Sarah Palin Cleared - By Board She Can Fire!!

Before people go to the polls tomorrow morning they're going to read that Sarah Palin has been cleared of any ethics violations in the Troopergate scandal by an Alaskan Personnel Board . This runs counter to an earlier finding by a bi-partisan committee of investigation which did find her guilty of ethics violations. So what does this mean?

It means that the board she wanted to investigate her, once she found out there was good evidence to convict her, has sided with her, a board consisting of people over whom she has control. Surprised? Not if you have followed what has been noted all along in this blog - that this is a controling woman who uses threats and favors to keep people in line.

Here's the story as our favorite Alaskan blogger, AKMuckraker, has it. AK is also clear that this is not over as the trooper is going to file suit, in which case Palin is going to have a much harder time controling the outcome.

This from AKMuckraker:

THE BREAK DOWN OF THE TROOPERGATE INVESTIGATION:

The Legislature decides to investigate Palin for ethics violations. Palin says she will cooperate, so no subpoena is issued. Palin sends out Attorney General Talis Colberg to interview witnesses in advance of the Legislature’s investigation, so she knows what they’re going to say. Palin discovers a taped phone call made by her administration pressuring Troopers to fire Wooten. Palin says she is surprised by phone call and concedes it looks bad. Palin files ethics complaint against herself so that the Republican governor appointed Personnel Board, made up of people that she can fire, will be the group that investigates. Palin says Legislative investigation has become partisan and refuses to cooperate. Attorney General tells state employees they don’t need to comply with Legislative subpoenas. They don’t show for depositions. At the last minute they provide written testimony, but Palin still does not cooperate because she was not subpoenaed. Legislature releases report that says Palin abused her power and violated the Executive Ethics Act. Then, the day before the election, The Personnel Board releases a report clearing Palin and all state employees of everything.

My contacts at Alaskans for Truth, who were involved in supporting Walt Monegan in his request for a hearing, are not pleased. This isn’t over by a long shot. It’s unlikely that this grass roots group is going to let Palin skip off into the sunset without a fight.

Stay tuned for updates as they become available. I expect we’ll be hearing from members of the Legislature soon.

FULL POST HERE

Sarah Palin, Master of Doublespeak

Our favorite Alaskan blogger, AKMuckraker, has just put up a post with the deliciously surreal transcript of a phone interview Palin did with Alaskan reporters giving her take on the Troopergate scandal. Here is political doublespeak at its best - the same kind of dissembling nonsense she tried to pass off in the Katie Couric interview which did more to advance Tina Fey's career than her own.

Be sure to read the whole post as AK's comments put it all in the right perspective.

What was it that John McCain said about nailing jello to the wall? Perhaps he had his running mate in mind. I mean, this is one slick politician, so slick that leeches would have trouble sticking to her.

THE INTERVIEW

Excerpted from Through the Looking Glass with Sarah Palin by AKMudraker.


Palin: Hey, thank you so, Meg. Thank you so much. Thank you also to our local reporters up there in Alaska. Even hearing your names make me feel like I’m right there with you at home. It’s good to get to speak with you. Let me talk a little bit about the Tasergate issue if you guys would let me and, Meg, you want me to just jump right on in there?

Stapleton: Sure governor, go ahead.

Palin: OK cool. Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that. Todd did what anyone would have done given this state trooper’s very, very troubling behavior and his dangerous threats against our family. Todd did what I think any Alaskan would do.

And he, Todd did what the state’s Department of Law Web site tells anyone to do if they have a concern about a state trooper. And that’s you go to the commissioner and you express your concern. And Todd did what our personal detail asked him to do. Bob Cockrell early on as I was elected and was asked are there any threats against ya, and Todd brought the concern as I did to Commissioner Monegan about the state trooper’s threats. He did what any – I think — any rational person would do so again, nothing to apologize there with Todd’s actions and again very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing.

(Stapleton invites the first question).

ADN: Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case?

Palin: Not at all and I’ll tell you, it, I think that you’re always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving. In this case I knew that I had to have the right people in the right position at the right time in this cabinet to best serve Alaskans, and Walt Monegan was not the right person at the right time to meet the goals that we had set out in our administration. So no, not having done anything wrong, and again very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all.

ADN: Have you read the whole report? (No response; Stapleton invites question from KTVA reporter).

KTVA-Channel 11: … The report that came out yesterday, do you think that the end result is partisan?

Palin: Yeah, I did think it did turn into a partisan circus to tell you the truth. Yes I did. You know from Day One it’s been the Personnel Board that clearly laid out in state statute there — Personnel Board deals with any issue of question regarding a governor, a lieutenant governor or an attorney general in the state of Alaska. What this legislative investigation — quote unquote — turned into was a political circus.
.
KTUU-Channel 2: Governor, so good to hear from you. Do you approve of the way that your campaign has handled themselves here in Alaska? We’ve had a lot of people voice concerns about what they call attacks of good people in our state while you are away.

Palin: Well I haven’t heard of any attacks on good people in Alaska from our campaign. If you have specifics there, maybe I could answer specifically. But no, in John McCain’s mission here, in taking the high road, as you’re going to see too with a lot of unfair shots he has taken in this campaign with some of his opponents’ supporters, McCain and I taking the high road, being positive. I wouldn’t support nor would I condone taking shots at any good Alaskans.

KTUU-Channel 2: Let me answer your question since you asked for specifics.

Palin: Sure.

KTUU-Channel 2: Walt Monegan was called “rogue.” How do you feel about that?

Palin: Rogue isn’t a negative term when you consider that in a cabinet you need a team effort going forward with a governor’s agenda. And our agenda has been to find efficiencies in every department and make sure that we are serving the people of Alaska to the best of our ability given the resources that we have. And remember I fought very hard to increase funding for state troopers so that we could fill positions there and goals not being met that included not being able to recruit and retain all the state troopers that I wanted to best serve Alaska. That could be characterized I think as a cabinet member who – it’s not a negative term I think — being rogue in terms of not meeting those goals.



FULL POST HERE

The Report

Once again our favorite blogger in the frozen north, AKmuckraker, has come through for us. Make sure you visit her blog to get the most detailed report of the Troopergate investigation. Here's the actual wording of the investigative report:

No doubt about it. Palin is guilty as charged:

From Mudflats:

Findings:

Finding Number One:

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides

“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”

Finding Number Two:

I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.

Finding Number Three:

Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim properly and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled.

Finding Number Four:

The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of emails.

------------------

And if you've got stomach for legal reports (and a whole lot of time) here's the full report:

Branchflower Report on Sarah Palin Abuse of Power (pdf file)

Sarah Palin: Updates

I started this blog as a way of ferreting out information about an unknown candidate for vice president whose qualifications for office were questionable at best. Now that we're only a few weeks from the election it may be good to review what we know so far.

Who is Sarah Palin?

• It's now clear that despite her perky demeanor and ability to read cue cards like a pro, Sarah Palin is, as some have labeled her, George Bush in a skirt. Her curiosity about and knowledge of world affairs is dismal.

Comedians love her. But after eight years of putting up with bad (and good!) George Bush jokes its time we moved on to something more serious. Paula Poundstone's response to the question, "What will comedians do when Bush is gone?" on an NPR, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me segment is most apropos here:

"We'll get over it!"

• As those who were familiar with her modus operatum in Alaska warned, she is mean spirited and vindictive. The red meat Republican crowd loves it. So do the racists and bigots who are now coming out in droves to her rallies. From shaking their fists and booing at the mention of Obama's name to racial epitats hurled at African American cameramen to screaming: "terrorist!" and "kill him!" she's bringing out the best in people.
  Which makes her ever-present beauty queen smile seem more sinister than sincere.
• Despite the best efforts of the McCain team to erase her past, the scandals from Palin's time as mayor and governor won't go away.

These include (among other things): 1) troopergate 2) attempts to fire a small town librarian for not agreeing to ban books 3) a mis-use of state per diem funds 4) the worst kind of cronyism in the hiring of under qualified friends for political purposes.

In all this it may be good to recall what AKMuckraker wrote about Palin back in 2006 when she was running for governor. She wasn't qualified then. She isn't qualified now.

FACTS ABOUT SARAH PALIN
from http://mudflats.wordpress.com

Palin Says She’s a Change from The Scandal-Plaued Republicans, But She’s More of

the Same.

Palin built her reputation on criticizing state Republicans for ethics questions, but Palin has
questions of her own, as she used city resources when she campaigned for Lt. Governor; Palin chaired the campaign of another candidate in a race dominated by resource issues when she was on the oil and gas commission and said that she saw no conflict of interest. For years, Palin supported Murkowski, campaigning for him across the state, and he supported her campaigns as well.

Palin Touts Fiscal Conservatism, But She Increased Spending Tremendously and supported Tax Increases

FULL DOCUMENT

Weekend in LA

After all the excitement of the debate I need a little time off. . I'm in LA for the weekend. Will be back bloggin' again on Monday.

In the meantime be sure to keep up on the Sarah Palin saga as Troopergate unfolds in the frozen north.

Check it out at Mudflats where you always get the unvarnished truth . . .

Ciao.

Countdown: Sarah Palin is Unfit to be . . . Governor (facts from 2006)

hours and counting . . . . . .





Fact Check for the Debate


Our favorite Alaskan blogger, AKMuckraker, published a fact sheet about Sarah Palin back in 2006 when she was running for governor of Alaska which may be good to have in front of you while you watch the debates tonight. The value of this is that it underscores the anomolies in Palin's story before she got enmeshed in national politics. This, you might say, is the unvarnished truth.

Note particularly the last point in light of the partisan White House-led firings of lawyers. This is one vindictive lady!

FACTS ABOUT SARAH PALIN
(from http://mudflats.wordpress.com in 2006)

Palin Says She’s a Change from The Scandal-Plagued Republicans, But She’s More of

the Same.

Palin built her reputation on criticizing state Republicans for ethics questions, but Palin has
questions of her own, as she used city resources when she campaigned for Lt. Governor; Palin chaired the campaign of another candidate in a race dominated by resource issues when she was on the oil and gas commission and said that she saw no conflict of interest. For years, Palin supported Murkowski, campaigning for him across the state, and he supported her campaigns as well.

Palin Touts Fiscal Conservatism, But She Increased Spending Tremendously and
Supported Tax Increases.

Palin constantly reminds us that she is a fiscal conservative. But during her time as mayor, she increased the city’s budget at a rate far outpacing the city’s growth with spending on large projects. She supported sales tax increases and left the city with thousands in per-capita debt, where none had existed when she came in. Palin brags about eliminating the personal property tax, butcwith the same legislation, the city increased motor vehicle fees that almost matched the lost income of the personal property taxes.

Palin Is Too Socially Conservative for Libertarian Alaska.

Palin is a strong conservative—something she repeated throughout her primary campaign but now seems to try to back off from. She is not only pro-life but is involved with—and even steered tax money toward—organizations that give misleading information on abortion. She called herself a “hard-core fiscal conservative” who wanted government to get to the bare bones. The Anchorage Daily News asked whether her “socially conservative positions square with Alaska's generally libertarian approach to those issues.” Palin also supported a flat tax, an idea even Bob Dole thought was absurd.

Palin’s Management Style is to Bully and Demand Political Loyalty.

Palin’s tenure as mayor of Wasilla was marred by tremendous staff turnover, first when she fired most of the top staff—including the city’s librarian—because she questioned their loyalty, and then later when staff quit because of her micromanaging style. Wasilla even lost the opportunity to hire a police chief because he said the job seemed too political.

Palin’s Not Ready for Primetime.

Palin argues that she was the mayor of the fastest growing city in Alaska. While that may be true, Wasilla’s population is still 1 percent of the rest of the state of Alaska. The last budget Palin approved, $12.5 million, is .2 percent of the $7.3 billion budget Tony Knowles approved.

Palin’s Not Tough Enough to Be A Strong Negotiator for Alaska.

As mayor, Palin fired someone because she said he intimidated her with his size and because he gave her a “stern look.” She asked her department heads to give her only good news and once complained because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture.”

New Palin-Biden Poll: Alaskans Don't Trust Her Either

First of all, be sure you change the address for our favorite blogger in Alaska - AKMuckraker - who has a new site at a new address. When you go to the old site this is what you'll see:
Same good stuff. New address.

Second, on this new site is another brilliant post about an interesting new poll that has been done in Palin's Alaska and Biden's Delaware. Those who continue to support Palin's ill-begotten candidacy will speak about her off the chart poll numbers in Alaska. Someone that popular has to be good, right? Well, compare her numbers in Alaska to Biden's numbers in Delaware related to confidence in their ability to handle an international crisis (which is a fairly important ability for a VP to have these days) and a different picture emerges. Turns out Alaskans aren't sure about her qualifications either.

Below is a pie-graph showing the numbers. The story about the chart on the Mud Flats site.

The Silly Season has Begun: The Latest in the Trooper Gate Scandal

Our friend the AKMuckraker with the Alaska-based blog, Mudflats, has just put up the latest in the increasingly surreal comi-tragedy which is Trooper Gate. This entry is by an Alaskan state senator who, like most Alaskans, is getting a taste of the hard ball politics played by the Republican National Committee who are not only attempting to put a stop to the investigation, but are doing their best to discredit anyone who wishes it to continue.

The best excerpt from this piece , which AK has sub-texted: "Part Karl Rove, Part Laurel and Hardy," and which demands a full reading, is what this senator says about the audacious move made by Palin to investigate herself only to declare herself innocent. Imagine if our judicial system followed the same pattern - letting criminals investigate themselves. It would certainly ease the crowding in our jails . . .

It just gets interestingner and interestingner . .

Here's what he says:

"Last week the Attorney general’s office promised state witnesses would comply with subpoenas issued by the Legislature. On Tuesday the Governor’s Attorney General flip flopped, and announced that state witnesses wouldn’t comply because, well, and I’m paraphrasing here - he’s changed his mind. And in what has to be an idea hatched after a 4th Martini at Chilkoot Charlie’s, Governor Palin’s attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss the ethics claim she filed against herself two weeks ago. Yup. She really filed a complaint against herself. Tuesday she said she’s discovered, after a thorough investigation of herself, that she’s done nothing wrong.

Does anyone know how to get a hold of Jon Stewart and Tina Fey?"

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Trooper Gate: the Plot Thickens

Here's a contrast worth noting. First is an excerpt from a piece from Reuters News Service announcing the (surprise, surprise) attempt on the part of Republicans to stop the "trooper gate" investigation of Sarah Palin . Immediately following is an excerpt from a piece written by an Alaskan politician ruminating on how the insertion of national politics into the investigation (by the Republicans) introduced a brand of politics Alaskans are unused to.

Make note of the fact that up to this point Palin has only known Alaskan politics.

First the piece from Reuters:

Alaska Republicans sue to stop Palin trooper probe

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Five Republican state legislators filed a lawsuit in Alaska state court on Tuesday seeking to block Democrats from investigating whether vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in firing a state trooper feuding with her family. (full story)

* * *

Karl Rove Comes to Alaska

Now an excerpt the piece from the Alaskan politician named Les Gara (from Mudflats), filed under the headline: "Karl Rove Comes to Alaska" last week (before the Republicans invented their fiction about Democratic control of the process):

To get their way, and prevent sworn testimony from leaking out on what I suspect was probably a minor breach by Governor Palin, McCain’s operatives have come to Alaska to add invective in a state where people generally get along. They’ve chosen to vilify: 1) one of the state’s most respected public officials, Senator Hollis French; 2) the state’s most respected law enforcement official, Walt Monegan; and 3) a highly respected former DA and Victims Rights advocate a legislative committee voted 12 - 0 to hire to conduct the investigation, Steve Branchflower.

It’s the ghost of Karl Rove. Say something untrue enough times - like that Al Qaida is training with Saddam

Hussein’s help - and people will believe it. Not this time. I’m not sure if I mentioned a few important facts.

Did I mention that no one ever attacked the Troopergate investigation by Alaska’s Legislature - started long before Governor Palin was placed on McCain’s ticket - until August 29? That was the day Governor Palin joined the McCain bid for the White House.

Did I mention that before the McCain camp got involved, the Governor stated

of the Legislative investigation: “That being the route they choose, so be it. I’m happy to comply, to cooperate.” (KTUU.com, July 24, 2008). She repeatedly stated she’d comply, and that it was the right thing to do.

Did I mention the personal attacks against our local public officials only started after Sen. McCain sent his flacks up to our small state on August 29? They came with a mission to make America believe a Republican-initiated investigation, started with a unanimous committee vote of 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats, was a “partisan” plot. That’s only a tough sell if people know the facts.

Did I mention they now claim the Legislature cannot legally proceed with an investigation into government misconduct (I thought Republicans didn’t like attorneys who made frivolous arguments), and that they are threatening to to go to court to stop it? The Governor’s attorneys started writing those letters on - you guessed it - August 29. Before then they agreed the investigation was proper.

Oh, and what about this. Last week the McCain camp put our Governor in a bizarre position. They told her to file an ethics complaint against herself! Yup, again after her VP nomination. Too weird? What’s behind this move? You guessed it. Lawyers. (FULL STORY)

* * *

And now, as Paul Harvey says, here's the rest of the story. (the latest from AKMuckraker at Mudflats):

Blizzard Warning. Palin Halts Traffic.

16 09 2008

STORM WARNING! The legal paperwork blizzard has arrived. Today we are expecting accumulations of 10-12″ of legal stall tactics, creating hazardous conditions for those trying to navigate through the Palin scandal we have come to know as “Troopergate”. So, before proceeding, make sure you’ve got your studded tires on, and a good shovel. Ready?

Today, five Republican lawmakers filed a lawsuit against not only Democratic Sen. Hollis French, who is overseeing the investigation; not only Juneau Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, who heads the Legislative Council, and not only independent investigator Steve Branchflower, but the bipartisan Legislative Council itself. The suit seeks to delay the infamous ethics investigation until after the election on November 4, or to remove French and Elton.

FULL STORY HERE