Troopergate tug-of-war continues

MAT-SU — Area Democrats are calling the GOP-backed lawsuit seeking to stop the so-called “Troopergate” inquiry ludicrous.

Five Republican state legislators, including Wasilla Rep. Wes Keller, sued Tuesday to stop the investigation because they say it has been “hijacked” by Democrats.

Reached on his cell phone Tuesday, Keller said Troopergate’s independent investigator Stephen Branchflower, Democrats Sen. Kim Elton, the chair of the Legislative Council Committee, and Sen. Hollis French, who’s heading up the investigation, all have political axes to grind.

But the Republican claim that the investigation has been hijacked doesn’t hold weight, said Kevin Brown, chair of the Mat-Su Democrats, who said Republicans themselves seem to be the hijackers.

Brown said it’s important to remember a bi-partisan panel made up of eight Republicans and four Democrats voted to authorize the investigation before Gov. Sarah Palin was on the Republican presidential ticket.

“Four people can’t really hijack much of anything,” Brown said.

Palin had initially told reporters she welcomed the investigation, adding she has nothing to hide and a formal inquiry would prove that. Since being named to the Republican ticket, however, the John McCain presidential campaign has involved itself and Palin now has a lawyer defending her and her husband during the investigation.

That involvement has prompted some Alaskans to say the McCain-Palin campaign itself has hijacked state government in an effort to quash the investigation into whether Palin abused her office when she fired former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

On Thursday, Brown said recent tactics by the McCain campaign and some Republican state lawmakers show a “level of desperation.”

“One of the things the Republicans who are currently screaming foul seem to keep forgetting is it’s perfectly possible an investigation could reveal she has nothing to hide,” Brown said. “I’m a big believer in trust but verify. In this case, the governor herself said investigate, hold me accountable.”

But on Tuesday, District 13 Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, said he feels the Democratic party has everything to gain from an investigation into Palin.

“The Democratic party is a beneficiary if we can embarrass the governor,” Gatto said.

Hearing that, Gatto’s opponent in the general election, Democrat David Cheezem, said it sounds to him like Gatto is the one politicizing the investigation.

“Carl Gatto defended the attempt by a partisan group of Republicans to stop the investigation that Sarah Palin herself said she welcomed,” Cheezem said in a written statement. “Carl Gatto should be spending his time dealing with the real problems impacting Alaskans”

The infiltration by the McCain campaign isn’t “letting Sarah be Sarah,” Cheezem said.

A new pair of McCain representatives calling themselves the “Palin Truth Squad,” have held a series of press conferences with what they call conclusive evidence vindicating Palin from any wrong doing.

The truth squad is comprised of Meg Stapleton, a former Palin spokeswoman, and Ed O’Callaghan, a McCain-Palin spokesman who up until a few weeks ago was prosecuting terrorism and national security cases for the Justice Department before joining McCain’s campaign.

In a press conference this week, Stapleton and O’Callaghan said Monegan was fired because of insubordination, obstructionist conduct and brazen refusal to follow required channels for requesting money.

Stapleton was asked why, if Monegan has a history of insubordination, was he initially offered another job as head of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Stapleton responded by saying without having to deal with budget concerns, Monegan could focus on alcohol abuse issues.

In an interview with the Associated Press Monday, Monegan said Palin never raised concerns about his management.

Stapleton and O’Callaghan did not offer evidence proving if Palin did or didn’t pressure Monegan to fire her ex-brother-in-law, a state-trooper in a messy divorce with her sister.

To at least to one area politician, the so-called truth squad is “ridiculous.”

Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake, said while he fully believes Palin has nothing to hide in the Troopergate investigation, he has no idea why the McCain-Palin campaign is pushing back so hard against the inquiry.

“Obviously they feel there is some political reason there,” Neuman said.

He went on to say the fact that Elton and French, the two senators, are Obama supporters, it gives the public the sense that something inappropriate might be going on.

Even so, like Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla, who was the swing vote in approving to issue subpoena to some Palin staff and Todd Palin, Neuman said it’s time to get the facts on the table.

“No one should have anything to hide,” Neuman said.

What happens next with the Troopergate investigation is unclear.

State Senate President Lyda Green told the Associated Press she doesn’t think actions by “outside interlopers” will derail the investigation.

“I see no reason why we need to have infighting over a previously authorized investigation that still has its original purpose,” said Green, who is a Palin critic.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252. The Associated Press contributed to this report.