Long-Standing Feud in Alaska Embroils Palin (WaPo)

[jefferson_dem]

Long-Standing Feud in Alaska Embroils Palin

By James V. Grimaldi and Kimberly Kindy
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 31, 2008; A01

For the past several years, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, has been embroiled in a bitter family feud that has drawn in the state police, the attorney general, the governor's office and the state legislature.

A bipartisan state legislative panel has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate whether Palin improperly brought the family fight into the governor's office. The investigation is focusing on whether she and her aides pressured and ultimately fired the public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, for not removing Palin's ex-brother-in-law from the state police force.

Palin has said she did not pressure Monegan or fire him for not taking action against her former brother-in-law. A spokesman for Sen. John McCain's campaign, who asked not to be identified because the matter is under investigation, said Palin's actions were merely intended to alert Monegan about potential threats to her family from her sister's ex-husband, Mike Wooten.

Interviews with principals involved in the dispute and a review of court documents and police internal affairs reports reveal that Palin has been deeply involved in alerting state officials to her family's personal turmoil.

The trouble between Wooten and the governor's sister, who have several marriages and children between them, broke into the open in January 2005. That month, Wooten attended a trooper-sponsored event in Idaho with a married woman, according to an e-mail Sarah Palin later wrote to the chief of the state police.

A month later, when Palin's sister, who uses her previous married name of Molly McCann, confronted Wooten, he threatened to kill her father, Sarah Palin alleged in the e-mail, saying she overhead the threat on a speakerphone.

"Wooten's words were, 'I will kill him. He'll eat a lead bullet, I'll shoot him,' if our father got the attorney to help Molly," Palin said. "I heard this death threat, my 16-year-old son heard it (Track Palin), Molly heard it, as did their small children. Wooten spoke with his Trooper gun on his hip in an extremely intimidating fashion, leaving no doubt he is serious about taking someone's life who disagrees with him."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083002366_pf.html

[Tinksrival]

1. Huh? If she over heard it on speaker phone,

how does she know the trooper had a gun on his hip at the time?

[Cha]

2. That's what I was

wondering.

[spindrifter]

3. Yes. The NRA Barbie is an effective communicator, all right.

From the cited wapo piece:

"On Aug. 10, 2005, Palin sent an angry, three-page e-mail to Col. Julia Grimes, head of the state police. "My concern is that the public's faith in the Trooper will continue to diminish as more residents express concerns regarding the apparent lack of action towards a Trooper whom is described by many as 'a ticking time bomb' and a 'loose cannon.' "

"Palin noted, "Wooten is my brother-in-law, but this information is forwarded to you objectively," and asked Grimes to treat the information objectively."

Wow, I'm glad to know she has a journalism degree. She has certainly learned the essence of communicating clearly--and grammatically.

[CitizenPatriot]

7. ouch. grammar barbie she aint.

a Trooper whom is described by many as 'a ticking time bomb' and a 'loose cannon.' "

only the most pretentious of the ignorant use whom for who in this fashion.

and I really hated her stance on the issues before. Now I can't stand her.

[Cha]

4. Said her husband worked for an "oil company" and it's a Foreign OIL Company.

"A month later, Sarah Palin, then chairing the state oil and gas commission, was interviewed by a state police investigator. She told him about the speakerphone incident. Fearful for the lives of her sister and her father, Palin said she drove to her sister's house and watched the argument through a window. She could see Wooten "waving his arms," she told investigators. "She said she thought, "He is gonna blow it." She left for a meeting without calling police."

Another head scratcher.

[blitzen]

5. She's the perfect Veep for the Nancy Grace Era

[CitizenPatriot]

8. I was so thinking this

earlier, I was pondering her appeal to the Dr Phil crowd. Oh, yes, she's one of us and why not let her be president???

why not indeed. only problem is she is indeed one of us (well, them). she is not qualified to run for VP any more than my friend the mayor is. she is one of the people, a hockey mom, and that's great. but this isn't a hollywood movie.

and gidget isn't going to talk putin out of nuking us.

[jefferson_dem]

6. McClatchy picks up the story -

Fired official says Palin talked to him about former brother-in-law, a trooper
By LISA DEMER, McClatchy Newspapers Comment on this story
By Lisa Demer ANCHORAGE, Alaska -

Alaska's former commissioner of public safety claims that Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain's pick to be vice president, personally talked to him on two occasions about a state trooper who was locked in a bitter custody battle with the governor's sister.

In a phone conversation Friday night, Walt Monegan, who was Alaska's top cop until Palin fired him July 11, told The Anchorage Daily News that the governor also had e-mailed him two or three times about the trooper, Mike Wooten, though the e-mails didn't mention Wooten by name.

What role Palin played in seeking her ex-brother-in-law's dismissal is the governor's first brush with scandal in a political career that has been premised on reforming Alaska's corruption-plagued Republican party and raises questions not only about her willingness to use her office to further a personal agenda but also about her administrative abilities.

Palin's replacement for Monegan, Chuck Kopp, was forced to resign just two weeks after he was appointed because of a sexual harassment complaint that had been filed against him when he was the chief of police in Kenai, Alaska.

Palin, in a news conference announcing Kopp's resignation July 24, said she was unaware that the Kenai city council had reprimanded Kopp as a result of the complaint. She wouldn't discuss how her staff had vetted Kopp before naming him to replace Monegan three days after Monegan was fired.

Monegan claims his refusal to fire Wooten was a major reason that Palin dismissed him. Wooten had been suspended for five days previously, based largely on complaints that Palin's family had initiated before Palin became governor.

The events surrounding Monegan's dismissal currently are under investigation by the state's legislature. Palin has acknowledged that a member of her staff phoned a trooper lieutenant in an effort that could have been perceived as pressure to have Wooten dismissed and that her husband and other officials also had contacted Monegan about Wooten.

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http://www.newsobserver.com/1573/v-print/story/1200475.html