Panel finds Palin abused her power

[bsmooth]

   You are not going to find a politician that is 100% clean.   While she might have made a mistake on this, its nothing in questioning her judgment. 

For her to want him fired for this guys actions is not a questionable judgment.  The way she did it might can come into question, but the fact she wanted him fired cannot be.  This guy obviously should not be a cop.

The punishment had been decided months before she was elected. She then hired a new guy and told him to fire the trooper for actions he all ready been punished for. When he did not she fired the new guy and claimed it was for non personal reasons, which has been found to be untrue.
So as a new incoming govenor, one of her first things is to use the powers of her office to engage in a personal vendetta. This shows a huge personality flaw and makes you wonder what she might try and do with the power of the Oval Office behind her.
Cannot wait to see when the emails she has been trying to hide come out, now that a judge has ruled she cannot keep them hidden.

[run_to_win]

Mr Branchflower concluded that Gov Palin acted within her authority in dismissing Mr Monegan, who she said had disagreed with her on the budget. But the investigator also said that the Wooten stand-off was "likely a contributory factor".


Was Monagen fired or was he reassigned by Palin, and then resigned rather than take that position.

[Dphins4me]

Saying that Wooten "tasered his son" is exactly as accurate (and in the same sense) as my statement that I "shot my brother".  If you seriously believe that this is a legitimate reason to fire someone from his job, and that it has nothing to do with messy divorce and custody battle with the governor's sister, I have some fine oceanfront property in Nebraska that you may be interested in.

  If you seriously believe your action even come close to comparing to his, then you are one fucked up person.

Yes, it is 100% a reason to fire him.  Tasers have killed adults.  They are not toys as a super soaker is.  Might want to bone up on what are toys & what are not toys.

  If a cop is going to taser a kid for kicks or because he ask for it, then I really do not want him running around town making judgments with a gun in his hand

[Frimp]

Some people are intentionally overlooking the death threats to family members by this upstanding citizen on patrol.

[Dphins4me]

Some people are intentionally overlooking the death threats to family members by this upstanding citizen on patrol.

He didn't mean it.  We all threaten to kill our family members from time to time, so its not a big deal, its almost as common as going over to the neighbors to borrow a cup of sugar   

[Spider-Dan]

Why am I ignoring the "death threats?"  The original investigation into Wooten failed to confirm any such threats.

As for the taser part... not that either of you are going to be persuaded by mere facts, but:

Regarding the Taser incident — which had happened several years earlier– Trooper Wooten told investigators he had, at his son’s request, showed him how the Taser felt, by using the test-setting, which is said to be weaker than an electric fence charge, and is the setting that troopers use on themselves, as a training aide. At the time of the incident, Wooten’s wife, Molly, was at home — as they were still married.

Yes, you read that correctly: several YEARS earlier.  This part is important: all of this stuff happened well before Palin assumed office.

So why is it that somehow, Alaska's government (which has no personal interest in the matter) saw it fit to retain Trooper Wooten (after a reprimand/disciplinary action), and then suddenly, when his former-sister-in-law becomes Governor, his actions of several years prior are now an embarrassment to the uniform?

I can't even think of a more blatant example of a personal vendetta being implemented.  Imagine that you get a DUI, your work finds out about it and suspends you without pay for a week (or takes whatever other internal actions they see fit), and then, 5 years later, your ex-wife becomes CEO and suddenly you get fired for inappropriate conduct?

This is a legitimate use of power?  Give me a break!

P.S. Again, not to stall the lively discussion with boring details, but I found the timeline to be relevant:

http://tinyurl.com/4kh4k4

[Spider-Dan]

Let me add one more reason why Palin's kind of thinking is fundamentally corrupt.

The report released yesterday said that Palin was within her rights to fire Monegan, as the Govenor has the specifically enumerated power to hire and fire department heads at will.  Palin chose to exercise this right as part of a petty personal vendetta.

In short: government official improperly abuses clearly defined powers of hiring/firing to settle personal scores.  Hmmm... where have we heard this story before?  I'm going to take a wild guess and say that "you don't recall."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy

But on the bright side, if "having what it takes to be President" means "inappropriate abuse of power to fire people for personal reasons," then I guess Palin has proven that she is ready to step right into Bush's empty footprints, if need be.

This is the woman that seeks to expand the powers of the Vice President.

Excuse me while I go throw up.

[Frimp]

You know, you're right. How dare she get rid of a cop that thinks its ok to use a taser on a kid, and make death threats. What a piece of shit she is! I say we storm her hotel, and tar and feather her, and make her clean Obama's kitchen for a month!

[Dphins4me]

As for the taser part... not that either of you are going to be persuaded by mere facts, but:
Yes, you read that correctly: several YEARS earlier.  This part is important: all of this stuff happened well before Palin assumed office.

So why is it that somehow, Alaska's government (which has no personal interest in the matter) saw it fit to retain Trooper Wooten (after a reprimand/disciplinary action), and then suddenly, when his former-sister-in-law becomes Governor, his actions of several years prior are now an embarrassment to the uniform?

I can't even think of a more blatant example of a personal vendetta being implemented.  Imagine that you get a DUI, your work finds out about it and suspends you without pay for a week (or takes whatever other internal actions they see fit), and then, 5 years later, your ex-wife becomes CEO and suddenly you get fired for inappropriate conduct?

This is a legitimate use of power?  Give me a break!

P.S. Again, not to stall the lively discussion with boring details, but I found the timeline to be relevant:

http://tinyurl.com/4kh4k4

I could not locate the actual date of the tasering, but his suspension was served in Mar of '06.  Palin took office in Dec of '06.

This looks to be the official item here.

http://media.adn.com/smedia/2008/07/21/16/Wooten_suspend_letter.source.prod_affiliate.7.pdf

BTW that test setting on a taser can still cause a grown man to cry.

To me, this is not something of great interest.  She used here position to get someone fired, who looks like they needed to be.

[Spider-Dan]

You know, you're right. How dare she get rid of a cop that thinks its ok to use a taser on a kid, and make death threats.

Maybe she should have just have had Wooten fired because she knows that he and his ex-wife (her sister) had unreported taxable income back in '93?  Tax evasion is a serious crime.

I mean, if you're going to reach into the distant past to manufacture reasons to fire someone, at least do it with some enthusiasm!

[Spider-Dan]

Here's a fairly interesting article on the content of the report:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1849399,00.html

What the Troopergate Report Really Says
By Nathan Thornburgh/Anchorage

Friday's report from special investigator Stephen Branchflower to Alaska's Legislative Council answered some basic questions about the political and personal bog known as Troopergate.

Did Governor Sarah Palin abuse the power of her office in trying to get her former brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten, fired? Yes.

Was the refusal to fire Mike Wooten the reason Palin fired Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan? Not exclusively, and it was within her rights as the states' chief executive to fire him for just about any reason, even without cause.

Those answers were expected, given that most of the best pieces of evidence have been part of the public record for months. The result is not a mortal wound to Palin, nor does it put her at much risk of being forced to leave the ticket her presence succeeded in energizing.

But the Branchflower report still makes for good reading, if only because it convincingly answers a question nobody had even thought to ask: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish? Yes, it is. Disturbingly so.

The 263 pages of the report show a co-ordinated application of pressure on Monegan so transparent and ham-handed that it was almost certain to end in public embarrassment for the governor. The only surprise is that Troopergate is national news, not just a sorry piece of political gristle to be chewed on by Alaska politicos over steaks at Anchorage's Club Paris.

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.

The state's head of personnel, Annette Kreitzer, called Monegan and had to be warned that personnel issues were confidential. The state's attorney general, Talis Colberg, called Monegan and had to be reminded that the call was putting both men in legal jeopardy, should Wooten decide to sue. The governor's chief of staff met with Monegan and had to be reminded by Monegan that, "This conversation is discoverable ... You don't want Wooten to own your house, do you?"

Monegan consistently emerges as the adult in these conversations, while the Palin camp displays a childish impetuousness and sense of entitlement.

One telling exchange: Deputy Commissioner John Glass, who worked under Monegan, told Branchflower he was "livid" after a Palin staffer, Frank Bailey, went outside the chain of command and called a state trooper in far-off Ketchikan to complain about Wooten. Why had Bailey called the trooper? Because, Bailey said, this trooper had gone to church with Sarah Palin back in Wasilla, so he felt "comfortable" talking to him about Wooten. Glass, too, tried to sound the warning that continuing to pressure anyone and everyone in the matter would end in "an unbelievable amount of embarrassment for the Governor and everybody else".

Another amateurish sign: Todd Palin's outsize role in the mess. Branchflower said it was out of his jurisdiction to pass judgment on the First Gentleman, but his report paints an extralegal role for Todd Palin that would have made the Hillary Clinton of 1992 blush. In the report, the head of Gov. Palin's security detail says that Todd spent about half of his time in the governor's office — not at a desk (he didn't have one), but at a long conference table on one side of the office, with his own phone to make and receive calls. It became a shadow office, the informal Department of Getting Mike Wooten Fired.

It was at that long table that Todd Palin first scheduled a meeting with Walt Monegan, days after his wife's administration began. He showed Monegan three huge binders of evidence against Wooten, including a picture of a dead moose that had been shot illegally. After Monegan came back saying that there was no new actionable information, Todd began a very visible campaign of stewing and fuming, trying to get access to personnel files, calling up and down the Public Safety org chart.

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 the photo and didn't say anything, according to Monegan's testimony, but later cancelled her attendance at the event, sending Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in her place. The head of her Anchorage office followed up with a call to Monegan berating him for his insensitivity. (Monegan swears he didn't know it was Wooten in the picture, and that he didn't even know what Wooten looked like.)

Shortly after that incident, Monegan's fate was cast. But even then, Palin's staffers were blithely adding more evidence to Troopergate. When Monegan's potential successor, Chuck Kopp, asked Bailey, the Palin staffer, why Monegan was being fired, he was told simply: "Todd is really upset with Monegan."

So what does this say about the possible Vice-President of the United States? Certainly not as much as her enemies would have hoped. She was only directly involved in a small bit of the pressure campaign — a meeting or two and a couple of emails. She can thank Monegan for not having her hands dirtier; it was he who told her to keep herself at "arm's length" from any Wooten conversations.

But even though she won't likely face any legal repercussions, the amateurism and cronyism of her brief administration hardly leaves Palin sitting pretty. Troopergate's final verdict may be even more damaging than a rebuke: her administration was, at least this regard, just as self-motivated as the Washington fat cats and lobbyists she hopes to unseat.

[Dphins4me]

Just curious.  Why is this bigger news to you than Obama admission that he did know about Ayers?

[Frimp]

Just curious.  Why is this bigger news to you than Obama admission that he did know about Ayers?

Because Obama is a Democrat. They are 100% innocent, and can hang out with all the scumbags, and if we have anything to say about it, we are racist. 

[Spider-Dan]

Just curious.  Why is this bigger news to you than Obama admission that he did know about Ayers?

Let us examine this question.

You are comparing the question of:

- whether or not Obama knew with someone who participated in deplorable acts decades before they met
vs.
- whether or not Palin herself participated in a corrupt abuse of power

If we were talking about whether or not Palin knew someone that participated in a corrupt abuse of power, that would be one thing.  But we're not.  We're talking about whether or not Palin herself participated in such acts.

I find it funny that during this election cycle, we are continually comparing what McCain and Palin actually did themselves to what the people who may or may not have known Obama have done.  Because Obama clearly isn't as overtly corrupt as either McCain or Palin, and comparing them directly is just unfair.

You can't even play the "well he's hasn't been in politics long enough to compare!" card, since Palin started her brazen vendetta against Wooten practically the day she took office.

[bsmooth]

Mr Branchflower concluded that Gov Palin acted within her authority in dismissing Mr Monegan, who she said had disagreed with her on the budget. But the investigator also said that the Wooten stand-off was "likely a contributory factor".


Was Monagen fired or was he reassigned by Palin, and then resigned rather than take that position.

Wow you are O Reily in training. You have latched onto the first part, yet keep ignoring the second part where he said it was personal over the trooper thing. Face it, she let her and her husbands personal feelings cloud their judgement and got involved with something that had been decided prior to her election. McCain fucked up by not vetting her enough.