For those of you who wanted to focus on legit issues - she's now decided she's not going to cooperate with the independent investigator, and instead wants it to be investigated by a 3-person panel that she appointed... http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/palin_wants_independent_troope.php Palin Wants Independent Trooper-Gate Probe Called Off In the latest sign that Sarah Palin's promised cooperation with the Trooper-Gate investigation is failing to materialize, her lawyer is now demanding that the entire case be taken out of the hands of the independent prosecutor hired by Alaska lawmakers, and given over to a state personnel board -- whose three members were appointed by the governor herself. In an unusual "ethics disclosure" filed last night, along with related documents, to the state Attorney General, Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, asked the personnel board to look into the firing of Walt Monegan, the former public safety commissioner at the center of the case. Van Flein also asked the legislature to drop its own investigation, contending that only the personnel board has jurisdiction over ethics. And he suggested that if the legislature didn't agree to hand the matter over to the personnel board, Palin would not be made available for a deposition. Sen. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat in charge of the legislature's investigation, immediately told the Anchorage Daily News that the probe would go ahead as planned. French has said before that he is willing to issue subpoenas if necessary. "We're going to proceed. If they want to proceed, that's perfectly within their right but it doesn't diminish our right to do so," he said. The case concerns allegations that Palin improperly pressured Monegan to fire a state trooper who was embroiled in a family dispute with the Palin family, then fired Monegan when he refused to axe Wooten. Van Flein, whose fee is being paid for by the state of Alaska, also used last night's complaint -- released the night before Palin is to speak as John McCain's vice presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention -- to put out information intended to paint the trooper, Jim Wooten, in a negative light, as well as to undercut Monegan's claims that the governor pressured him to fire Wooten. In the words of the ADN, the complaint contends that: "Monegan never told the governor or Todd Palin that Wooten had been disciplined over complaints brought by the family that included tasering his stepson, illegally shooting a moose and telling others that Heath would 'eat a f***ing lead bullet' if he helped his daughter get an attorney for the divorce." And: "Recently, Wooten's supervisor intervened when he wouldn't return the children after a visit, the complaint says. Wooten warned his ex-wife he was going to get her and Palin, the complaint says. 'There is evidence suggesting that Wooten was following the governor,' it says."
Yes, please keep trying to sell us on the "she's pushed for ethics reform" bs. The only good thing she's done is sell off that plane.
It’s pretty shocking that this person was chosen. I haven’t ploughed through all the other threads yet, but here I have also seen stories about her not having a passport until 2007, and a strange story about her ties to an Alaskan separatist party.
Did anyone actually think that after the VP thing Palin would actually cooperate or testify so a report could come out before the election?
Yeah... I'm pretty sure they had this move planned out in advance. It's really lose-lose for them, anyways. Now they open themselves up to attacks on further ethical grounds and keep this story in the news where it could gain more steam.
"For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor, not Todd. Not any of the other staff..." --former Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, Anchorage Daily News, August 30, 2008 http://www.politico.com/static/PPM103_ethics2222.html (link will DL a PDF)
For the record, I decided to exercise some restraint and not start a new thread but a NEW Palin scandal was broken by abcnews today: Another Controversy for Sarah Palin Former Police Chief Says He Was Fired for Challenging Palin's Campaign Contributors By BRIAN ROSS and JOSEPH RHEE Sept. 3, 2008 http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5713866&page=1 This one just seems like some disgruntled small-towners and small grapes, but it's certainly clear that she wasn't afraid to make enemies of people and play the divider (or the seceder...)
Unfortunately in Alaska it's legal to fire people for political reasons. I guess she didn't get a chance to "reform" that with all the other "reforms" she was working on.
"For the record", this is pathetic. No way McCain should have chosen her. I cannot believe this is happening. Palin is on fire, in a negative sort of way.
Which bet - that she'll withdraw? I'm not as confident as yesterday, I think it's only a 15-20% chance. Today's scandals have been relatively minor in the scale of Palin scandals, and the clock for her withdrawal is ticking But I'll give you 25% odds still, I'll leave the BBS for 1/4 as long as you would, or make a donation of your choice, or give you 1/4 of the signature time- provided it's not something silly like 10 years or 1000 dollars or something. this is a pretty fair bet for you
Could someone explain the scandal to me? Each time I read about it I miss what the actual investigation is about.
See - this is where it gets confusing. In just three business days, the Pal-eocon has given us 2 separate police firing scandals, the baby scandal (tho that's not really a scandal more of a distraction), the bridge to nowhere/earmark scandals, the Alaska Secession controversy, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting. .....I'm lucky that she was so fully vetted - if not then I'd be really confused.
