EDITORIAL: Troopergate: Let’s move on

Sometimes things just get out of hand.

This summer, Alaska legislators were concerned enough that a Palin family matter may have influenced the governor’s use of her powers they decided to investigate. Lawmakers charged the state’s Legislative Council Committee with getting answers that would tell us if Governor Palin abused her power when she fired former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan or if she simply exercised her right to terminate an at-will employee for not doing the job as she saw it.

That was in July, when someone dubbed the controversy “Troopergate” and lawmakers approved $100,000 for the probe.

But since Aug. 29, everything’s changed.

We no longer have a bipartisan group of state legislators using its power of checks and balances to make sure Alaska is being led responsibly. We have state legislators who are aligning themselves fully behind their party stances. We have all the power of the national Republican and Democratic committees brought to bear on what had been first a family dispute and then a relatively small state issue.

The fact has always been Monegan was an at-will employee appointed by Palin, and her right to dismiss him has never been questioned, only her motivation and its appropriateness. No matter how the evidence shapes up, the issue would have been just a blip on the screen.

But that was before Alaska mattered in worldwide politics. That was before every bed Sarah Palin has slept in during her 44 years was shaken for fleas.

Sen. Hollis French, a Democrat who heads the Troopergate investigation, recently suggested the inquiry would provide an “October surprise” for the McCain-Palin campaign. He later apologized. This week, five GOP legislators, including Wes Keller of Wasilla, filed a lawsuit to halt the investigation citing partisan politics.

At the state level, Palin first said she’d welcome the Legislature’s investigation, yet now “First Dude” Todd Palin has said he won’t answer a subpoena to testify to the committee and Palin’s administration says state employees also won’t respond to subpoenas.

There’s no question Troopergate’s moved from the backyard to the national stage, and it has become politically charged. The only question now is what good option is there?

Does the investigation go forward not only under the glare of media lights but with the muscle of the two major political parties distorting the process? Should the investigation be stopped as being too tainted to go on? Should the investigation be postponed as if the outcome should have no bearing on the presidential election?

It’s disappointing to see the leadership of a state that cherishes its reputation as The Last Frontier and a haven for independent spirits so easily swayed by a national spotlight and pressure from national party officials and presidential campaigns. We know that, no matter what the outcome of the investigation, Democrats will paint Palin as a petty power monger; Republicans will nominate her for sainthood.

And no one’s minds will have changed.

In an election where huge issues loom — economy, global security, health care, education — Troopergate has become a no-see-um buzzing around our heads, not only as Alaskans, but as Americans. Should Palin be exonerated, the process will be labeled a Republican cover-up; if wrongdoing is found, the governor will be painted a victim of a Democratic hatchet job attempting to derail her candidacy.

If this Troopergate probe cannot give the people of Alaska what they deserve — an untainted explanation and conclusion — then somebody needs to just squash it.