Political Jackass

Even though the official report regarding Troopergate came out last Friday, it is not the last we’ll hear of it. Remember when Sarah Palin agreed to answer questions, then didn’t, then insisted that the investigation had no jurisdiction and wanted her own investigation, by her own people? Well, she’s getting exactly that. The catch is, the state personnel board has hired someone who will most likely not make the Governor appear to flattering. Their gamble may have backfired on them, as the new investigator is also charged with the task of investigation all ethics complaints, not just from Troopergate. According to Newsweek:

[T]he board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin’s 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel’s report could be released soon after. “We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board,” said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin “has nothing to hide,” it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.

Sarah Palin: Bad for America.

The first words from the Troopergate report are surfacing. It seems that the bi-partisan investigation revealed that Gov. Sarah Palin “abused her power” in violation of Alaska law. That’s the key finding. It also finds that while the refusal to fire Palin’s former brother in law was not the sole reason Palin terminated her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, it was a “contributing factor.” Download the report here.

“Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda,” the report states. CNN

Is this really the type of person you want to be your VP and possible President? Didn’t we see enough abuses of power under Bush/Cheney? When are people going to wake up and see what a bad person she is for this country and what a dishonorable man John McCain has become?

The Alaska Supreme Court has rejected the effort by Republican legislators to quash the Trooper-Gate investigation, affirming the decision of a lower court last week.

The Alaska Legislative Council, a bipartisan committee of 14 lawmakers that conducts business when the Legislature isn’t in session, voted unanimously on July 31 to investigate Palin’s July 11 firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The commissioner said he was dismissed for refusing to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, who was involved in a divorce and custody battle with Palin’s sister.

The governor has said she didn’t pressure Monegan and dismissed him because of budgetary disagreements.

The state Supreme Court said it will issue an opinion later explaining its dismissal of the Republican lawmakers’ challenge to the investigation.

The Legislative Council’s independent investigator is scheduled to deliver his findings tomorrow morning in Anchorage. The council includes 10 Republicans and four Democrats.

Sarah Palin really is a disgrace to the United States. How can we expect her to uphold the laws of the Constitution when she does everything in her power to stop an investigation into her abuse of power and questionable ethics? She is Bush all over again. I cannot believe the contempt she has shown for our laws and the American people. Has she no shame? First she said she would cooperate, then she was picked to be VP. Now she won’t testify, won’t cooperate, her aides won’t testify or cooperate, now her husband won’t either. These are legal subpoenas! You cannot just ignore them! What other laws is she going to ignore if she takes office? I don’t think I want to know the answer to that question.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s husband has refused to testify in the investigation of his wife’s alleged abuse of power, and key lawmakers said Thursday that uncooperative witnesses are effectively sidetracking the probe until after Election Day.

Todd Palin, who participates in state business in person or by e-mail, was among 13 people subpoenaed by the Alaska Legislature. Palin’s lawyer sent a letter to the lead investigator saying Palin objected to the probe and would not appear to testify on Friday. Continue reading…

This woman makes me sick.

If Palin has nothing to hide why does she keep changing her story of what really went on? Why is the McCain campaign doing everything they can think of to stop the investigation AFTER she agreed to cooperate? How can anyone trust this woman?

Aides to Gov. Sarah Palin won’t comply with subpoenas issued by state lawmakers investigating the firing of Alaska’s former public safety commissioner, since Palin “has declined to participate” in the probe, her attorney general says.

“As state employees, our clients have taken an oath to uphold the Alaska Constitution, and for that reason, they respect the legislature’s desire to carry out an investigation in support of its law-making powers,” Attorney General Talis Colberg, a Palin appointee, told the investigation’s manager in a letter released Wednesday. “However, our clients are also loyal employees subject to the supervision of the governor.”

Palin once pledged to cooperate with the state Legislature’s investigation into the July firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. After his dismissal, Monegan accused Palin of trying to pressure him into firing her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper who had been involved in an acrimonious divorce from the governor’s sister.

Palin has denied any wrongdoing. Her allies argue the investigation has become a “partisan circus” since she became Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain’s running mate, and they argue that any investigation should be handled by the state personnel board. From CNN

McCain and Palin’s efforts to hide the truth from the American people have hit a road block for now.  They were trying to unseat the investigator and replace him with a panel appointed by the very person they were investigating.  Well, they were shot down.  From The Huffington Post:

A Republican effort failed Monday to unseat the Alaska state senator overseeing the ethics investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power when she dismissed the state’s public safety commissioner.

Democratic Sen. Hollis French was accused of manipulating the probe for political effect on national and state elections. Republican Rep. John Coghill last week asked the Alaska Legislature’s Legislative Council, the body that appointed French to oversee the investigation, to discuss replacing French.

Coghill said he believed the investigation was lacking in fairness, neutrality and due process after French was quoted in media reports that the probe’s results were going to be an “October surprise” that is “likely to be damaging to the administration.”

On Monday, Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, the head of the Legislative Council, turned down his request. French’s decisions to date have been appropriate, bipartisan and unchallenged, Elton wrote to Coghill. And the comments French made were “corrected in a very public way in the media,” Elton wrote.

The investigation is examining whether Palin abused her power by firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan has said he felt pressure from the Palin family and staff to dismiss a trooper, Mike Wooten, who went through a messy divorce from Palin’s sister.

Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, who was hired to conduct the investigation and compile its findings, “will not discuss the status of his review with the media,” Elton said.

“I’m sure that all of us can work in a nonpartisan way to accomplish the charge given to the investigator by the Legislative Council,” Elton said.

Coghill told The Associated Press on Monday that he was disappointed that Elton seemed to miss the political nature of French’s statements and that he would appeal to the council chairman again.

“We all support somebody in this political race, but he took it right smack into this (investigation),” Coghill said of French. “I don’t want to stop the investigation, but I think Sen. French has made it very difficult to get an independent view.”

Elton declined an interview request Monday but said through his spokeswoman that he will not call a Legislative Council meeting until the investigation is complete. Alaska’s House and Senate Judiciary committees meet Friday to decide whether to grant subpoena power to the investigators

ABC investigates the Troopergate story. This may be devastating to the McCain campaign. This is the kind of reform John McCain wants in Washington? I think not. I think this is the same politics that have gone on in his party for the past 40 years. McSame is no different than Bush and his corrupt administration.

It’s great to see some of the media not cowering from the McCain campaign’s attacks. What’s even better is that this is coming from a newspaper in Palin’s home state, Alaska.

Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she’s on the national stage.

Instead, Gov. Palin has begun stonewalling the Legislature’s attempt to get the bottom of allegations that she, her family or staff violated ethical or state personnel rules.

As a result, the Troopergate allegations hang over Palin’s future and cloud her candidacy for vice president.

The allegations are that she, her family or administration improperly pressured then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Gov. Palin’s ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten, who had been in the middle of a custody dispute with Palin’s sister.

In July, when legislators started talking about conducting an investigation, Palin denied any wrongdoing and said she welcomed an investigation.

“Hold me accountable,” she said.

The Legislature took her up on that offer. But this week, she basically told the Legislature, “Never mind.”

Palin’s lawyer has asked the Legislature to drop its investigation. He had the governor file an ethics complaint against herself, in a bid to turn the entire matter over to the state Personnel Board, which would hire an independent investigator.

This is not an open and transparent attempt to establish Gov. Palin’s accountability. It is an attempt to drag out the investigation until after voters decide the fate of her vice-presidential bid.

Instead, Gov. Palin should honor her pledge to cooperate with the Legislature’s investigation, conducted by former state prosecutor Steve Branchflower.

She could start by telling aide Frank Bailey he has to talk to the legislative investigator. She should fire him if he doesn’t.

Bailey was caught on an audio recording of a phone conversation with a Public Safety Department official, in which Bailey pushed to get Wooten fired.

Bailey was put on paid leave, not fired. A spokeswoman for Palin said that while Bailey is on the state payroll, Palin can direct him to cooperate with the legislative investigation.

So why is Bailey still on the payroll, after he bailed on a scheduled interview with the legislative investigator Wednesday?

The Legislature hasn’t given its investigator the power to subpoena, or compel, testimony of witnesses. Subpoenas appeared unnecessary, since it appeared the governor and administration would be cooperating.

That’s over. It’s time for the subpoenas.

The Legislature’s investigation is supposed to be wrapped up by Oct. 31. That’s obviously poor timing from the standpoint of the McCain-Palin presidential campaign, coming just a few days before the national election.

Instead of trying to delay the whole thing, Palin should take a cue from U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who asked that his corruption trial be moved up so it would be completed well ahead of the November general election. Voters deserve to know the outcome of Sen. Stevens trial and the investigation into Palin.

When this investigation into Troopergate started, Gov. Palin’s response was refreshingly open. Since she became the Republican candidate for vice president, her approach has changed for the worse. America deserves the same openness and ethics from vice-presidential candidate Palin that she promised to Alaska voters in 2006.

BOTTOM LINE: Gov. Palin is stonewalling on Troopergate; the Legislature should issue subpoenas.

Very well said. She is not the change that Washington needs, she’s just another example of the same old tactics and politics. Shame on her.