Ousted safety commissioner: Palin image damaged

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan said Monday he feels "relieved" by a legislative report concluding that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her authority by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.

"I've never contested my firing. My firing was completely lawful," Monegan said in a nationally broadcast interview. "It wasn't that I was fired that I asked any questions. It was, what were the reasons for the firing."

Monegan declined to say in an interview with NBC's "Today" show what legal options, if any, he might be exploring in the wake of the findings announced late Friday in Alaska by investigator Stephen Branchflower.

Monegan did say that he and his family were pleased with the report's conclusions.

"Actually, I feel relieved," he said. "My wife and I have been through a lot. It's not a matter of being revenged. It's just strictly a matter of being relieved." Monegan was interviewed by telephone from Alaska.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOTk11gvqDAgD0cY3i4WjI_2YOxwD93PJCT00

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Palin Makes Troopergate Assertions that Are Flatly False
October 12, 2008 6:56 PM

On Saturday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin twice spoke to reporters about the so-called "Troopergate" scandal and the investigative report on whether she had abused her power in trying to get her sister's ex-husband Mike Wooten fired as a state trooper, and for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan one year after she, her staffers, and her husband Todd began unsuccessfully pressuring Monegan to let Wooten go.

Palin spoke on the phone with Alaska reporters about the report. The McCain-Palin campaign only allowed one question per reporter. The journalists came from the Anchorage Daily News, KTVA-Channel 11 and KTUU-Channel 2. No follow-ups were allowed.

The call can be heard HERE.

"Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing," Palin said, "any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

That's just not the case

~snip~

But it finds that Palin "knowingly, as that term is defined in ... statutes, permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office and the resources of the Governor's office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired. Her conduct violated AS 39.52.110(a) of the Ethics Act..."

The report states: "I find that Governor Sarah Palin Abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act ... Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional...


more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/palin-makes-tro.html

[mod mom]

1. I was pissed when NPR allowed her to air her false statement (cleared..). She

needs to be called out on this false statement! (otherwise known as a BALD FACED LIE!)

[Delphinus]

3. Agreed.

Now let's see if they do it.

[trthnd4jstc]

2. I was just telling my son that rules are alright if they are fair and enforced equally.

In Alaska, I believe that Gov. Palin abused her power as stated in the ABC article above. How is this rule enforced: a slap on the wrist, a strong do not do that again, or what?