THE ARROGANCE of the Palin administration

Palin's people
call Monegan 'rogue'
to cover her tracks

Former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, summarily sacked by an underling of Gov. Sarah Palin, has been the target of some of the most vicious personal attacks in recent memory. The administration, and its new master, the McCain-Palin campaign, has targeted him for lie after lie. They even have stooped to calling him a “rogue.”

Monegan was fired after Palin tried to force him to dump her former brother-in-law from the Alaska State Troopers. She at first denied any pressure was applied, but when a tape recording proved otherwise, she changed her story.

The governor at first said she would cooperate with a legislative investigation of Monegan’s firing, but now is dodging that probe. She instead has tapped a state board she controls to open an investigation of her actions. It should be completed sometime after the Nov. 4 election, if ever. Convenient.

Since that time, her administration and the McCain-Palin ticket that now speaks for the government of Alaska have accused Monegan of going behind the governor’s back to get federal earmarks, being insubordinate and making unauthorized trips to Washington, D.C.

Now, Monegan is surrendering e-mails that present quite a different picture. Not yet released, they may suggest any lack of communications may be the administration’s problem, not his.

Then comes this: This weekend, in the midst of the unending attacks on Monegan, a spokesman for Palin actually had the chutzpah to tell KTUU-Channel 2 that the former commissioner is acting inappropriately. That’s right. Inappropriately.

"The deal is you serve at the pleasure of the governor, and when the governor is no longer pleased, you leave and you're supposed to walk away quietly," Bill McAllister told Channel 2 in a phone interview.

Quietly? And put up with baseless personal attacks? In similar circumstances, you may not do so; neither would we, but Monegan is a gentleman, and he did — until the Palin administration, trying to cover its tracks, began a campaign of personal destruction against him. Now, he is forced to defend himself and the truth.

Add that to the now-famous toe-the-line demand this administration tries to impose and you begin to get quite a picture.

So much for open and transparent. So much for honest dealings. So much for decency.

What next?