PALIN ABUSED HER POWERS AS GOVERNOR

According to a NY Times article, Governor Sarah Palin did, in fact, abuse the powers of her office by pressuring subordinates to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired.

In a 263-page report, the Alaska Legislature's investigation found that Palin had personally exerted pressure to get Trooper Michael Wooten dismissed, as well as allowing her husband and subordinates to press for his firing.

The NY Times article stated:

The report said, “Such impermissible and repeated contacts create conflicts of interests for subordinate employees who must choose to either please a superior or run the risk of facing that superior’s displeasure and the possible consequences of that displeasure.” The report concludes that the action was a violation of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

The independent investigator, Stephen E. Branchflower, a former prosecutor in Anchorage, said that Palin wrongfully allowed her husband, Todd, to use state resources as part of the effort to have Trooper Wooten dismissed. And that she knowingly “permitted Todd Palin 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.”

Repeated attempts to pressure Palin's public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, who was Wooten's boss, into firing the trooper resulted in Wooten being suspended from the state police force for five days. However, Mr. Branchflower’s report found numerous instances in which Ms. Palin, her husband and her subordinates tried to press for harsher punishment, even though Mr. Monegan and others told them they had gone as far as the law and civil service rules would allow.

Monegan was ultimately terminated by Palin. Ironically, the governor always had the authority to fire him with or without cause but what got her in trouble was that she only did that after he said that he couldn't go any further in punishing Trooper Wooten. Apparently Palin wanted to make it look like it was Monegan's decision to fire Wooten but when that didn't work, she punished Monegan by firing him. Ah, what tangled webs we weave.

Even though she was found culpable for abusing her powers as governor, Palin and the McCain campaign have continuously said in rally after rally and interview after interview that she had been "completely exonerated" by the investigation. If anyone thinks that isn't more of the same Bush/Rove/Cheney politics then they're not paying attention.