Anchorage Democrat calls for Troopergate witness tampering investigation

The back-and-forth between McCain-Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton and Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, is still on-going.

And now, Gara is asking the state’s attorney general for an investigation into possible witness tampering leading up the Legislature’s Troopergate report.

Gara and Stapleton most infamously met on the street in Anchorage Oct. 10 just after the Legislative Council released its Troopergate report.

In front of media cameras and other onlookers, Gara asked Stapleton if she was going to apologize to former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

Gara said Stapleton, who was one half the now-quiet Palin Truth Squad, slandered Monegan for weeks leading up to the Troopergate probe’s release in an effort to discredit the investigation.

Stapleton did not apologize.

The Legislature’s report found Gov. Sarah Palin abused her office by trying to get her former brother-in-law, trooper Mike Wooten, fired.

Most recently, Gara sent a letter to Alaska State Troopers Col. Audie Holloway asking for an investigation into possible witness tampering.

Gara said it’s clear to him someone in the McCain-Palin campaign told subpoenaed witnesses not to testify in the probe because those same witnesses at first agreed to cooperate, then declined to honor their subpoenas.

In a press release, Gara says what many media outlets have been reporting.

"Until Senator McCain sent campaign staff up here on Aug. 29, everyone, including the governor, agreed the Legislature's investigation was proper,” Gara says. “After the McCain staffers arrived, people who were willing to testify starting violating their subpoenas. It’s not rocket science that someone worked to change their minds, and that's a crime under Alaska law.”

Holloway wrote back to Gara telling him they troopers could not get involved, most notably because the troopers are a central figure in the Troopergate investigation.

But, Holloway urged Gara that a joint legislative and executive directive for AST to hire an independent investigator is a possibility.

Gara is now seeking just that.

The decision brought a sharp response from Stapleton, who called Gara’s request a “political stunt.”

In an e-mail, Stapleton also defends the McCain-Palin campaign.

“No one from the McCain campaign provided advice to witnesses on how to respond to subpoenas,” Stapleton said.

She also accuses Gara of working with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign since last year.

Gara said this week that’s nonsense.

“No, I’m not working for the Obama campaign,” he said.

Gara added that he’s simply following the advice of the troopers and someone should ask Stapleton why he should ignore that advice.

As to Stapleton’s e-mailed statement about Gara, he says he won’t dignify it with a comment.

Here’s what Stapleton wrote:

"This is yet another political stunt from Representative Les Gara, a Democratic Alaska state legislator who has been working with the Obama campaign since last year.

Rep. Gara's previous hijinks include sending a letter to the Alaska State Troopers making a similar baseless accusation, and engaging in a sidewalk ambush in front of television cameras and reporters.

Decisions on how to respond to subpoenas in the Legislative Council's inquiry were made by individual witnesses and their attorneys. No one from the McCain campaign provided advice to witnesses on how to respond to subpoenas.

Consistent with other efforts of Obama supporters nationwide to try to squelch legitimate political debate with baseless threats of criminal investigations of those who dare to take opposing positions, Rep. Les Gara has reverted to these tactics in Alaska once again. Law enforcement's purpose is to protect the public, not to serve a political agenda."

- Meg Stapleton

And here’s Gara’s release:

ANCHORAGE — Today an Alaska legislator called on the State's Attorney General to appoint an independent investigator to look into possible criminal witness tampering by McCain-Palin campaign staff in Alaska. Rep. Gara's call came at the suggestion of the Director of the Alaska State Troopers, who called the potential of witness tampering matter "serious.”

Director of the State Troopers, Colonel Audie Holloway, suggested in his letter that the state call on the State Troopers to hire an independent investigator.

Over the past two months McCain-Palin campaign staff tried to stop the Alaska legislature's bi-partisan Troopergate investigation, which recently concluded with a report that that state's ethics law was broken. See Michael Isakoff, Newsweek, "Can He Stop Troopergate?" (Sept. 16, 2008).

"Until Senator McCain sent campaign staff up here on August 29, everyone, including the Governor, agreed the Legislature’s investigation was proper. After the McCain staffers arrived, people who were willing to testify starting violating their subpoenas. It's not rocket science that someone worked to change their minds, and that's a crime under Alaska law," said Rep. Gara.

The legislative investigation was initiated by a bi-partisan committee of 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats in July, before Governor Palin was named to the McCain ticket. On October 10 that committee voted unanimously to release the independent investigator's report finding one ethics violation, and finding that the Attorney General had improperly withheld documents.

Alaska's witness tampering law makes it a crime to "attempt" to "induce" a person not to show up for a legislative subpoena. See statutes below. Approximately 10 witnesses failed to show for subpoenas during the Legislature's investigation into whether Governor Palin or her staff acted improperly in seeking the firing of her former brother-in-law, a State Trooper. After failing to cooperate with subpoenas, these witnesses have since provided written statements.

Starting on August 29 the McCain campaign tried to create public pressure to stop the investigation with near-daily press conferences, and participated in unsuccessful legal efforts to try to stop the investigation.

The independent investigation concluded on October 10, 2008, when the investigator's report was released by a unanimous vote of the Alaska Legislature's Legislative Council. A separate investigation by the State's Personnel Board is ongoing.

-Michael Rovito, reporter