Sarah's Subpoenas: Stalling Troopergate!
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| Tue, 10-07-2008 - 1:20am |
Palin aides to front 'troopergate' inquiry
Posted October 7, 2008 12:17:00
Updated October 7, 2008 13:24:00
Sarah Palin ... abuse-of-power allegations (ABC)
Related Link: Special coverage: US Presidential Election Aides to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin have agreed to answer questions from a legislative inquiry into abuse-of-power allegations against the US Republican vice presidential candidate, state officials said.
Ms Palin is being investigated for her dismissal in July of the state's public safety commissioner, a move that her critics allege was part of a personal vendetta against a state trooper who is the Governor's former brother-in-law.
Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said Ms Palin's chief of staff and six other aides will stop fighting subpoenas that were issued last month by the state's Senate Judiciary Committee.
That decision came after a state Superior Court judge on Thursday upheld the legality of the subpoenas.
"Despite my initial concerns about the subpoenas, we respect the court's decision to defer to the legislature," Mr Colberg, who was appointed by Ms Palin, said in a statement.
It remained unclear whether the Governor's husband, Todd Palin, would testify in the legislative inquiry, said Hollis French, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Mr Palin was among the 12 people subpoenaed last month by the Senate Judiciary Committee and he challenged the validity of that action.
Others who were subpoenaed have already provided testimony to the legislative investigation.
The once-obscure internal Alaska scandal, locally dubbed "troopergate," commanded the national spotlight when Ms Palin was tapped as the Republican candidate for vice president.
The dismissed public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, alleges he was fired because he resisted pressure from the Palins and the governor's staff to fire a state trooper who had been involved in a messy divorce from Ms Palin's sister.
The legislative investigation is examining the Governor's justifications for firing Mr Monegan, as well as allegations of improper meddling in a workers' compensation claim filed by the trooper, Mike Wooten.
In July, when the investigation was launched, it was endorsed unanimously by the Legislative Council, the bipartisan committee that conducts lawmakers' business during periods when the legislature is not in session.
But since Ms Palin was picked as Senator John McCain's running mate, Republicans around the nation and some Republicans in Alaska have argued that the inquiry should be dropped or at least delayed until after the election on November 4.
The investigation remains on track.
A final report by Steve Branchflower, a former state prosecutor hired by lawmakers to investigate the allegations, will be delivered on schedule on Friday to the Legislative Council, according to Ms French.
- Reuters


http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/06/palin.investigation/index.html
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband has agreed to answer written questions in the state Legislature's investigation into the firing of her public safety commissioner, campaign officials said Monday.
Gov. Sarah Palin's campaign says the investigation in Alaska has been "tainted" by partisan politics.
Todd Palin has been resisting a subpoena by lawmakers since mid-September. But with the Legislature's report on the matter due Friday, Palin has agreed to answer written questions submitted through his lawyer, McCain-Palin campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said.
Stapleton called the move a good-faith offer, despite allegations that the investigation has been tarnished by partisan politics since the governor became Republican Sen. John McCain's vice presidential candidate.
"We certainly hope this would not be the case, but there is a good chance that Friday's report may not get to the facts in a way that is at arm's length from politics as the legislators originally intended," Stapleton said. "However, Todd Palin believes it is still important to make an offer of cooperation and good faith."
She said the questions were submitted to Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Monday and are expected to be returned by Wednesday -- the same day the state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a request by the governor's GOP allies to shut down the investigation.
There was no immediate response from the office of state Sen. Hollis French, the lawmaker managing the investigation. French, a Democrat, is the chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee and a lighting rod for critics of the investigation.
Monday's news comes after Sunday's announcement by Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg, a Palin appointee, that his office had dropped objections to subpoenas for seven members of Palin's administration. French said Sunday night that he believed their statements could be taken without pushing back Friday's deadline, but Stapleton told reporters witnesses "who look forward to having the truth revealed" had yet to give statements.
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"You keep driving to make sure everyone has spoken and that you gather everything in terms of making a solid conclusion on the matter," she said. "We know that's not the case because all the facts have not been gathered. Todd Palin has not spoken."
When reporters pointed out that Todd Palin and the state attorney general's office had been fighting the subpoenas, Stapleton said French's committee could have dealt with their objections "in a day."
Palin says she sacked Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in July after months of disagreements over state budgets. But Monegan has said he believes he was fired because he resisted pressure to fire the governor's ex-brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten.
Palin has denied wrongdoing, calling Wooten a "rogue trooper" who had threatened her family during his divorce from the governor's sister. Though she initially agreed to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation, her campaign has called it "tainted" by partisan politics since she became Sen. John McCain's running mate in August.
Palin aides have blasted French for a September interview in which he said the investigation could result in an "October Surprise" for the GOP. But they already had filed papers to get the state Personnel Board, which they argue is the proper venue for the inquiry, to take over the process.
Todd Palin has agreed to give a statement to that agency in late October, Van Flein said over the weekend, and campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan said Monday the governor is likely to answer questions from the board's investigator during the same week.
"The Palins hope that these responses will finally demonstrate that they are an open book and indeed have nothing to hide in this matter," Stapleton said. "Their commitment to cooperate with a fair and just investigation was never in doubt."
Meanwhile, Palin's allies in the Legislature are asking the state Supreme Court to shut down the legislative investigation. An Anchorage judge dismissed their request last week and upheld the subpoenas, but Alaska's five-member high court agreed last week to hear the case on an emergency basis.
The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Wednesday afternoon -- but its chief justice, Dana Fabe, announced Monday that she has recused herself because her husband's law firm represents a witness in the investigation.
The Republicans, backed by a conservative legal foundation from Texas, argue that the Legislature's investigation violates the state Constitution's guarantee of due process. They also argue that the investigation led by French and former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower fails to meet the goal of a "professional, unbiased, independent, objective" investigation set by the bipartisan committee that authorized it in July.
In dismissing their lawsuit last week, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski said it was up to the Legislature to manage its own investigation.
Time to update Troopergate...Oct 10 ----- Results THIS WEEK!
I won't be surprised if she is "cleared" of all charges, since Ted Stevens is already on trial. But the truth could come out. Let's hope so.
Palin aides to front 'troopergate' inquiry
Posted Tue Oct 7, 2008 12:17pm AEDT http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/07/2384052.htm
Sarah Palin ... abuse-of-power allegations (ABC)
Related Link: Special coverage: US Presidential Election Aides to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin have agreed to answer questions from a legislative inquiry into abuse-of-power allegations against the US Republican vice presidential candidate, state officials said.
Ms Palin is being investigated for her dismissal in July of the state's public safety commissioner, a move that her critics allege was part of a personal vendetta against a state trooper who is the Governor's former brother-in-law.
Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said Ms Palin's chief of staff and six other aides will stop fighting subpoenas that were issued last month by the state's Senate Judiciary Committee.
That decision came after a state Superior Court judge on Thursday upheld the legality of the subpoenas.
"Despite my initial concerns about the subpoenas, we respect the court's decision to defer to the legislature," Mr Colberg, who was appointed by Ms Palin, said in a statement.
It remained unclear whether the Governor's husband, Todd Palin, would testify in the legislative inquiry, said Hollis French, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Mr Palin was among the 12 people subpoenaed last month by the Senate Judiciary Committee and he challenged the validity of that action.
Others who were subpoenaed have already provided testimony to the legislative investigation.
The once-obscure internal Alaska scandal, locally dubbed "troopergate," commanded the national spotlight when Ms Palin was tapped as the Republican candidate for vice president.
The dismissed public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, alleges he was fired because he resisted pressure from the Palins and the governor's staff to fire a state trooper who had been involved in a messy divorce from Ms Palin's sister.
The legislative investigation is examining the Governor's justifications for firing Mr Monegan, as well as allegations of improper meddling in a workers' compensation claim filed by the trooper, Mike Wooten.
In July, when the investigation was launched, it was endorsed unanimously by the Legislative Council, the bipartisan committee that conducts lawmakers' business during periods when the legislature is not in session.
But since Ms Palin was picked as Senator John McCain's running mate, Republicans around the nation and some Republicans in Alaska have argued that the inquiry should be dropped or at least delayed until after the election on November 4.
The investigation remains on track.
A final report by Steve Branchflower, a former state prosecutor hired by lawmakers to investigate the allegations, will be delivered on schedule on Friday to the Legislative Council, according to Ms French.
- Reuters
This piece on Sarah was so searing and poignant, that I had to post it again. It helps explain why she and McCain are just not good for America.
((http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/david-brooks-sarah-palin_n_133001.html
David Brooks: Sarah Palin "Represents A Fatal Cancer To The Republican Party"
Huffington Post | Danny Shea | October 8, 2008 02:09 PM
...Brooks decried Palin's anti-intellectualism and compared her to President Bush in that regard:
represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices. ))...