Origin of The Conflict
Sarah Palin, who in late August became the Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election, said that she reassigned commissioner Walt Monegan because of performance-related issues. Monegan said that his forced resignation may have been tied to his reluctance to fire Mike Wooten, an Alaska State Trooper who is also Palin's ex-brother-in-law. Monegan said that the Governor herself, her husband, and members of her staff as well as the state's Attorney General, had contacted him numerous times regarding Wooten. At the time Palin dismissed Monegan, Wooten was involved in a custody battle with his former wife, Molly McCann, Palin's sister.
Palin denied that there had been any pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten, either from herself or from anyone in her administration. In mid-August, Palin acknowledged that "pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it." She also apologized to Alaskans for what she called "this distraction."
Before Palin became governor, she and other members of her family had made various allegations of misconduct against Wooten. An internal investigation upheld some charges and rejected others. On March 1, 2006 the chief of the Alaska state police issued a letter of reprimand to Wooten, and he served a five-day suspension as penalty. After Palin became governor in December 2006, she, her husband Todd Palin, and various aides had further contacts with Monegan about Wooten. Monegan told both Sarah Palin and Todd Palin that the disciplinary proceeding against Wooten was concluded and could not be reopened.
Palin was investigated by an independent investigator, hired by a unanimous vote of a bipartisan committee of the Alaska Legislature, "to investigate the circumstances … surrounding, and potential abuses of power and/or improper actions by members of the executive branch." Palin denied any wrongdoing. Democratic state Senator Hollis French, who is overseeing the investigation, stated the report will "likely be damaging" to the Palin administration, and may be an October surprise. In response to those remarks by French, Republican state Senator John Coghill pushed an unsuccessful effort to have French removed from managing the investigation.
Todd Palin did not honor a September 2008 subpoena to appear in court to testify about his role in Troopergate. There were also two other key witnesses who failed to appear, and all three were originally referred to the full Alaska Senate for contempt. These contempt charges would not be addressed until the state Legislature met in January 2009, where the Legislature has several options including physically bringing the witnesses in, imposing jail time, or levying fines. With the refusals to testify, Senator Hollis French, the democrat chosen to oversee the charges, had to move forward with the investigation. Palin's attorney general announced on October 5, 2008 that seven state employees will now honor subpoenas to testify in the legislative investigation of the Troopergate affair.
On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing, the Branchflower investigative report which found that Sarah Palin "abused her power as governor attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired." On November 3, 2008, the Alaska State Personnel Board released the findings of its own probe which concluded that Palin did not violate any ethics laws.
Read more about this topic: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Dismissal
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