GUILTY! David Shuster reports on the Sarah Palin Troopergate scandal

The just-released Trooper-Gate report finds that Sarah Palin abused her power in the firing of Walt Monegan, by violating an Alaska law holding 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."

In addition, the report found that the office of Attorney General Talis Colberg failed to substantially comply with the legislature's written request for information about the case in the form of emails.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/troopergate_report_finds_pa...
Monegan's firing was just the tip of the iceberg. The report details the extraordinary lengths that Gov. Palin, largely through her husband Todd, went to get her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired because of personal family reasons (namely, his nasty divorce from Palin's sister). It was this effort, which led to pressure being improperly brought to bear on numerous state employees, that constituted an abuse of power by Palin. As it should be. State employees should not be subject to personal vendettas from elected officials.

While the report also finds that the governor in Alaska has the inherent power to fire her department heads for any reason or for no reason, it concludes that Monegan's refusal to fire one of his state troopers at the insistence of the governor and her family was a contributing factor in his own firing.

So rather than the firing of Monegan itself being the abuse of power, the wide-ranging effort to retaliate against her sister's ex-husband, of which Monegan's firing was merely a part, was the real abuse.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/223561.php
We have been given a clear warning about the vice-presidential nominee for the Republican party. We already know she is a pathological liar. We already know she refuses even basic transparency and accountability, refusing to hold a press conference as veep nominee for the first time in modern American political history and refusing to provide even minimal documentation of her fifth pregnancy. Barely into her first year as governor, as one might expect of such a person, she abused her power as governor of Alaska to persecute a former family member:

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 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(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.

Finding Number Two
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. 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.

Finding Number Three
Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten's workers' compensation claim property and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers' compensation benefits to which he was entitled.

Finding Number Four
The Attorney General's office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for infomration about the case in the form of emails.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/abuse-of-power.h...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

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

[mrwarped]

what I think is funny is that some conservatives think that it was all Obama's fault.

[Cocacola007bt]

how many republicans would accept this? probably none, they need to open their eyes.

[genomyoshida]

I think she is just a fake idiot to be honest. Her fake down home hookie act is insane - as is her show, which is just a way to garner votes for when she tries (and fails) to run for president. She is an idiot - not because she is female, but because of everything she says and does.

[darlena1956]

Did you hear she kills moose? Oh my...

I really hope you can find something more than this to report on her. What's the obsession with her? Do you really think conservatives think they are better than everyone else so you have to find something and all these criminals in washington get a pass. Pull your head out of your ass and look around.

[chgosatrap]

I just read that Colberg resigned.