Troopergate // Current

The 11 dumbest things Sarah Palin has said so far

1. The news makes me sad ... so I don't watch It Sarah Palin at a North Carolina fundraiser: At those times on the... more

BuddyP
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Palin Testifies in Troopergate Investigation

She can see watergate from her house

caseygane
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Oh Dear, Sarah Palin Just Can’t Manage to Help Herselves!!

Yep...looks like poor Sarah Palin just can't manage herselves. When Palin was flat-out found guilty of abusing her power as... more

disembedded
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AP Shows Palin's Bad Ethics

The more we learn, the less we like

caseygane
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Campaign Update 10/13/08

Sarah Palin gets Troopergated, Barack Obama gets his block buy on, and John McCain gets...well, not much. CAMPAIGN UPDATE knows... more

berlich
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Troopergate: What the Report Really Says

riday's report from special investigator Stephen Branchflower to Alaska's Legislative Council answered some basic... more

Apocalipstick
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Palin denies she abused power

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin denied Saturday that she had abused her power as Alaska's governor, a... more

khaosworks
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Palin denies she abused power

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin denied Saturday that she had abused her power as Alaska's governor, a... more

Crazyotto
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US: panel finds Palin abused power

A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the... more

larkjl86
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Breaking: Alaska lawmakers to release Palin ethics report

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska lawmakers have unanimously voted to release a politically charged ethics report into Gov. Sarah... more

bansheewail
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Sensitive Palin ethics report kept secret, for now

The first-term Alaska governor has been accused of firing a state commissioner to settle a family dispute. But the report is also... more

ESKCSG
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In dozens of calls, Palins pressed for trooper's removal

ANCHORAGE — The 2007 state fair was days away when Alaska's public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, took another call about one of his troopers, Michael Wooten. This time, the director of Gov. Sarah Palin's Anchorage office was on the line.

As Mr. Monegan recalls it, the aide said the governor had heard that Trooper Wooten was assigned to work the kickoff to the fair in late August. If so, Mr. Monegan should do something about it, because Ms. Palin was also planning to attend and did not want him nearby.

Somewhat bewildered, Mr. Monegan soon determined that Trooper Wooten had indeed volunteered for duty at the fairgrounds — in full costume as "Safety Bear," the troopers' child-friendly mascot.

Two years earlier, the trooper and the governor’s sister had been embroiled in a nasty divorce and child-custody battle that had hardened the Palin family against him. To Mr. Monegan and several top aides, the state fair episode was yet another example of a fixation that the governor and her husband, Todd, had with Trooper Wooten and the most granular details of his life.

"I thought to myself, 'Man, do they have a heavy-duty network and focus on this guy,' " Mr. Monegan said. "You'd call that an obsession."

On July 11, Ms. Palin fired Mr. Monegan, setting off a politically charged scandal that has become vastly more so since Ms. Palin became the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

By now, the outlines of the matter have been widely reported. Mr. Monegan believes he was ousted because he would not bow to pressure to dismiss Trooper Wooten. The Alaska Legislature is investigating the firing and whether the governor abused the powers of her office to pursue a personal vendetta. Its report is due Friday.

Ms. Palin has denied that anyone told Mr. Monegan to dismiss Trooper Wooten, or that the commissioner’s ouster had anything to do with him. But an examination of the case, based on interviews with Mr. Monegan and several top aides, indicates that, to a far greater degree than was previously known, the governor, her husband and her administration pressed the commissioner and his staff to get Trooper Wooten off the force, though without directly ordering it. ANCHORAGE — The 2007 state fair was days away when Alaska's public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, took another call... more

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14 responses

1 month ago

Alaskan Supreme Court refuses to shut down Troopergate Investigation

Court removes last hurdle for Palin ethics inquiry
By MATT APUZZO

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's Supreme Court has refused to shut down an ethics investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee.

The decision Thursday sets the stage for state lawmakers to release a report on their investigation Friday. The report could prove to be an embarrassment for Palin and a distraction for John McCain's presidential campaign in the final weeks of the race.

Lawmakers are investigating whether Palin abused her power to settle a family dispute. Her former public safety commissioner says he was dismissed after resisting pressure to fire a state trooper who had gone through nasty divorce from Palin's sister.

Republican lawmakers had sued to block the report, saying it had become politicized.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin remained in the dark while her husband repeatedly asked top state officials to help get his former brother-in-law kicked off the state police force, Palin's husband and top aides said in affidavits provided to The Associated Press.

Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, is the focus of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her authority by firing the state's public safety commissioner to settle a long-standing family dispute. The commissioner says he was fired after resisting pressure to fire Mike Wooten, a trooper involved in a bitter divorce with Palin's sister.

The investigation has been a distraction for John McCain's presidential campaign. Lawmakers were scheduled to meet Friday and release a report on the case, which could shed light on how Palin governs and what role her husband played in her administration.

The affidavits filed with investigators late Wednesday will probably help Palin's defense that the firing was not a tit-for-tat, but they also portray her as uninvolved while her husband met repeatedly with her aides about family affairs. That could provide fodder for her political opponents.

(more at the link)Court removes last hurdle for Palin ethics inquiry By MATT APUZZO ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's Supreme Court... more

khaosworks
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1 month ago

Todd Palin's testimony shows he worked to get trooper fired

Todd Palin talked with more than a dozen Alaska state officials, many of them repeatedly, in his crusade to get a state trooper fired who he considered to be a bad cop, a dishonest person and a threat to the Palin family, according to his sworn statement given yesterday to a legislative investigator in Alaska.

The 25-page statement from Governor Sarah Palin's husband, in response to questions submitted by the investigator, shows that Todd Palin's efforts started before his wife became governor and accelerated during the first 19 months of her administration.

He also suggested there was bad blood between the governor and former public safety commissioner Walt Monegan over two other matters, including an inquiry from Monegan to the governor about whether she once failed to put her infant son Trig in a car seat while she was driving.

The other dispute involved the unavailability of a state trooper airplane for the governor's use when travelling to the Alaska's rural areas.

On the car seat matter, Monegan sent an email to the governor on June 30, 12 days before he lost his job, that said: "Via a soon-to-be-retiring legislator, we received a complaint that had you driving with Trig not in an approved car seat; if this is so that would be awkward in many ways."

The governor fired back from her private email account: "I've never driven Trig anywhere without a new, approved carseat. I want to know who said otherwise - pls provide me that info now."

Todd Palin, in his sworn statement, said this was a "false rumour", and that the governor was a passenger in a truck, "on a private farm road without traffic at low speed".

On the trooper airplane, "It seemed that whenever Sarah needed this plane, it was unavailable," Todd Palin said. "We were concerned that the department of public safety was retaliating against Sarah for selling the Murkowski jet that department of public safety officials enjoyed using." In 2007, the governor sold a jet her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, bought in controversial defiance of the legislature.

Todd Palin was waging the campaign against his ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten, who had divorced the governor's sister in 2006 and who is involved in a custody fight.

Two investigations - one by the legislature and one by the state personnel board - are under way over whether Governor Palin or members of her administration abused their powers in pushing for Wooten's firing, and whether their efforts resulted in the governor's dismissal of her public safety commissioner, Monegan, in July.
Todd Palin talked with more than a dozen Alaska state officials, many of them repeatedly, in his crusade to get a state trooper... more