Long-Standing Feud in Alaska Embroils Palin

[gi4obama]

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.

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.

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.

More:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083002366.html?hpid=topnews

[gi4obama]

1. My favorite quote from this article

"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 in an e-mail she wrote in August 2005 to the chief of the state police.

[arctic]

2. So

You think a State Trooper who tazed his stepson should keep his job? Trooper Wooten also threatened his ex wife and to my knowlege is still a state trooper. I have also heard the troopers have been harrassing the Palins as well.

[stillcool]

3. yeah we read here too!

the trooper was reprimanded and then cleared by his Superiors. Unfortunately in the United States, the Governor can not later intervene because of a long time feud with her ex-in-law. From what I've read there's a lot more then 'trooper-gate'.

http://palininvestigated.blogspot.com/

MONEGAN SPEAKS: Names Todd Palin & others
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/monegan_speaks_says_todd_palin_pressured_him_to_fire_wooten
Tonight on KTUU Channel 2 News, former Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan broke his silence and admitted that he was pressured on numerous occasions by Todd Palin to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Monegan said he met with Palin numerous times to talk about Wooten as well as Frank Bailey from the governor's office and Commissioner of Administration Annete Krietzer who also pressured him to fire Wooten.

It was just yesterday that Palin put out a press release that stated:

“To allege that I, or any member of my family, requested, received or released confidential personnel information on an Alaska State Trooper, or directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous.

Governor Palin lied. In fact Monegan stated in the KTUU interview that he finally told the administration that the conversations about firing Wooten had to stop.

Shadow Governor?

Coming Thursday: The Shadow Governor

In the aftermath of the Walt Monegan firing, one question keeps surfacing over and over again; why does the governor's husband, Todd Palin appear to hold so much power?

After all, Nancy Murkowski or Susan Knowles were never accused of pressuring a commissioner or inappropriately sitting in on meetings that should have been private.

The stories started last year when Representative Ralph Samuels told me about going into a meeting, he thought would be private, with Governor Sarah Palin. Much to his surprise, Todd Palin was there and proceeded to sit through the entire meeting.

Other lawmakers have shared similar stories and were shocked at how inappropriate Todd's presence was at meetings with the governor. Yesterday on the Dan Fagan Show, Representative Jay Ramras mentioned that Todd was working lawmakers offices during the ACES debate.

But more importantly, Todd's fingerprints on trying to impact personnel decisions appear to go beyond the current scandal revolving around State Trooper Mike Wooten.
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/shadow_governor