Troopergate Alaska: machtsmisbruik Sarah Palin

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Troopergate report: Palin abused power

Anchorage Daily News

Published: October 10th, 2008 04:29 PM
Last Modified: October 10th, 2008 04:29 PM

An investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power, according to a report just now unanimously released by the legislative council.

The report by investigator Steve Branchflower found that Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act, which says 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."

Branchflower was investigating whether Palin abused her power by pushing for the firing of state trooper Mike Wooten, who once was married to the governor's sister.

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02:58 11 Oktober 2008

Palin misbruikte macht in Alaska

Sarah Palin, Republikeins kandidaat voor het vice-presidentschap van de VS, heeft als gouverneur van Alaska haar macht misbruikt. Dat blijkt uit een onderzoek van de staat Alaska, waarvan de uitkomst vannacht openbaar werd.

Palin ontsloeg in juli een commissaris van politie, volgens haarzelf vanwege een begrotingsconflict. Maar volgens de onderzoekers speelde mee dat hij geen maatregelen wilde nemen tegen de zwager van Palin, een agent die verwikkeld was in een bittere scheiding van haar zus.

De uitkomsten van het onderzoek zijn openbaar gemaakt na een besluit van het parlement van Alaska.

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Troopergate: Not Over Yet

Michael Isikoff
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Oct 20, 2008

A new Alaska legislative report finding that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power and violated state ethics laws spells new trouble for the McCain campaign. Special counsel Steve Branchflower's report could lead to fines or legislative action to censure Palin. It also directly challenges the vice presidential candidate's credibility on key points related to the "Troopergate" controversy. Palin has said she fired Walt Monegan, Alaska's public-safety commissioner, last summer solely because of budget disputes and "insubordination" by Monegan. But Branchflower found that a likely "contributing" factor was Palin's desire to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, her ex-brother-in-law. While Palin had the right to fire Monegan, Branchflower found that she allowed her husband and top aides to put "impermissible pressure" on subordinates to "advance a personal agenda." The report also questioned Palin's public contention that her family "feared" Wooten, noting that shortly after she took office she ordered a sizable reduction in her personal protection detail.

McCain campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton dismissed the report as the product of "a partisan-led inquiry run by Obama supporters." But there could be more land mines ahead. Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry into whether she fired Monegan because he refused to fire Wooten, who had been involved in a messy custody battle with her sister. Some Democrats ridiculed the move, noting that the personnel board answered to Palin. But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin's 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel's report could be released soon after. "We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board," said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin "has nothing to hide," it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/163465

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Palin: I've been cleared of 'any hint of unethical activity'
Posted: 09:44 PM ET

(CNN) — Sarah Palin told Alaska reporters Saturday that she had been “cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of unethical activity” in the investigative report released the day before that explored her actions in dismissing a state official who refused to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police.

"Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there,” Palin said on a Saturday conference call with reporters from the Anchorage Daily News, KTVA-Channel 11 and KTUU-Channel 2. “Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

She repeated the same contention on the trail Saturday: When a reporter asked if she had abused her power in firing Walt Monegan, the state police chief who would not dismiss her ex-brother-in-law Mike Wooten from the force, she said the report showed she had done nothing wrong. “No, and if you read the read the report you will see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member," Palin responded before boarding her campaign bus. "You got to read the report, sir."

Palin had the authority to fire Monegan, but the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower concluded that she abused her power as Alaska's governor, and violated state ethics law by trying to get Wooten fired from the state police.

"Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda," the report states.

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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 39.51.110(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."