Troopergate Report

The 263 page Troopergate report came out last Friday. The major finding was: "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.""

There were three other findings. Number two was 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 Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads." I think Daily Kos summed this up as well as anyone, "Did she have the legal authority to fire Monegan for no reason? Yes. Did she have the legal authority to do so for personal gain? No."

Number three was about Wooten's worker's compensation claim, it was handled properly and number four was about the Attorney General's office. they "failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of emails." Apparently 209 email messages were identified as late as October 5th and they were not provided as they were in Palin's office for review.

Time Magazine points out that the Palin administration's attempts were particularly "ham-handed": "A harsh verdict? Consider the report's findings. Not only did people at almost every level of the Palin administration engage in repeated inappropriate contact with Walt Monegan and other high-ranking officials at the Department of Public Safety, but Monegan and his peers constantly warned these Palin disciples that the contact was inappropriate and probably unlawful. Still, the emails and calls continued — in at least one instance on recorded state trooper phone lines."

They give several other examples: "The report also raises the suggestion that the final incident that led to Monegan's firing was perhaps the most (unintentionally) hilarious part of the whole saga. In the run-up to Alaska's 2008 Police Memorial Day event, Monegan visited Palin in Anchorage and brought along an official portrait of a state trooper in uniform, saluting in front of the police memorial in Anchorage, for Palin to sign and present at the event. The trooper? Mike Wooten." Palin signed it, sent the Lt. Gov her in her place and berated Monegan for insensitivity. Monegan says he didn't even know what Wooten looked like.

The really strange twist is how Palin is playing the report. Rather than accept any responsibility for abusing her power she repeatedly lies and says the report found “no unlawful or unethical activity on my part,” and added that “there was no abuse of authority at all in trying to get Officer Wooten fired.” She also said "“A partisan kind of process that had been undertaken by some of the legislators" which is odd. The investigation included 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats and most votes were unanimous or bipartisan majorities. Steve Benen called her delusional, and said "Either Sarah Palin is lying brazenly or she's functionally illiterate."

He adds, "On Friday, Palin was found to have violated the public trust in an abuse of power scandal. On Saturday, it was on the front page of the major dailies. And on Sunday morning, NBC's "Meet the Press," ABC's "This Week," and CNN's "Late Edition" ignored the story altogether, despite lengthy discussions about recent political events, as if a major scandal involving a candidate for national office isn't particularly interesting. I'll simply never understand this."

Maybe her response is better than her lawyer's response just before receiving the report. "Palin has refused to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation, although the campaign says she is cooperating with a separate probe by the state personnel board. Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, said the Branchflower report won't be complete because the investigator didn't interview key witnesses including the governor and her former chief of staff, Mike Tibbless". Then again he's a lawyer, not a pitbull hockey mom.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis also lied about the report, saying "The reality is there was absolutely no wrongdoing found in the report. 1,000 pages, an enormous waste of time and the best that they could come up with was no violation of any laws or ethics rules".

Monegan is relieved by the report. And it should be noted that Wooten doesn't come across as a saint either. He apparently tasered his 11 year-old son.

Now that Palin has been found to have abused power and continues to lie about it, Daily Kos worries "Consider now how all of this squares with the fact that Sarah Palin in her debate with Joe Biden said she thought the power of the vice presidency could be increased even beyond where Darth Cheney already has brought it." I still don't attribute that much intelligence to her, I've seen no evidence of it. She seems closer to a photogenic Chance Gardner to me.