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Palin aide skips deposition in 'troopergate' probe; Palim trying to shut his mouth

 
 
Reply Thu 4 Sep, 2008 12:58 pm
Palin aide skips deposition in 'troopergate' probe
By Lisa Demer | Anchorage Daily News
9/4/08

One of Gov. Sarah Palin's top aides was supposed to be interviewed under oath Wednesday as a key witness in the ongoing investigation into her firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. But the aide, Frank Bailey, abruptly backed out amid what his lawyer said is uncertainty over jurisdiction.

"I canceled that," Bailey's lawyer, Greg Grebe of Anchorage, said Wednesday. "I'd say about 6 o'clock last night I learned that the governor's office was contesting the jurisdiction of the Legislature to handle this matter. It's my understanding that they believe the jurisdiction is properly with the personnel department. I can't make a judgment or a call on that."

His client will cooperate with whomever ultimately is in charge of the investigation, Grebe said.

"I don't want him to be a political football being used by one side or the other and being inconvenienced in all of this hoopla. I want it done once and I want it done right," the lawyer said.

The state Legislative Council, a bipartisan panel of senators and representatives, ordered an investigation that is supposed to wrap up by Oct. 31 into whether Palin's administration abused power in the dismissal of Monegan. The heart of the matter is whether Palin, her staff or family pressured Monegan to fire her ex-brother-in-law, Trooper Mike Wooten, and then whether Palin fired her commissioner when the trooper stayed on the job. Retired state prosecutor Steve Branchflower was brought in as special counsel.

Monegan has told the Daily News that Palin sent him two or three e-mails discussing Wooten and adding to the pressure.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Monegan showed Palin's e-mails to the paper, but declined to provide copies. The story says Palin's e-mails pointed out problems with Wooten's continued employment and ridiculed a trooper investigation into Wooten's conduct.

"It was a joke, the whole year long 'investigation' of him," Palin wrote in a Feb. 7, 2007, e-mail, according to the Post. "This is the same trooper who's out there today telling people the new administration is going to destroy the trooper organization, and that he'd 'never work for that b****', Palin'.)"

That e-mail came a few weeks after Palin's husband, Todd, met with Monegan to press the case for action against Wooten based on a series of incidents including illegally shooting a moose, Tasering his stepson and drinking while driving his trooper vehicle, the newspaper said.

Palin's note recounted the transgressions, including his killing of the cow moose under his wife's permit, according to the Post. When the moose was killed, back in 2003, Palin's sister Molly McCann was married to Wooten and she drew the permit.

"He's still bragging about it in my hometown and after another cop confessed to witnessing the kill, the trooper was 'investigated' for over a year and merely given a slap on the wrist," the e-mail said, according to the Post.

That appears to contradict a background paper recently released by the McCain-Palin campaign that says the family never knew that Wooten had been disciplined, which is one reason Todd kept pressing the point.

Palin says she never pressured anybody, doesn't know that anyone on her staff did, and wasn't aware of what Todd was up to. She has called Wooten a dangerous "rogue trooper" and says that any contacts about him were legitimate. Monegan was terminated because of differences over the budget, she says.

Thomas Van Flein, an Anchorage lawyer being paid by the state to represent the governor, said he thinks only the state Personnel Board has the authority to look into what he considers an ethics matter involving the governor. He wants the Legislature to drop its investigation.

The governor is now running for vice president alongside Republican Sen. John McCain. Is the campaign calling the shots?

"I am making the legal strategy for the governor. I have a legal team. We conduct our own strategy internally. I am not working for the McCain campaign and they are not working for me," Van Flein said.

Still, questioning the Legislature's jurisdiction could tie up the case in court and delay a resolution. Van Flein said he's trying to get it sorted out this week so that doesn't happen.

Van Flein says the legislative investigation is like "a secret grand jury" and that's one of his problems with it.

Sen. Hollis French, a Democrat from Anchorage and the project's director, said the Legislature has the right to investigate and that he intends to push on. Both he and Branchflower are former state prosecutors.

"Stephen is working hard over the next two weeks to do a bunch of interviews. ... This certainly will not help him get his work done on time," French said of Bailey's cancellation.

French said he's consulting with Republican legislative leaders. The process will be fair to Palin, he said.

Palin filed an ethics complaint against herself to get the matter in front of the Personnel Board.

Nicki Neal, director of the state Division of Personnel and Labor Relations, said Wednesday that the board will meet soon in executive session -- closed to the public -- to begin its work. Palin had asked for the ethics case to be open. Neal said she'll check into how that relates to the board meetings.

Bailey, the governor's director of boards and commissions with a $78,500 annual salary, has been on paid leave since Aug. 19 as a result of what Palin has called a "smoking gun" conversation with a trooper lieutenant about Wooten. He is paying for his own lawyer.

In the phone call, which was recorded by troopers, Bailey told Lt. Rodney Dial that "Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads, 'Why on earth hasn't this, why is this guy still representing the department?' He's a horrible recruiting tool, you know."

Palin has said Bailey wasn't speaking on her behalf, and Bailey has said the same thing. The phone call doesn't prove her staff members were pushing troopers and Monegan to get Wooten fired, she has said.

Bailey will cooperate, once it's clear who's in charge, Grebe said.

"No. 1, he's still an employee of the state," Grebe said. "No . 2, he's stated publicly what his position was, which is that no one put him up to making the phone call. Sarah Palin was not involved. He is going to say the same thing under oath. This is just to try to make sure we are going through the proper legal proceedings."

Palin has made repeated public statements that she'll cooperate, and that hasn't changed at this point, Van Flein says.

What if the Legislature won't drop its investigation? "Haven't crossed that bridge yet," Van Flein said.
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BumbleBeeBoogie
 
  1  
Reply Mon 8 Sep, 2008 10:10 am
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
Anchorage Daily: Palin Is 'Stonewalling' on 'Troopergate'
By E&P Staff
Published: September 05, 2008

As we have done for the past week -- with Gov. Sarah Palin still something of an unknown, while at the same time blasting the national media -- we will continue to highlight news and views of her from the Alaska press.

The largest paper in the state, the Anchorage Daily News, today opens an editorial, "Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she's on the national stage.

"Instead, Gov. Palin has begun stonewalling the Legislature's attempt to get the bottom of allegations that she, her family or staff violated ethical or state personnel rules. As a result, the Troopergate allegations hang over Palin's future and cloud her candidacy for vice president."

Here is an excerpt from the rest, all at www.adn.com. See more Palin/media coverage at the new E&P blog, at www.eandppub.com
*

In July, when legislators started talking about conducting an investigation, Palin denied any wrongdoing and said she welcomed an investigation.

"Hold me accountable," she said.

The Legislature took her up on that offer. But this week, she basically told the Legislature, "Never mind."

Palin's lawyer has asked the Legislature to drop its investigation. He had the governor file an ethics complaint against herself, in a bid to turn the entire matter over to the state Personnel Board, which would hire an independent investigator.

This is not an open and transparent attempt to establish Gov. Palin's accountability. It is an attempt to drag out the investigation until after voters decide the fate of her vice-presidential bid.

Instead, Gov. Palin should honor her pledge to cooperate with the Legislature's investigation, conducted by former state prosecutor Steve Branchflower.

She could start by telling aide Frank Bailey he has to talk to the legislative investigator. She should fire him if he doesn't ...

Instead of trying to delay the whole thing, Palin should take a cue from U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who asked that his corruption trial be moved up so it would be completed well ahead of the November general election. Voters deserve to know the outcome of Sen. Stevens trial and the investigation into Palin.

When this investigation into Troopergate started, Gov. Palin's response was refreshingly open. Since she became the Republican candidate for vice president, her approach has changed for the worse. America deserves the same openness and ethics from vice-presidential candidate Palin that she promised to Alaska voters in 2006.
BumbleBeeBoogie
 
  1  
Reply Mon 8 Sep, 2008 10:15 am
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
Alaska Officials Weigh Subpoenas
For Palin Staff Over Firing
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
September 8, 2008

An Alaska state investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner is turning into a power struggle between the state's executive and legislative branches.

While Gov. Palin, Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate, hits the campaign trail, lawmakers in Alaska are scheduled to meet Friday to decide whether to issue subpoenas to at least seven Palin administration officials.

All of the officials had previously agreed to meet with the independent investigator looking into Gov. Palin's firing of Commissioner Walt Monegan in July. Her critics say she did so because he refused to fire a state trooper who was involved in a bitter divorce with Gov. Palin's sister.

But the state officials canceled shortly before the depositions, just after Sen. McCain picked the governor as his running mate, which gave a national profile to what had been a local controversy.

Now the governor's lawyer has forbidden her staff from any direct contact with the investigator, forcing the lawmakers to consider subpoenas, according to a news release issued Friday by the bipartisan leadership of the state House and Senate Judiciary committees. A Palin spokesman said that was a "routine" letter requiring the investigator to go through the lawyer. The spokesman, Taylor Griffin, was unable to identify any Palin aide who had talked to the investigator since the lawyer had issued the gag order.

"This was such an orderly process prior to this unique honor of Gov. Palin being selected as candidate for vice president," House Judiciary Chairman Jay Ramras, a Republican, said Sunday. "We're just trying to discharge our duty, which is to share in the oversight in addressing this issue without trying to politically charge it."

The investigation, however, could prove critical to Gov. Palin's political fortunes. She and Sen. McCain have characterized her as a hard-nosed reformer with unimpeachable integrity. That image has energized the Republican Party. The allegations, if proven true, suggest she bent the rules to her personal interests and used her office for retribution.

The Palin spokesman, Mr. Griffin, blasted Senate Judiciary Chairman Hollis French, a Democrat, for earlier comments that suggested the investigation could turn into a blow to the McCain-Palin ticket. "What was supposed to be a nonpartisan inquiry has been hijacked and converted into a political circus," Mr. Griffin said. He had no comment on the fact that leaders of both parties are supporting the subpoena hearing.

Sen. French said Sunday that lawmakers are now trying to take the political edge off of the investigation through bipartisan actions.

The governor's critics have alleged that she refused to approve Mr. Monegan's budget request and ultimately dismissed him because he didn't fire the trooper, Mike Wooten. The governor's husband, Todd Palin, allegedly tried to secure Mr. Wooten's dismissal, too. Mr. Wooten divorced the governor's sister, Molly McCann, in 2005.

Her family accused Mr. Wooten of violent and threatening behavior. An internal police investigation found Mr. Wooten guilty of shooting a moose cow without a permit and testing a taser on his stepson. He admitted to both incidents and served a five-day suspension without pay.

Palin allies, however, continued to press for his dismissal, according to the allegations. In one recorded conversation, a state employee told a State Police lieutenant: "Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads, why on earth is this guy still representing the department?"

"The emphasis should be on whether the governor and members of her administration have held the Department of Public Safety hostage over this, and whether there has been any undue influence exerted on the commissioner of public safety for personal reasons," said John Cyr, executive director of the Alaska Public Safety Employee Association, the union representing Mr. Wooten.

"The Palin family raised appropriate concerns" about Mr. Wooten's alleged behavior, said Mr. Griffin, the campaign spokesman. He denied the Palins put undue pressure on Mr. Monegan.

Mr. Griffin said the governor doesn't believe the legislative body has the authority to look into Mr. Monegan's dismissal. He couldn't say whether state officials would honor the subpoenas if issued.

The lawmakers say they don't plan to subpoena Gov. Palin herself. They said the special investigator, former prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, would be willing to talk to her by telephone or travel to meet her.

Mr. Monegan couldn't be reached for comment on Sunday. The allegations have spawned four related investigations. The union representing Mr. Wooten filed an ethics complaint last week with the state attorney general, alleging that members of the governor's administration had illegally looked at the trooper's personnel file in search of damaging information.

Mr. Branchflower's report is due Oct. 10.
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