commissioner. But here’s how the newspapers are headlining the story.
The Washington Times;
The Washington Post;
The Wall Street Journal;
The Miami Herald;
The story is actually that the panel says she abused her position to get her former brother-in-law fired, but she didn’t when she fired her public safety commissioner. Each of the above stories admit as much, but look at the headlines they chose. For example, the Washington Post put the actual findings of the investigator in the middle of the story;
Branchflower investigated the charges for six weeks, interviewing 19 people, after he was hired by the Joint Legislative Council. He concluded that while Monegan’s rebuff of the entreaties played a role in his firing, other concerns such as budgetary issues and trooper vacancies also were factors.
“I find that, although Walt Monegan’s 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,” Branchflower wrote. “In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.“
Emphasis is mine. But which do you think the chatter from the Left will be…the headline or the facts?
The Alaska ‘Troopergate’ is a non-scandal induced by a bunch of hacks desperately trying to dig up dirt in Palin’s past.
Aside from the usual in-the-tank-for Obama media reporting, it should be noted that although Wooten was involved in a nasty divorce from Palin’s sister, that’s not why he should be fired.
There were factors like tasering his 10 year old stepson and drinking in his cruiser.
Wooten has quite a record for a State trooper:
“Let’s be clear: Mike Wooten is no angel. The fact that he is still a trooper suggests that the Legislature should review the troopers’ disciplinary standards.”
“Trooper Wooten gave his 10-year-old stepson a “test” firing from his state-issued Taser because the boy wanted to know what it was like. That was astoundingly bad judgment. Because the child “consented,” and the test apparently produced no lasting harm, Wooten would have a good defense against any criminal charges. But it was a hopelessly inappropriate thing for a state trooper to do with state-issued equipment.”
“Trooper Wooten also shot a moose illegally, using his wife’s permit. At the time the incident was investigated, he was a wildlife enforcement officer responsible for enforcing the very same hunting laws he broke. Questioned by troopers about the incident, he said he felt it was not inappropriate, according to the troopers’ disciplinary report.”
“Trooper Wooten also said he would make his father-in-law “eat a f***-ing? lead bullet” if he helped get a lawyer for his daughter. Apparently that didn’t qualify as “assault” under the law because Wooten did not say it directly to his father-in-law. No crime, but another example that trooper Wooten lacked the judgment and temperament to remain a trooper.”
“Another disturbing incident from Wooten’s record was the courtesy treatment he got from a fellow trooper during a DUI stop. A bartender had reported Wooten as a suspected drunken driver after Wooten caused a commotion in the bar and drove away. Wooten’s fellow officer stopped him, let him leave his car behind and gave him a ride to his destination. An arrest and conviction for DUI would have ended Wooten’s career as a trooper.”
“In another incident, Wooten was off duty and drove his patrol car with an open container of alcohol. Witnesses indicate he had been drinking before he got in the patrol car — a finding that trooper Col. Julia Grimes upheld in her review of Wooten’s case.”
Link: http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/535112.html
The stacked ‘panel’ kinda missed those items.
Take a look at who’s behind it and why:
“Walt Monegan lost his job as public safety director because he resisted Gov. Sarah Palin’s budget policies and showed “outright insubordination,” say papers the governor’s lawyer filed Monday with the state Personnel Board.”
Link: http://www.adn.com/troopergate/story/527346.html
Which is her perogative as Governor.
Democratic States Senate Judiciary Chair Hoolis French tried to taint the investigation from the start.
“In late July, the Alaska State Legislature’s Legislative Council, a group of lawmakers that handles the legislature’s business when it is out of session, approved a $100,000 contract to hire an investigator. The Council, chaired by Sen. Kim Elton of Juneau (D), appointed Sen. Hollis French of Anchorage (D), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to oversee the investigation. SIDENOTE: If you’re asking how two Democrats got high-level chairmanships in a Republican controlled State Senate, here’s the answer. 6 of the 11 Republicans decided to join with the 9 Democrats to form a bipartisan coalition. There’s a GOP President of the Senate, but the majority leader and the chairmen of many committees are Democrats.”
“French, long-known to have ambitions for statewide office, has made several statements that have pre-judged the outcome of this investigation. In an ABC news story a couple weeks ago, French said this as-yet-unwritten and uninvestigated report is “likely to be damaging to the Governor’s administration” and that Gov. Palin “has a credibility problem.” French even had this to say about the investigation’s impact on the election:”
“French says the McCain campaign failed to contact any of the Senators involved in the investigation during the vetting process of Gov. Palin. ‘If they had done their job, they never would have picked her,’ said French.”
“Now they may have to deal with an October surprise,’ he said, referring to the scheduled release Oct. 31 of the committee’s final report.”
“The report is a preliminary step prior to any effort to impeach the Governor, said French.”
and this:
“Steve Branchflower was hired as the special council to investigate Sarah Palin on August 1. In an August 2, 2008 Anchorage Daily News article, Legislative Council chairman, Kim Elton, said that Branchflower asked for the job, along with several others, which makes this hiring a little fishy. Branchflower’s wife, Linda, worked for Monegan as a detective and publicly praised him as a “respected supervisor because he listens to his employees and isn’t afraid to change course if something isn’t working out” in a 2001 Anchorage Daily News article. Monegan is an honorable cop, but this relationship makes the Branchflower hiring even fishier.”
“Furthermore, Branchflower and Hollis French are former colleagues. According to the same August 2, 2008 story:”
“French will supervise Branchflower. French, also a former prosecutor and colleague of Branchflower, has told the council that the investigator will go to work gathering evidence and could come back to lawmakers if ‘some people just won’t talk.’ The House and Senate Judiciary Committees could then issues subpoenas to compel testimony.”
Link: http://www.adn.com/monegan/story/482003.html
Bottom line: A group of Obama’s hacks trump up ‘ethics’ charges against Sarah Palin for firing a public safety commissioner for insubordination, who in turn, used his clout to investigate her for daring to suggest that a corrupt asshole posing as a State trooper be fired for his repeated outrageous behavior.
By comparison, there’s a mountain of sludge in Obama’s history.