Alaska Governor To Be Investigated ...WSJ
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- When Sarah Palin was elected governor as a Republican outsider in 2006, she didn't just take on an incumbent from her own party. She took on Alaska's Republican establishment.
Ms. Palin vowed to clean up a long-cozy political system that had been sullied by an FBI corruption investigation. She endeared herself to Alaskans by making good on her reform promises and showing homey touches, like driving herself to work. Palin get into an accident, not paying attention is my call.
Now, one of the bright new stars in the Republican Party has suddenly become tarnished. The state legislature this week voted to hire an independent investigator to see whether Ms. Palin abused her office by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper.
"This is a governor who was almost impervious to error," says Hollis French, a Democratic state senator. "Now she could face impeachment/recall, in a worst-case scenario."
WARNING: This original article has been changed, the statement by Senator french and much more have been removed. The request came to the author by way of a Palinbot, lil' Jimmy Lottsfeldt. Request was granted to change the whole scope of the article. Shameful, Deceptive, Bad Journalism...
Read More in WSJ
Labels: Alaska, Independent Investigator, Palin Investigator, Todd Palin
posted by Syrin @ 8:57 AM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
First, last Friday, State Trooper Mike Wooten broke his silence and gave an interview to both CNN and the Washington Post. Wooten who is Governor/VP Candidate Palin's former brother in law, and who is at the center of the storm in the Troopergate investigation, had maintained his silence since the story broke in July about the firing of his boss, former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
Monegan was allegedly fired for not firing Wooten after a messy divorce and child custody case with Palin's sister Molly. Lawmakers approved $100,000 for the hiring of a special investigator to look into possible abuse of power violations by Governor Palin and her staff in trying to pressure Monegan to fire Wooten.
So why did Wooten break his silence?
Wooten broke his silence because reportedly some of the information that has been provided to the special investigator from Department of Public Safety sources is so damaging to the governor and her administration, that he needed to get out in front and put a human face with his name and situation.
The fear was translated to Wooten, that when the findings are released, the first response will be to try and spin the report into a referendum on Trooper Wooten.
Last month we reported that sources within the DPS had said that many involved in the Wooten situation over the last year realized this may come to a head and kept meticulous records of emails and phone calls made to them by administration officials. Reportedly, those documents have since been turned over to Steve Branchflower, the special investigator.
Another source has said that when the investigation began, there were people who actually volunteered to come forward and share their personal knowledge and documents with the investigator.
Already we've heard the spin begin about Wooten's transgressions including tasering his step son and shooting a moose without a proper license.
Although both instances were not smart and far from defensible, there is more to both stories.
The tasering incident occurred because his son asked for a demonstration to see how it felt. Again, it doesn't make it safe or anywhere near sensible, but the fact that the incident wasn't serious enough for Palin's sister to report until a year later, while they were involved in a messy divorce, certainly raises questions about the incident.
The moose shooting can only be called a classic Alaskan story with a very bad ending. In 2003, Palin's sister held a moose permit and went hunting with Mike and a friend. While floating up the river they quickly spotted a moose. Molly refused to shoot the moose so Mike shot it instead.
On the way back into town they called Palin's father, Chuck Heath, and told him about the kill. They then took the moose over to the Heath house where the father proceeded to gut the moose in his garage and extract the meat. Mike Wooten then picked up the meat, paid to have it processed into various forms of sausage and steaks, then split the bounty up between the family including Sarah and Todd Palin.
Two years later after eating the moose they all knew was illegally shot, the family filed the complaint against Wooten during the divorce.
So while the family got a few good meals out of the deal, Wooten admitted to the violation and was suspended.
You could argue that Wooten paid for that moose twice; paid for it to be processed so they could eat the moose and then paid for it again after they ate the moose.
Wooten went public because according to his superiors, when this report is released, Wooten will be in danger of paying for that moose a third time by way of political spin that will be needed to distract attention away from the proof that there was pressure and questionable conduct by the Palin administration.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home