Report says Palin abused her power

By Michael Rovito

Frontiersman

ANCHORAGE — Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of former state Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was proper, but she abused her power in attempting to have her former brother-in-law Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten fired.

That according to the report of findings from the Legislature’s investigation into what has become known as Troopergate. The report was made public Friday after a nearly eight-hour executive session in which a bipartisan panel of legislators pored over the report’s findings.

“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,” says the report, compiled by Stephen E. Branchflower, special counsel to the Alaska Legislative Council. Branchflower was tasked by lawmakers to investigate whether Palin and her administration used her office to satisfy a family grudge against Wooten, who went through a nasty divorce with Palin’s sister.

Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: To get trooper Michael Wooten fired,” the report says.

Branchflower says in the report he believes Monegan’s refusal to fire Wooten was not the sole reason Palin fired him, but likely was a contributing factor.

His report also outlines a high level of access to the governor’s office and its resources by Todd Palin, the governor’s husband.

Branchflower says Governor Palin had the authority to fire Monegan, which he said she did lawfully. But Branchflower also reports that the level of pressure put on Monegan to fire Wooten was not lawful.

The Legislative Council made no mention of a criminal investigation Friday, and the body doesn’t have the authority to sanction Palin. What effect the investigation will have will likely be seen during the Nov. 4 election, or after Palin returns to Alaska should Republican presidential candidate John McCain not win the presidency.

The report

The report released Friday is only what’s being made available to the public. State Sen. Kim Elton said some parts of the report are confidential because they deal with personnel matters.

In the portion of the released report, Chuck Kopp, the man Palin hired to replace Monegan, testified he received a call from Palin aide Frank Bailey telling him the governor’s office wanted to make a change in the leadership of the Public Safety Office.

“Todd [Palin] is really upset with Monegan,” Bailey said, according to Kopp’s testimony.

Kopp went on to testify that Bailey told him Palin lost confidence in the Alaska State Troopers and the Department of Public Safety’s ability to protect her family from Wooten. The report also says Sarah Palin never personally spoke to Kopp before he was appointed to fill the Public Safety commissioner’s seat. Kopp resigned 15 days later after a prior sexual harassment claim filed against him in Kenai resurfaced.

Following Kopp’s testimony in the report, Gary Wheeler, who worked on Palin’s security detail, testified he feels Todd Palin had “a significant influence” over employees in the governor’s office. He also states in the report that the governor reduced her security staff from six people to three — two full-time and one part-time positions.

As the Troopergate probe progressed, some critics of Governor Palin have said it didn’t make sense for her to reduce her security staff if she felt she and her family were threatened by Wooten.

Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, was one of six Republican legislators, along with Wasilla Rep. Wes Keller, who sued to stop the investigation. He said he also agrees it doesn’t make sense for Palin to thin out her security detail if she felt her family was in danger.

Gatto said he thinks the Troopergate report is “not good, but it’s not devastating” for Governor Palin. He also believes Sen. Hollis French, a Democrat, saw the investigation as a chance to discredit the governor.

In the report, Wheeler went on to detail Todd Palin’s level of involvement in the governor’s office.

“Anytime I needed to get information to the governor, I would always go through Todd, because he was the only one I could — could talk with, either via the cell phone or in person,” Wheeler testified. “I know that he got e-mails and stuff that he was in the loop on — on activities.”

Throughout the report, Todd Palin is portrayed as the aggressor in trying to get Wooten fired. The report says the governor knowingly allowed Todd Palin to use her office and its resources, including access to state employees, in an effort to find a way to terminate Wooten.

“Todd Palin probably went way over his boundaries and wasn’t stopped,” Gatto said.

The argument the Palins felt their safety was threatened by Wooten doesn’t hold water, the report concludes.

Branchflower writes that Todd Palin’s contact with staff and state trooper officials “is inconsistent with a desire to avoid harm from trooper Wooten or others.” He also says Todd Palin’s complaints to state employees had nothing to do with a fear of Wooten; instead, they centered around Todd Palin calling Wooten a bad trooper, poor recruiting image and expressing his frustration over Wooten’s punishment after an administrative investigation.

“I conclude that such claims of fear were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins’ real motivation: to get trooper Wooten fired for personal family related reasons,” Branchflower says in the report.

The subject of Todd Palin’s level of involvement in state government is also dealt with. In sworn testimony, Attorney General Talis Colberg says Todd Palin was copied on e-mails dealing with state business, but can’t explain the purpose for it.

Colberg acknowledges Todd Palin is not a state employee, but says he never asked why he was being included on official state business.

Response from

McCain-Palin camp

Following Friday’s release of Branchflower’s report, spokespersons for Palin and the McCain-Palin campaign were quick to play down the impact of its findings.

In a statement, McCain-Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said the report vindicates Palin.

“Today’s report shows that the governor acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan,” Stapleton said. “The report also illustrates what we’ve known all along: this was a partisan-led inquiry run by Obama supporters.”

The bipartisan panel of state legislators — eight Republicans and four Democrats — voted unanimously to investigate Palin before anyone knew McCain would select her as his running mate. The investigation was not about Monegan’s termination, but allegations Palin pressured him to fire Wooten.

In July, Palin told the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman she had nothing to hide and an official investigation would prove that. After she joined the Republican ticket, Palin resisted the investigation and the McCain campaign sent spokespeople to Alaska attempting to reveal the investigation was a partisan attack.

David Cheezem, a Democrat running for Gatto’s House seat, said the McCain campaign must feel silly for fighting the investigation so hard if it is going to contend that same report exonerates her.

Cheezem said the controversy surrounding the Troopergate investigation shows two different Sarah Palins.

“As governor, I think Sarah Palin has been different than the Sarah Palin as vice presidential candidate,” Cheezem said. “I think Governor Palin will come back to her roots [if McCain does not win the election], and those roots were bipartisanship and openness and transparency.”

What about Wooten?

Gatto said he’d like to know more about how “we’re going to deal with Wooten.”

Some have said Wooten got off easy after he was found to have Tased his 11-year old son, killed a moose illegally out of season and allegedly drank alcohol in his patrol car. Wooten was disciplined by the department and remains a trooper.

Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, who said he considers Monegan to be a friend, said the political implications for Palin will all depend on how the press covers the story.

“Out of four findings, three exonerate her in many ways,” Stoltze said.

The press has been a frequent target of Palin and the McCain campaign, which says biased media have stopped at nothing to smear the Alaska governor.

In his own statement, Bill McAllister, Palin’s spokesman in Alaska, says Branchflower’s findings required “speculation and assumptions” to reach.

“We agree with the comments made that Alaskans should consider the report in total rather than relying on the findings,” McAllister said, echoing a comment from Elton.

The Troopergate report also has some recommendations.

Branchflower said the Legislature should consider amending an Alaska statute to make certain a government agency seeking medical or rehabilitation records of an employee establishes a solid reason and purpose for obtaining those records. The report also says the Legislature should consider amending another statute to allow people who file complaints against peace officers to get feedback about the results of their complaints.

Show of support

A group of Sarah Palin supporters greeted legislators as they filed into the office Friday morning. David Boyle, who admitted working for the McCain-Palin campaign, called the Troopergate investigation a “kangaroo circus” run by French.

“I’m here to support a wonderful governor,” Boyle said, adding he wouldn’t lie about his connection to the McCain-Palin campaign.

The pro-Palin group moved outside during executive session. The crowd soon left and was replaced by a smaller group calling themselves Students for Palin.

The McCain campaign on Thursday released its own report, a day before the Legislature’s report was scheduled to come out, clearing Palin of any wrongdoing.

“The Palins make no apologies for wanting to protect their family and wanting to bring attention to the injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge and abusing the workers’ compensation system,” the campaign report’s conclusion says.

A separate investigation run by the state’s Personnel Board is also underway. Palin has said she will cooperate with that investigation because it’s the proper channel to handle the Troopergate controversy. The Personnel Board is comprised of three appointed members.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.

Report questions Todd Palin’s access to state resources

ANCHORAGE — The Troopergate report released Friday paints a picture of Gov. Sarah Palin’s husband, Todd, and some members of her staff in their efforts to get Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten fired.

While the report found Palin had the right to fire Monegan, it also says she abused her power by applying pressure to get Wooten fired and allowing circumstances to exist in the governor’s office that constitute an abuse of power. Following are some excerpts from the report. The full public report can be viewed online at www.legis.state.ak.us.

• “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 Trooper Wooten fired.

• “She knowingly... 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 subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get trooper Wooten fired.”

• “Such impermissible and repeated contacts create conflicts of interest for subordinate employees who must choose to either please a superior or run the risk of facing that superior’s displeasure and the possible consequences of such displeasure.”

• “In this case, Gov. Palin has declined to provide an interview. An interview would have assisted everyone to better understand her motives and perhaps explain why she was so apparently intent upon getting trooper Wooten fired in spite of the fact she knew he had been disciplined following the administrative investigation.”

• “While it is true that in the absence of an interview with either Gov. Palin or Todd Palin, the specific answers to questions such as these are left unanswered, it is likewise true that their apparent motives can be inferred from the circumstances, their actions and their comments.”

• Stephen E. Branchflower, special counsel to the Alaska Legislative Council who authored the report, went on to say since Todd Palin is not a state employee, his actions cannot violate any state executive branch ethics rules.