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October 11, 2008 - 5:40am.
A legislative investigator found that Palin violated state ethics laws and abused her power by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper. The next move may be at the ballot box. The legislative committee that released the report Friday recommends no criminal investigation and has no authority to sanction the governor, the Republican vice presidential nominee. "It is out of the Legislative Council's hands. It goes to anyone's hands who got a copy or clicks the link on the Web," said Democratic state Sen. Kim Elton, the chairman of the committee that released the report. "I can't tell you how the process ends." If voters believe the report's finding and it tarnishes Palin's reputation as a reformer and a champion for good government, that could hurt Republican presidential nominee John McCain in the final weeks of the race. The McCain campaign quickly rejected that notion. "I think the American people can tell the difference between the results of a politically motivated investigation and a legitimate finding of fact," campaign spokesman Taylor Griffin said. The inquiry looked into Palin's dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute. Stephen Branchflower, a retired prosecutor hired to conduct the investigation, said Monegan's firing was lawful. But the pressure Palin and her husband put on him, he said, was not. Under Alaska law, it is up to the state's Personnel Board, not the Legislature, to decide whether Palin violated the ethics laws. If so, it must refer the matter to the Senate president for disciplinary action. Violations also carry a possible fine of up to $5,000. By the time that investigation is over, however, the election will be over. If Palin is the vice president-elect, the results will hardly matter. If she loses, she'll have to address the board's findings at home. The national media will be long gone. Barack Obama's presidential campaign did not comment on the report amid persistent accusations by Republicans that rival operatives were manipulating the investigation to help the Democratic presidential nominee. Democratic Sen. Hollis French, who oversaw the investigation, contributed to that perception when he said the report could provide an "October surprise" for the McCain campaign. Elton said partisanship played no role in the report. "When we began investigating this, we had no idea that Sarah Palin would be a part of the national ticket," said Elton, an Obama supporter. Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Lawmakers don't have the authority to sanction her for such a violation and they gave no indication they would take any action against her. Palin has recently said that the Personnel Board inquiry is the only one that matters. And McCain's campaign echoed those comments Friday. "This is the opinion of this Legislative Council investigation," Griffin said. "It's just an opinion." The report notes a few instances in which Palin pressed the case against trooper Mike Wooten, but it was her husband, Todd, who led the charge. Todd Palin had extraordinary access to the governor's office and her closest advisers and he used that access to try to get Wooten fired. Gov. Palin knowingly "permitted Todd to use the Governor's office and the resources of the Governor's office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired," Branchflower's report reads. Wooten had been in hot water before Palin became governor over allegations that he illegally shot a moose, drank beer in a patrol car and used a Taser on his stepson. The Palins said they feared for their family's safety after Wooten made threats against them. ___ Associated Press Writer Adam Goldman contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Branchflower report: http://download1.legis.st... State Ethics Statutes: http://www.law.state.ak.u... Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press
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The politically charged investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is over, and its conclusions are stinging. But the fallout, if any, might not come until Election Day.
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Barack Obama's presidential
Submitted by keith on October 11, 2008 - 12:34pm.Spelled: "Do not interrupt your opponent while they are in the process of destroying themselves."
Heh, heh, yes indeed, they
Submitted by Malibu on October 11, 2008 - 8:38am.Heh, heh, yes indeed, they are cutting themselves at the knees. I would think the RNC would be disturbed at the reaction to this abuse of power, not to mention the bad sportsmanship of McCain's audiences. The GOP is lacking in substance again and again.
Malcolm
Malcolm, once again you got
Submitted by JudyB on October 14, 2008 - 12:57am.Malcolm, once again you got it right! The part I found laughable and priceless was today (after the report came out) Palin makes a statement to the news saying....."I very much appreciate being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all.” I wonder now, if maybe she can't read, since that is not at all what the report said.
The GOP has been lacking
Submitted by pollchecker on October 11, 2008 - 9:07am.The GOP has been lacking substance for the past 2 decades....ever since they put a Bush in the WH in the first place. One thing you can count on when there is a Bush in the WH....the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer and the middle class goes broke paying for it all.
Report with support
Submitted by DonKrieger on October 11, 2008 - 9:35am.Report with support documents Online:
We have added a bunch of support documents including emails and affidavits to our EasySlide version of this report:
http://publicservice.evendon.com/AKMoneganReport1M...
Everything on our site is free and permanent.
Loading is very fast.
Each page includes a highlighted link which you can copy/paste to cite that page online.
Don
Pittsburgh, PA
http://publicservice.evendon.com
Don Krieger
Pittsburgh, PA
http://publicservice.evendon.com
Everything is free and permanent.
Malcom wrote: I would think
Submitted by keith on October 11, 2008 - 12:49pm.Malcom wrote:
Agreed!
The very last thing the majority of American voters want to watch is a bunch of ever-more desperate, far-right-wing ideologues angrily demonstrating their blatantly rigid intolerance in public.
I simply cannot believe that Mr. McCain actually stood by and ALLOWED such people to rant on and on with the network TV cameras rolling.
If I were an independent voter still contemplating my vote, the simple fact that Mr. McCain allowed these sorry performances to continue unchallenged would be more than enough reason for me to vote against him.
Why don't these clowns "get it"?
... by the company you
Submitted by silentSCREAM on October 11, 2008 - 1:05pm.... by the company you keep.
For nearly two decades now, my station in life has brought me into direct contact with politicians from all stripes.
In all those years I've known ONLY ONE Republican who didn't exhibit an expectation of privilege of position. Democrats? They are not entirely innocent. Though it has been my experience they are far fewer and less inclined to abuse.
Conclusion. I never doubted for a second that Sarah Palin was a true 'representative' of the GOP standard - arrogant selfishness.
McCain/Palin continue to go
Submitted by Timr on October 11, 2008 - 5:42pm.McCain/Palin continue to go after the "low hanging fruit"-the "low information voter"- the "sheeple". As John Oliver said it so well on TDS last week"when you come right down to it, the 8% undecided are the ones who will, just like they have in every other election, be the deciding factor. So, the people who will decide who our next prez will be are the only ones who will pay attention to-and the ones that the rovian thugs are in fact aiming all their hate ads at-the ads. We saw many of them at the McCain/Palin rallies just this last week. What we have are the ingredients for something very bad happening.(I feel like I am a bit player in a Twilight Zone episode) We have the collapsing world economy. We have the demagogues preaching to the choir. We have the angry fearful mob. We have the racial targets that are the ones to "blame" for our problems. We have the threats of violence silently encouraged by the demagogue speaker. All that is missing are the "Brown Shirts" and Krystalnacht. It is all the (fill in the blank) blacks, latinos, arabs-arab terrorists fault. The demagogues have spoken, their target, Sen Obama. He has a different name-you should be afraid of him. His skin is black-you should be afraid of him. His middle name is different-you should be afraid of him. He is a-communist(a golden oldie that one, but it still works)-an arab(well with that name)-he is a muslim or else a "secret muslim"(never mind that he has attended a christian church for 20 years, got married in that church and had his kids baptised in that church-facts mean nothing to the hate filled racist)-he has terrorist friends(Ayres, who blew up govt buildings in protest of the Vietnam war when Obama was 9 and who, when Obama met him was a respected university professor) his wife knows Ayres wife,they worked together(pretty hysterical that one. Obamas wife worked at a massive law firm and Ayers wife started working at the same firm 3 years later)PSSSSST!, Oh and by the way(whisper) did you know he was black! Cue the theme from the Twilight Zone.
Timr, your comments gave me
Submitted by Malibu on October 11, 2008 - 6:08pm.Timr, your comments gave me goosepimples. You summed it up with great flare. You are very wise indeed.
Malcolm
Second that, Malcolm. --
Submitted by ekaton on October 12, 2008 - 11:29am.Second that, Malcolm.
-- Kent Shaw
"I can't tell you how the
Submitted by Nicholas H on October 12, 2008 - 8:10pm."I can't tell you how the process ends."
I can tell you, Sen. Elton, how this process will end. Absolutely noting will be done to Palin for violating the ethics laws. Nothing. She's already claimed she's been exonerated from any wrong-doing. Alaskans will believe it, and so will the American public, and the issue will be dropped.