Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Dismissal - Response To The Dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan

Response To The Dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan

The accusation that Governor Palin may have abused her power when her attempt to reassign Commissioner Walt Monegan resulted in his terminating employment appeared in the blog of Andrew Halcro on Thursday July 17, 2008. Mr. Halcro claimed that Monegan was "fired" because of his budget battles with the Governor and because he refused to fire Trooper Wooten.

Halcro's blog reported that Monegan thought he was going into the meeting to smooth over the ruffled feathers caused from when his deputy, Holloway, denied the Governor's chief of security, Cocerall, an extra trooper for security at the Governor's picnic. Instead he was fired. The legislators agreed to hire a special investigator to look into the issue to clear the air.

"That's the only thing I can think of, if you want to get to the truth and be unbiased," said Senate President Lyda Green, a Wasilla Republican. "Otherwise, speculation just continues."

Ten days later, on July 28, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council met and voted 12-0 to delegate their authority to the Council Chairman, Senator Elton, to hire legal services to investigate the termination of Commissioner Monegan. They named Senator Hollis French as Project Director for the contract. The report was intended that the 'investigation be professional, unbiased, independent, objective, and conducted at arm’s length from the political process'. The investigators report was to be submitted to the Legislative Council.

Senator French hired Stephen Branchflower to conduct the investigation. The contract was signed on July 31, 2008. Mr. Branchflower began his investigation on August 11, 2008.

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