The controversy over Governor Palin’s treatment of her former brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten, and her dismissal of former state commissioner of Public Safety Walter Monegan has led me to look at the matter as if I had been retained by a client to do so. I have therefore examined the full public record of the Wooten and Monegan cases, including the Wooten investigative files and the recently issued Alaska Legislative Council report that charged Governor Palin with an ethics violation for her role in the dismissal of Monegan.
My conclusion is that the Wooten and Monegan matters reveal an Alaska scandal, but one very different from what has been reported by the national press. The scandal — and it is a serious one — involves the conduct of the managers of Alaska’s police agencies and the political officials who have sought to defend them and attack Governor Palin.
|
|
During his next three years, Wooten committed an astonishing six additional acts of misconduct, unrelated to Palin family complaints, for which he received written admonitions and no meaningful punishment. The matter can be simply stated that any department that treats seven findings of misconduct during the first few years of a police officer’s career by doing little more than creating a papered and ignored personnel file can be categorically defined as recklessly managed.
Then came the Palin family allegations. Those claims included Wooten’s use of a police Taser on a minor, death threats made against his father-in-law (Governor Palin’s father), a criminal hunting violation, public consumption of alcohol while operating a marked police vehicle, repeated acts of violence and alcohol abuse and unlawful steroid use. Given the seven prior findings against Wooten, any well-managed agency would have treated each allegation as a presumptive basis for dismissal and would have treated some as bases for dismissal even for officers with impeccable records. Yet after the department opened its investigation of the Palin charges, no action was taken for more than six months. Only after Governor Palin’s father complained in writing was the investigator’s report issued and it revealed an investigation that I believe:
• Violated basic police investigative procedures by advising Wooten that he was under investigation before the complainant or suggested witnesses were interviewed.
• Dismissed the drug charge on the basis of Wooten’s self-provided lab report that his testosterone levels were normal, and made no apparent effort to find the “blue pill” supplier Wooten was alleged to patronize nor ordered any independent lab tests even for the steroid use allegation that Wooten’s report did not negate.
• Disbelieved credible witnesses who alleged that Wooten was observed drinking in his patrol vehicle.
• Ignored allegations of Wooten’s alcohol and anger management problems, for which abundant evidence existed.
• Accepted Wooten’s excuse that he did not know it was a crime to use another’s hunting license. Faced with charges of an investigative whitewash, the director of the Alaska State Troopers conducted her own investigation and, after yet another five months, issued her findings. Her report failed to take any note of the death threat charge that the investigator had sustained or the allegations of Wooten’s drinking and violence. Amazingly, it accepted without comment the investigator’s dismissal of the drug use charges.
Nonetheless, the director found that:
• Wooten’s seven prior misconduct charges needed to be taken into account in assessing his overall fitness and found that Wooten’s entire record demonstrated “a serious and concentrated pattern of unacceptable and at times illegal conduct occurring over a lengthy period.”
• Wooten’s Taser use on a minor “demonstrated extremely poor judgment and a conscience [sic] choice … [of a] very serious in nature … to violate the department’s standards of conduct.” He was a departmental Taser instructor “well trained in the … risks associated with use of the weapon on a child.”
• Wooten had consumed alcoholic beverages while operating his police vehicle, which “not only exposed the Department to liability, but further demonstrates your lack of judgment, … lack of good character, … disregard for law … and a profound disrespect for [your] responsibilities.”
• Wooten committed the crime of unlicensed hunting, which was “exponentially exacerbate[d]” by the fact that he was a wildlife crimes investigator when he did so. She found “no question” of Wooten’s knowing commission of a crime and reported that Wooten “finally did admit that [his] conduct was illegal.” She concluded with a remarkable finding that damned her department far more than it did Wooten himself: “It is nearly certain that a civilian investigated under similar circumstances would have received criminal sanction.”
Despite those findings and the director’s statement that Wooten’s conduct “will not be tolerated,” she merely reassigned him from the Wildlife Investigations Unit, warned him of dismissal if he repeated his behaviors and imposed an indefensibly inadequate 10-day suspension. Worse still, and in textbook demonstration of the department’s managerial dysfunction, the director responded to union pressure by reducing the suspension to five days.
Given the department’s record in the Wooten case, tragic police misconduct cases have predictably occurred. Thus, the state has paid large liability sums in the contemporaneous cases of an officer who was promoted after a jury found him guilty of torturing a suspect with his Taser, another with a prior record of undisciplined violence who remained unpunished even after wrongfully killing a disabled suspect deemed unthreatening by his partner and yet another who committed five rapes after the department failed to investigate harassment complaints of one of his victims.
Further, the indefensible double standard protection given Wooten for conduct “nearly certain” to trigger criminal prosecutions against members of the public apparently remains the department’s norm. Recently asked how he handled trooper hunting violations like Wooten’s, the director of the Wildlife Troopers Division said: “[M]ore often than not it goes into what we call an administrative inquiry, and that’s how the discipline is handled.”
Even more revealing and damning has been former commissioner Monegan’s definition of the Palin family complaints as acts of harassment against Wooten, and his stated belief that his primary obligation in handling the case was to protect departmental morale. He said: “My job was to provide passion and support to 900 people — almost 900 people — in the Department of Public Safety, and one of them — who included Trooper Wooten — he was an irritant to her [Governor Palin ].” The statement alone justifies Monegan’s dismissal, both for its clear indifference to the department’s management failings and its even less defensible failure to understand that Alaska ‘s good police officers do not feel “support[ed ]” by widespread tolerance to the rogue conduct of officers like Wooten.
The recently issued Alaska Legislative Council report is yet another whitewash by state officials and offers further evidence of the state’s continuing refusal to accept the critical need for structural reform of its police agencies and the performance of their managers. The report found that Governor Palin had grounds to fire Monegan for reasons other than his refusal to dismiss Wooten and further found that her action towards Monegan “was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.”
Despite those determinations, the report made the catch-22 finding that the governor had “violated her … public trust” because her involvement in the Wooten case was an “effort to benefit a personal … interest through official action.” The report’s finding is thus that Governor Palin should not have taken admittedly proper action against a police administrator who failed to reform a department that, among other things, excused repeated acts of admittedly intolerable officer conduct — including an act that would have been “nearly certain” to lead to criminal prosecution had it been committed by a civilian.
Wooten’s conduct clearly merited his dismissal, and his case is among the most poorly handled disciplinary matters I have ever encountered. Contrary to the Legislative Council report, Wooten and Monegan hardly merit immunity because their inexcusable conduct partially related to Governor Palin’s family. In fact, the governor’s opposition to Alaska’s police misconduct and mismanagement and her efforts to deal with the state’s “good old boy” police culture greatly served its citizens and its honorable police officers.
Edward Mamet is a retired New York City Police captain and a police practices consultant.
Comments
61 comment(s)billy wrote on Nov 5, 2008 10:32 PM:
is what led to his spectacular lose to obama
yesterday mccain got half as many electoral voles 150 to 336 for obama. i than k god i dont live in alaska but do unforutnately live in arizona where john mccain is a senator.
http://apocalyptickiwi.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/the-case-for-the-impeachment-of-governor-sarah-palin/ "
i think if i lived alaska i would be calling for the impeachment of all who tried to get inspector wooten fired.
walt monegan told palins chief of staff
"do you want him to own your house when he talked to monegan about wooten "
billy wrote on Nov 5, 2008 10:25 PM:
then there were approx 24 phone calls to AST about wooten from members of the palin adminitstration. Frank bailey called lt dial and badmouth and slandered mr wooten to him. he didnt know he was being recorded so all his slanderous statements are recorded for posterity his penalty was a paid vaccation. i believe that taped call would be grounds for a civil suit with my bailey as the respondent "
billy wrote on Nov 5, 2008 10:20 PM:
when in fact his activities had been approved by his doctor.called washill pd and told them he didnt want inspector wooten hired when by filing an application he was obviously trying to get some peace in his life. then toad turned mr wooten in for using his trooper car to take his kids to school when he had supvr approval to do this "
billy wrote on Nov 5, 2008 10:16 PM:
joe schmooga wrote on Nov 5, 2008 10:00 PM:
I believe everything stated in this article regarding the willingness by the AST to flaunt the law and cover for their own.
I have personally been a witness to perjurous court testimony by an Alaska State Trooper, not merely erroneous but total fabrication.
Quite possibly, most are fine individuals, but it has been my personal experience that the AST will do or say whatever it takes to "make their case". "
billy wrote on Nov 5, 2008 3:32 PM:
It's time to put up or shut up.
For all the people out there that continue to say things like "this was a bad cop and he should have been fired" or "the governor was right to try and get rid of a rogue cop" here is a challenge:
Find me one......one......person that has filed a complaint against Wooten in the eight years he has been an Alaska State Trooper that was not filed during his divorce with Governor Palin's sister " "or toad "
DA SMILEY ONE wrote on Nov 5, 2008 4:17 AM:
DASMILEY ONE wrote on Nov 5, 2008 4:04 AM:
Get Some Glasses wrote on Nov 5, 2008 3:52 AM:
Observer wrote on Nov 5, 2008 12:33 AM:
inappropriate that he do patrol. If stopped by this guy for say a minor traffic violation I would follow his directions but probably break out laughing at him."Don't tase me bro!!!!!" "
george wrote on Nov 4, 2008 9:29 PM:
It's time to put up or shut up.
For all the people out there that continue to say things like "this was a bad cop and he should have been fired" or "the governor was right to try and get rid of a rogue cop" here is a challenge:
Find me one......one......person that has filed a complaint against Wooten in the eight years he has been an Alaska State Trooper that was not filed during his divorce with Governor Palin's sister " "
sam wrote on Nov 4, 2008 4:16 PM:
Governor or her family, he was obligated to take a HARD look at it. and walt monegan did. he had his staff do a page by page comparison of the information that toad supplied and the record of infractions and found no new evidence.
If it aint there it aint there except sarah and toad will never quit lying about him which is violating a court order set forth in mollys divorce. no badmouthing wouten to his kids "
sam wrote on Nov 3, 2008 2:54 PM:
Dopers wrote on Nov 3, 2008 1:05 AM:
junglejerry, you must be a doper if you have it in for Inv. Young. I appears Inv. Young as been doing a good job if we now have the dopeheads on here complaining. Thank you Inv. Young for doing your job! The only question I have is when did the Mat-Su Jail get computers? "
junglejerry wrote on Nov 2, 2008 7:16 AM:
Yep More Obama Signs wrote on Nov 1, 2008 10:51 PM:
http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/295464.html "
WellRead wrote on Oct 31, 2008 11:59 PM:
WOOTEN IS ARMED AND DANGEROUS wrote on Oct 31, 2008 9:32 AM:
NYPD is worse wrote on Oct 31, 2008 6:42 AM:
I am sure that in most of (if not all) your years with the NYPD, you spent most of your time driving a desk and pointing a finger. Let the real cops do their job out on the street. "
NYPD is worse wrote on Oct 31, 2008 6:33 AM:
NYPD is worse wrote on Oct 31, 2008 6:25 AM:
Most of the NYPD cops couldn't do AST's job, they would need 50 cops for back-up where troopers do it with one. "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 30, 2008 8:24 PM:
How's that for turn about. After spending a year and a half dogging Palin's ex brother in law, not only could the Palin administration not get the guy fired, but they've handed him a solid case to turn around and sue the state.
But yet after all of this mess he created, Frank Bailey gets a paid vacation. "
Disgusted Republican wrote on Oct 30, 2008 5:47 PM:
hottr7 wrote on Oct 30, 2008 5:24 PM:
Christopher wrote on Oct 30, 2008 5:08 AM:
Abuse of power wrote on Oct 30, 2008 4:29 AM:
hottr7 wrote on Oct 30, 2008 1:10 AM:
just so you know ive walked more than one high medium yard and you aint jack .. its obvious that your letter appeared when ed o and meghan quit giving press releases and are not longer heard of.
as i said i call whats happened to mike wooten as total harrasement,stalking and slander given all the stories ive read
even sarah palins daughter bristol admitted to the investigator that they filed complaints to coincide with the divorce
id call that predudical !!!
by the way im not hiding for anyone "
karin covey wrote on Oct 29, 2008 11:25 PM:
Edward Mamet wrote on Oct 29, 2008 5:57 PM:
You are another "Hmmm," hiding behind a code name. I offer you the same challenge that I offered Hmmm -- send me your telephone number and I will set you straight as well. If you read the piece carefully and objectively (that I doubt given your prejudicial mentality) you will realize that Wooten is protected by the civil service system and cannot be fired for offenses that he was already disciplined for. He can, however, be disciplined for acts improperly investigated for which he was not disciplined. Have a nice day, too. "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 29, 2008 5:42 PM:
the year is 28 mamet not mar 1 2006 the day wooten got suspended so get over it and catch up on what youve been missing bad mouthing other hard working law enforcement personnel
youre in your 60s i bet. proper procedure and threats from criminals have change so id just shot up if were you you aint no superman!!!!!! "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 29, 2008 4:59 PM:
decisions like whether to violate a court order or not
maybe theyll all get the point when they go to court and the kids go home with wooten FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "
RahRah wrote on Oct 29, 2008 1:47 PM:
I believe Sarah Palin was a hardheaded bully all her life. She's one who has no comment or distances herself in a air of superiority but she has evil intentions. Some have said she was quiet I say calculating!
Any friend of Palin knows they have to stay in her good graces. They are afraid. "
Giddyup wrote on Oct 29, 2008 9:22 AM:
I'd feel safer with Wooten as a trooper than Palin in office anyday. "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 29, 2008 12:06 AM:
monegan tried to advise the gov that her talking to him about wooten could make the state liable if the conversation was ever discovered
mr mamet seems to be aware of other cases that ive never heard of hes either a very retentive reader or has been fed inside info "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 29, 2008 12:00 AM:
another time she asked a neighbor to watch molly and wootens house and what he saw was
molly yelling at wooten following him all through the house as he tried to get away from here
check out adn/troopergate it has allot of good stuff on it "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 28, 2008 11:53 PM:
todd also complianed about wooten using his trooper car to take his kids to school in. his boss gave him permission for this
todd then called the police department and told them he didnt want wooten to get one of the jobs advertised there
does this show you what kind of people dealing with "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 28, 2008 11:49 PM:
chuck heath and everyone else that it was funny tht the boy liked being tased,till the divorce 2 years later then they start writing complaints against something the AST had already disciplined wooten for "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 28, 2008 7:49 PM:
even palins own son told investigators sarah palen lied to them. she had said molly called her and molly told her shed leave the phone on so palin and track could hear. actualy according to a 1st hand witness it was exactly the opposite. so if palin lied then what else had she lied about "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 28, 2008 7:45 PM:
wooten then had the boy kneel attacked the leads not shoot them put pillows all around him and tazed him for 1 second. the boy said it felt like when he hit his funnybone and asked if he could do it again
the whole family violated a court order to leave wooten alone does that tell you what kind of peoiple your talking about "
hottr7 wrote on Oct 28, 2008 7:05 PM:
obviously wooten has straightened up or he still wouldnt be around.
as info the palins,the state of alaska and everyone else that have chose to crucify him for something in his past,have handed wooten there behinds on a silver platter from a legal point ofview. to date i havent heard anyone mention he was/is a member of the AST SWAT TEAM. obviously hes done something right in the past 2 1/2 years..being on that team takes extraordinary skill patience and integrity.
when he sues ill laff "
Edward Mamet wrote on Oct 28, 2008 2:15 PM:
Hmmm...again wrote on Oct 27, 2008 4:30 PM:
"Leon Charney talks with Security Expert Edward Mamet about home grown terrorists and the arrests In New Jersey."
Me thinks you doth protest too much...Thanks for following our Alaska Politics so closely, I'm sure you don't have a dog in this fight.... "
AK Law Enforcement Officer wrote on Oct 27, 2008 12:41 PM:
Jeannie wrote on Oct 26, 2008 1:08 PM:
Robert P. Matthews Joplin Mo. wrote on Oct 26, 2008 12:40 PM:
Edward Mamet wrote on Oct 26, 2008 10:45 AM:
Judy Joe wrote on Oct 26, 2008 12:21 AM:
WellRead wrote on Oct 25, 2008 11:33 PM:
Travis wrote on Oct 25, 2008 7:27 PM:
Raven wrote on Oct 25, 2008 6:32 PM:
Jimmy wrote on Oct 25, 2008 6:22 PM:
Dan wrote on Oct 25, 2008 4:11 PM:
She stepped on a lot of toes in both parties because she did like what saw.
When this jerk tasered a kid who was not even in his teens he should have been FIRED.
Since people here are mentioning coverups and such we should note that one candidate for president with his close ties to domestic terrorist(s), his ties to Rev Wright and some other "issues" he could not get a security clearance to mow the Whitehouse lawn.
People can squirm around this all they want but its a fact. "
Bingo wrote on Oct 25, 2008 2:19 PM:
Let's ask ourselves how does Mr. Mamet knows these things about Alaska politics? Was he spoon fed the talking points by the McCain-Palin campaign? You Betcha...he was!
"Open and Transparent", aye Sarah? It's "transparent" that Mr. Mamet is a hired gun. It's transparent that the Frontiersman printed this 1500 word campaign piece without vetting Mr. Mamet any more than McCain vetted Sarah. The only thing that is "open" is Sarah's honesty, open to doubts, that is. "
hmmm wrote on Oct 25, 2008 10:39 AM:
Donna Varnes wrote on Oct 25, 2008 8:03 AM:
sueinmn wrote on Oct 25, 2008 5:30 AM:
Bettie wrote on Oct 25, 2008 5:11 AM:
Kay L wrote on Oct 25, 2008 5:02 AM:
No one even asks the question about Hollis French using a legislative investigation to conduct a partisan hit job for his national party.
Why no one is following the money trail that is likely there is anyone's guess. "
jimmy simpson wrote on Oct 25, 2008 2:43 AM:
Pam wrote on Oct 25, 2008 2:41 AM:
Ben wrote on Oct 24, 2008 7:43 AM: