Rachel Maddow - Sarah Palin Troopergate Update (Part 5)

Todd Palin, who was subpoenaed just last week in the Trooper-Gate investigation, has said he will not testify. From the AP:
Todd Palin, who participates in state business in person or by e-mail, was among 13 people subpoenaed by the Alaska Legislature. McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan announced today that Todd Palin would not appear, because he no longer believes the Legislature's investigation is legitimate.
Earlier this week, Talis Colberg, the Alaska attorney general wrote a letter to state legislators, informing them that the state employees who were subpoenaed in the investigation would not be testifying.

Initially, Gov. Sarah Palin promised full cooperation in the investigation, but has been increasingly opposed to the probe since she was named as the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

Late update: Todd Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, sent a letter yesterday to Trooper-Gate investigator Stephen Branchflower, informing him that his client would not be cooperating with the subpoena. The letter can be seen here.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/todd_palin_refuses_to_testi...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The McCain-Palin campaign is "moving on many fronts" to stall an investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused the power of her office by firing her public safety commissioner, the Alaska lawmakers claimed in a court filing Thursday.

The filing is in response to a lawsuit by five Republican state legislators seeking to halt the investigation into whether Palin abused her power when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan this summer. The legislators call the investigation by the Legislative Council biased, a violation of due process and a violation of the separation of powers between Alaska's legislative and executive branches.

They want a judge to order the Legislative Council to cease investigating Palin or remove the leaders of the probe: Sen. Hollis French, the Democratic project manager of the investigation; Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, the Legislative Council investigator; and Stephen Branchflower, the retired attorney the council hired as the independent investigator.

Palin had agreed to cooperate with the investigation until she became Sen. John McCain's running mate. Then, through the McCain campaign, she claimed that French, Elton and Branchflower were manipulating the report to be a potentially damaging "October surprise" before Election Day.

The attorney defending French, Elton, Branchflower and the Legislative Council said in the response filed Wednesday that the suit is one of several tactics the McCain campaign is using to stall the investigation.

"The McCain campaign and its supporters, having apparently convinced themselves that the facts would cause serious damage to the Republican ticket if publicly known before the national election, are now moving on many fronts - including this one - to slow and stop Mr. Branchflower's fact-finding inquiry and to prevent his issuance of the report authorized by the Legislative Council," said the response filed by defense attorney Peter Maassen.

Maassen says the Legislature has broad fact-finding power and this probe falls well within its scope, and asks Anchorage Judge Stephanie Joannnides to dismiss the lawsuit.

The filing did not name other stalling tactics the campaign was using, though McCain officials have held regular news conferences denouncing the investigation. Also, several witnesses under subpoena, including Palin's husband, have refused to cooperate. That means Branchflower will not be able to talk to key people, though he still plans to complete a report by Oct. 10.

Palin fired Monegan in July. Weeks later, it emerged that Palin, her husband, Todd, and several high-level staffers had contacted Monegan about state trooper Mike Wooten, who had gone through a nasty divorce from Palin's sister before Palin became governor. While Monegan says no one from the administration ever told him directly to fire Wooten, he says their repeated contacts made it clear they wanted Wooten gone. Palin maintains she fired Monegan over budget disagreements.
http://newsminer.com/news/2008/sep/25/alaska-lawmakers-mccain-campaign-stalli...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Rachel
• Maddow
• Sarah
• Todd
• Palin
• Alaska
• State
• trooper
• gate
• Walt
• Monegan
• Wooten
• firing
• john
• Mccain
• Barack
• Obama
• Joe
• Biden

[ssjdemocrat]

she even charged rape victims up to $1200 for rape kits. wtf

[soulsearcher99]

There is no way Palin can talk about fighting for the regular people if her and her husband refuse to honor a subpeona. First of all, us little people go to jail for lesser offenses. So before you can fight for us, you must obey the laws like we have to...

[monkeyman1140]

Oh well, Palin will be unemployed soon, she's obviously not going to be VP, and her governorship is heading straight for impeachment/censure.

I guess she can make the conservative rounds at gun shows, NRA meetings, and monster truck rallys.

[elfruss]

Sarah Palin has shown the ethics of Dick Cheney, the honesty of Karl Rove and the intelligence of Dan Quayle.

Thank you, John McCain, for showing us the quality of appointments you will make if elected President.

This country - and all it SHOULD stand for - is in for another rough ride under a McCain/Palin administration.

[peteykkk]

Is Rachel a girl or a guy? Hard to tell.

[taxiture]

Are Mc Cain & Palin ABOVE THE LAW?

[mirijay]

Sarah palin is dangerous

[ssjdemocrat]

first