• Sarah Palin

    Alaska Legislative Report: Sarah Palin ABUSED Authority in Firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan

    Sarah Palin and Walter Monegan

    A committee investigating Gov. Sarah Palin found that she unlawfully abused her authority in firing Walter Monegan, right, the state’s public safety commissioner. Photoshop courtesy of the New York Times

    A State of Alaska legislative report today finds that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her authority in the firing of Walter Monegan, Alaska’s public safety commissioner.

    The 263 page report is here (PDF file)

    The findings:

    Palin-legislative-report-fi


    Key Graph:

    The report, which was commissioned and released by a bipartisan state legislative panel made up of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats, said: “The evidence supports the conclusion that Governor Palin, at the least, engaged in ‘official action’ by her inaction if not her active participation or assistance to her husband in attempting to get Troooper Wooten fired [and there is evidence of her active participation].”

    So, is this report as devastating as it looks upon a first read?

    Perhaps.

    The story although it is new to the lower 48 states is old news in the small state of Alaska where Sarah Palin has remained popular while the charges wee flying. Alaskans know that Alaska trooper Mike Wooten, Palin’s former brother-in-law is not a sympathetic or even likeable fellow.

    But, when you start flinging around charges of “ABUSE OF POWER” voters do take a second look.

    For this reason, months ago, Flap although a supporter of Sarah Palin cautioned that Team McCain might be reluctant to select her until this FLAP ran its course.

    GOP Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, currently tied for third among possible Vice Presidential running mates for John McCain on Intrade, faces a probe into whether she abused her office in order to fire Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

    Will the investigation ordered up on Monday by the Alaska Legislature derail her chances to be named by John McCain?

    Probably

    The timing could not have been worse for any Palin chance at the Vice Presidency.

    John McCain is rising in the latest polls and while Sarah Palin is a rising GOP star she is relatively inexperienced as compared to Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and former Governors Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Plus, Palin is from Alaska where a GOP United States Senator has been indicted on corruption charges – just this week and their lone Congressman (also a Republican) is under FBI investigation.

    John McCain and the national GOP will choose a safer candidate – at least for now.

    Sarah-Palin-and-Troopergate

    Photoshop Courtesy of The Page

    McCain didn’t and now will have to explain the legislative committee findings – rather than concentrate on winning a Presidential election.

    On the other hand, Sarah Palin’s so-called abuse of power is based on her INACTION of reining in her husband, Todd Palin who stated in signed affidavits that his wife, the Governor, DID tell him to give the whole matter a rest.

    So, say what, if there is NOT clear and convincing evidence of Palin’s active participation in the flap? Read pages 65-67 of the report and see if you buy the conclusions of the legal consultant, Stephen Branchflower, hired to draft the report for the Alaska Legislative Council.

    Stay tuned for the Palin and Team McCain response.

    Update:

    Here is a response by McCain-Palin before the report was issued. Guess they knew it was coming.

    Previous:

    Sarah Palin Watch: The Obligatory I Didn’t Do It

    Sarah Palin Watch: Alaska Supreme Court Clears The Way for Troopergate Report

    Vice President Ambitions Derailed for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin?


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  • John McCain

    Did John McCain Just Throw in the White Towel?

    John McCain at a campaign rally, October 10, 2008

    Did McCain just surrender the race for the Presidency?

    After weeks of running negative ads and in the last week linking Barack Obama with the domestic bomber/terrorist, William Ayers, out of the McCain brain comes:

    • “I want everyone to be respectful. And let’s make sure we are, because that’s the way politics is done in America.” 
    • Tells one supporter who says he’s scared of an Obama presidency: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.”
    • After a woman calls Obama “an Arab terrorist” McCain interrupts to say: “No, ma’am. He is a decent family man with whom I happen to have some disagreements.”

    Flap goes back to the primary election and why he did NOT support McCain. McCain has a great narrative history of service to America but he has proven to be too inexperienced on the economy and frankly is showing his age.

    My friends, unless world events dramatically change, this campaign is OVER.

    Update:

    Charles Krauthammer says McCain ONLY has himself to blame for the bad timing on Obama’s associations.


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  • John McCain

    Message to Rick Davis – Why McCain is Tanking in the Polls

    Campaign Race

    McCain campaign manger Rick Davis sitting

    Wonder why Team McCain is talking about William Ayers and NOT the economy?

    Listen to Rick Davis, McCain campaign manager:

    Campaign shouldn’t become “CNBC News Show on the Stock Market.”

    “It doesn’t mean we don’t care and aren’t trying to do something about it, it’s just I’m not exactly sure what you’d say everyday.”

    One of the criticisms of John McCain is that he does not understand the American financial system or economics. If his campaign manager cannot understand the reason his candidate is tanking in the polls is due to the fact that American voters are worried about the economy and see NO REASON to vote for McCain, then Davis should concede the campaign tomorrow and get on with the Obama transition. McCain is running a Herbert Hoover type “do-nothing” campaign while the stock market and world financial markets collapse. He is fiddling about William Ayers while America’s economy is burning.

    Senator McCain had better shake up his staff QUICKLY and get on with REAL IDEAS about helping America’s economy – that is if he wants to win.

    Update:

    Allah over at Hot Air
    says Ace and Geraghty agree. Well, they do after reading the latest Fox News Poll.

    We are all correct. But, will Rick Davis and McCain get the message?


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  • Barack Obama,  John McCain,  William Ayers

    John McCain Watch: Obama – Not Being Honest With the American People

    The latest McCain TV Ad: “Ambition”

    John McCain today in Wisconsin remarks continues to attack Barack Obama on his honesty.

    This is the agenda I have set before my fellow citizens. And the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent. We have all heard what he has said, but it is less clear what he has done or what he will do.

    Rather than answer his critics, Senator Obama will try to distract you from noticing that he never answers the serious and legitimate questions he has been asked. He has even questioned my truthfulness. And let me reply in the plainest terms I know. I don’t need lessons about telling the truth to American people. And were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn’t seek advice from a Chicago politician.

    The Script for “Ambition:”

    ANNCR: Obama’s blind ambition.

    When convenient, he worked with terrorist Bill Ayers.

    When discovered, he lied.

    Obama. Blind ambition. Bad judgment.

    Congressional liberals fought for risky sub-prime loans.

    Congressional liberals fought against more regulation.

    Then, the housing market collapsed costing you billions.

    In crisis, we need leadership, not bad judgment.

    JOHN MCCAIN: I’m John McCain and I approve this message.

    Team McCain is sticking to the attacks of Obama and pounding the Ayers theme while beginning to pressure Obama on the economic front, particularly the details of Obama’s economic recovery plan. The American people will have to decide within a few weeks whether they can trust Obama.

    Ultimately, the trust issue will decide the Presidential race.


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  • John McCain,  Sarah Palin

    Sarah Palin Watch: The Obligatory I Didn’t Do It

    Sarah-Palin-and-Troopergate

    Photoshop Courtesy of The Page

    Last night Team McCain issued their own acquittal of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the Troopergate Flap as a pre-emptive strike against today’s release of a possible embarassing state ethics report.

    Sen. John McCain’s running mate is the subject of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Palin’s husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin’s former brother-in-law.

    Lawmakers are expected to release their own findings Friday. Campaign officials have yet to see that report — the result of an investigation that began before she was tapped as McCain’s running mate — but said the investigation has falsely portrayed a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner as something inappropriate.

    “The following document will prove Walt Monegan’s dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administration,” campaign officials wrote. “Trooper Wooten is a separate issue.”

    The Executive Summary of the McCain-Palin campaigns analysis is here.

    Beginning in October 2007, Governor Sarah Palin and members of her administration repeatedly clashed with Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, a member of her cabinet, over budgetary issues and department direction. On July 11, 2008, after multiple efforts to reach a consensus had failed, Governor Palin offered Mr. Monegan a new position as head of the Alaska Alcohol Control Board. Mr. Monegan declined the offer and was dismissed as a result.

    In the following months, this straightforward personnel decision would be muddied with innuendo, rumor and partisan politics. The facts, however, have not changed: Mr. Monegan, who under the Alaska state constitution serves as an at-will appointee at the pleasure of the Governor, chose to ignore the direction, principles and policies of the Palin Administration. Unable to understand and accept the administration’s policies, to comply with established interagency processes, or to execute goals, Mr. Monegan failed to effectively perform his duties as a member of the cabinet and head of the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

    The following analysis will further outline and highlight the multiple acts of insubordination and repeated budget clashes that led to Monegan’s dismissal. The report will also discuss the questionable origins of the Legislative Inquiry and why Governor and Todd Palin were right to express their concerns over Trooper Mike Wooten.

    Governor Palin’s reform agenda. Governor Palin came into office in 2006 on a platform of reform, budget discipline and agency oversight. Governor Palin directed her agencies to embrace this policy and work with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to cut costs while still meeting important department goals.

    Monegan’s failure to understand and accept administration policy. Mr. Monegan proved unable to follow the policies of the Palin administration and pressed his own agenda without regard for the formal budgeting process.  Emails show a pattern of Mr. Monegan refusing to take administration direction and ignoring attempts by members of Governor Palin’s staff to reach a working consensus on budgetary issues.

    Monegan’s failure to comply with established interagency processes. Mr. Monegan worked outside and around the administration, lobbied for funding that was not approved and ignored policy goals that the DPS was expected to meet.

    Monegan’s failure to meet Administration goals.  Mr. Monegan’s dismissal was based on his repeated refusal to execute the Palin Administration’s vision on budgetary matters and the direction of the Department of Public Safety.

    In the months following Mr. Monegan’s dismissal, theories behind his dismissal have arisen, including one pushed by a longtime critic of Governor Palin. On July 16, Andrew Halcro, a former state representative defeated by Governor Palin in the 2006 gubernatorial election and author of a vehemently anti-Palin blog, met Trooper Mike Wooten for drinks at a three-and-a-half hour meeting at the Sheraton Hotel bar in Anchorage. (Governor Palin’s sister had been the third of Wooten’s four wives.) Later that evening, on his blog, Halcro originated the notion that Monegan was reassigned due to his refusal to fire Wooten because of Wooten’s rogue behavior, which is chronicled below. Halcro was the first person to suggest this theory. The following document will prove Walt Monegan’s dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administration.  Trooper Wooten is a separate issue.

    It is worth noting, however, that the Palins had good reason to raise concerns about Trooper Mike Wooten. Trooper Wooten has a long history of unstable and erratic behavior, including drinking beer in his squad car, killing moose illegally, using a taser on his 10-year-old stepson and threatening to kill a member of the Palin family. These events are not mere allegations, nor are they limited to the Palin family; in 2006, a formal review by the director of the Alaska State Troopers formally concluded that Wooten had engaged in these acts of misconduct, imposed punishment, and stated that a civilian found to have committed the same acts would have received criminal sanctions.  Understandably concerned about a pattern of behavior demonstrated by someone entrusted with the responsibilities of law enforcement, the Palin family reported the behavior to the appropriate authorities, and continued to express concern about Wooten’s continued patrol assignment of their neighborhood and claims of being above the law due to his trooper status.

    Todd Palin and Monnegan

    Walt Monegan, center, the former public safety commissioner, and his special assistant, Kim Peterson, both said they received phone calls from Todd Palin, right, about Mr. Wooten’s behavior. Photo courtesy of the New York Times

    Here is a New York Times background piece and note the analysis is not as kind.

    Stay tuned for the release of the official investigatory report later in the day. But, with the Asia/European stock markets in a meltdown again today and McCain-Palin tanking in the polls as a result of the economic crisis this entire matter may prove to be of little consequence – except for Sarah Palin’s political future after this race.

    But, stay tuned…….

    Previous:

    Sarah Palin Watch: Alaska Supreme Court Clears The Way for Troopergate Report


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  • Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2008-10-10

    • Barack Obama's statement that he "assumed [William Ayers] had been rehabilitated" raises an interesting issue. In some press coverage of this matter, "unrepentant" has virtually become Ayers' middle name. And while Ayers indeed appears unrepentant, it is important to note that he has never specified just what it is that he is unrepentant about. In other words, he's never owned up to any of the crimes he committed. It would be one thing for him to say, "I did this, and I'd do it again." But Ayers doesn't do that.

      Ayers opens his memoir, Fugitive Days, with the statement, "Memory is a motherf—ker. I myself remember almost nothing." Well, there's a reason Ayers says he remembers almost nothing, and that is because he committed serious crimes and people quite likely died as a result of his actions. Andy could speak to this more authoritatively, but there are still statute of limitations issues involved.
      +++++++
      Why remember and send yourself to prison for the rest of your life?

    • Sarah Palin's husband campaigned for years to help get his former brother-in-law kicked off the state police force, newly released affidavits show.

      The documents were released as part of the so-called Troopergate Scandal, in which it is alleged the Republican vice presidential nominee abused her position as Governor of Alaska to settle a long-standing family feud

      Walter Monegan, Alaska's public safety commissioner, says he was dismissed by Mrs Palin, after refusing to fire Mike Wooten, a trooper involved in a bitter divorce and child custody battle with her sister.

      The 52-page document reveals the extraordinary level of access Todd Palin, nicknamed the 'First Dude of Alaska ' , had to top state officials, more than a dozen of whom he contacted directly to complain about the trooper.
      +++++++
      The troopergate report is due out tomorrow.

      (tags: sarah_palin)
    • Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin remained in the dark while her husband repeatedly asked top state officials to help get his former brother-in-law kicked off the state police force, Palin's husband and top aides said in affidavits provided to The Associated Press.

      Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, is the focus of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her authority by firing the state's public safety commissioner to settle a long-standing family dispute. The commissioner says he was fired after resisting pressure to fire Mike Wooten, a trooper involved in a bitter divorce with Palin's sister.

      The investigation has been a distraction for John McCain's presidential campaign. Lawmakers were scheduled to meet Friday and release a report on the case, which could shed light on how Palin governs and what role her husband played in her administration.

      (tags: sarah_palin)
    • Three weeks of historic economic upheaval has done more than just tilt a handful of once-reliably Republican states in Barack Obama’s direction. Democratic strategists are now optimistic that the ongoing crisis could lead to a landslide Obama victory.

      Four large states McCain once seemed well-positioned to win—Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida—have in recent weeks shifted toward Obama. If Obama were to win those four states—a scenario that would represent a remarkable turn of events—he would likely surpass 350 electoral votes.