GOP's Report On Troopergate Clears Palin

Hours Before Lawmakers' Report Due, Republican Campaign Releases Its Own Findings To "Prove" VP Pick's Action Legitimate

(CBS/AP)  Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing.

Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law.

Lawmakers are expected to release their own findings Friday, after Alaska's Supreme Court refused to shut down the investigation in a decision Thursday. Campaign officials have yet to see that report - the result of an probe that began before she was tapped as McCain's running mate - but said the investigation has falsely portrayed a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner as something inappropriate.

"The following document will prove Walt Monegan's dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administration," campaign officials wrote. "Trooper Wooten is a separate issue."

Monegan said Thursday that he doesn't know what to expect from the legislative panel's own report.

"I just hope that the truth is figured out," Monegan told The Associated Press on Thursday. "That the governor did want me to fire him, and I chose to not. You just can't walk up to someone and say, 'I fire you.' He didn't do anything under my watch to result in termination."

Palin's critics say that shows she used her office to settle family affairs.

"When you're the governor, you leave your household hat at home and you become governor," said state Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican who has frequently clashed with Palin.

Palin's husband and top aides said in affidavits provided to The Associated Press that the governor remained in the dark while Todd Palin repeatedly asked top state officials to help get his former brother-in-law kicked off the state police force.

The affidavits filed with investigators late Wednesday will probably help Palin's defense that the firing was not a tit-for-tat, but they also portray her as uninvolved while her husband met repeatedly with her aides about family affairs. That could provide fodder for her political opponents.

“Todd Palin’s statements may help provide the Governor some degree of cover in the probe,” said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs, “but the level of his involvement here will probably raise even more questions and this continues to be a political distraction to the McCain campaign.”

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Todd Palin's Affadavits In "Troopergate" Investigation

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The campaign's report instead blames former campaign opponent, Andrew Halcro, who has a blog, of conspiring with Wooten to pin Monegan's dismissal on the family's dispute with Wooten. Three days after Monegan was fired, they say, Wooten told his ex-wife, Palin's sister, that: "You guys are going down. Get ready for the show."

Two days after that confrontation, they say, Halcro and Wooten met at a hotel bar in Anchorage for more than three hours - and that evening, Halcro posted the first accusations on his blog that Monegan had been fired because of a vendetta against Wooten by the Palin family.

"It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger after drinks with Trooper Wooten led the legislature to allocate over $100,000 of public money to be spent in what has become a politically driven investigation," the 21-page report concludes.

Although the report describes Wooten as a separate issue, the McCain campaign goes into great detail about the "rogue" trooper and his "long history of unstable and erratic behavior." The campaign describes allegations of violence, including threatening Palin's family and shooting his stepson with a stun gun.

The report also includes allegations that Wooten cheated the workers' compensation system. Todd Palin has said he had numerous conversations with government officials about why Wooten was allowed to stay on the job.

"The Palins make no apologies for wanting to protect their family and wanting to bring attention to the injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge and abusing the workers' compensation system."

But Todd Palin said he never pressured anyone, including his wife.

The McCain campaign says the investigation has become "muddied with innuendo, rumor and partisan politics."

[misha128-2009]

"Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing."

THE MCCAIN/PALIN ANSWER TO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING NOW LIE, LIE AND LIE SOME MORE.

[sparks224]

Nov 4th 2008
High Noon for Democracy

Millions of people will attempt to vote for Barack Obama,
thousands of Republican lawyers will attempt to stop them.

[dennisam01]

Well Hell I bet OJ wants to do hisown investigation andfind himself not guilty too but you know what ya just can''t do that it ain''t that easy Sorry Sarah will just have to wait for the REAL investigator to be done .

[maggietexas4]

In McCain''s next interview, you need to ask him why he doesn''t tell Palin. . . . ."when someone in the audience says something so terrible as ''kill him'' or ''terrorist'' she should tell them to shut up and never say anything so horrible." This type of thing won''t get additional votes for McCain. He already has the "nut" vote. He is ruining his legacy. He is pathetic to have someone so low class like Palin on the ticket. Even if by some miracle he should win the election, there will never be respect for him and never ever any respect for Palin.

[scallywag8]

Like I said before, the Republican party is all about power and control. Greedy, self centered, egotistical, power hungry crooks. They will even stab each other in the back.

[ossifier]

Mccain and Palin display nothing but utter contempt for the intelligence of American citizens. Corruption, hate, failure and lies have become the hallmark of the modern conservative movement.

[beader59]

And we are supoose to take Palin seriously. This type of person is no different than the Bush Admin who believe they are above the law. What a joke.

[scallywag8]

She''s just trying to put lipstick on a pig.

[inventagod2]

...and when Bu$h and Cheney are indicted for the 9/11 atrocities, they will clear their good names too!

Republicons are so far above the law, they have become gods...

[scallywag8]

Can she go any lower? Her an McCain need to just leave the country. No one will have any respect left for either of them by the time they are done.

[getreeltex]

What''s the difference between Bush and Palin?


Lipstick.


lol!

[scallywag8]

Anyone, I mean anyone who votes for Palin and McCain are just plane idiots.

[scallywag8]

I know you mean well, but please don''''t insult a poor pig?

Posted by sun247 at 12:17 AM : Oct 10, 2008

I''m sorry. Tomorrow I''ll go out and pet a pig and beg forgiveness.

[skysoldier75]

Unbelievable...simply unbelievable.

Nobody, not even Sarah Palin, can really, truly be this incredibly dumb, can they?

[misha128-2009]

Since Palin has been campaigning as of late McCain has pulled out of Michigan and the betters have given NH, OH, VA, FL and today NC to Obama. MO is now evenly split and IN and WV are drifting away from McCain.

There are several Electoral Maps indicating Mccain continues to need to flip more and more blue states red. The count now is around 7.

[mensarino]

We already have a vice-president who thinks he''s above the law.We certainly don''t need another-----what a crook!

[powersmaker]

"If ever there were a time when experience matters, this is it." - McCain. That may be why McCain has said, "We don''t have time for on-the-job training, my friends."

That obviously does not apply to Sarah, who has no foreign policy experience (other than living close to Russia) or experience with issues on a national scale.

What a joke. I really think McCain is going to die of a heart attack ... he is going loopy .... the wheels are gonna come off.

[scallywag8]

I bet she tries to put lipstick on her f@rts.

[rhs648]

Question. Many posters conclude that Governor Palin abused her authority as governor without waiting for the official report that will be released tomorrow. If the official report clears Governor Palin, will these posters retract their words or continue their accusations of wrongdoing by Governor Palin?

[cattiej]

Sarah Palin, the barracudda that most of us have never heard of until John McCain named her as his running mate, is an accident waiting to happen.
Can you imagine our country being run by these two outrageous and shameful, lying people. Talk about starting a dictatorship...that''s what our government would be if they would be elected. They both love to incite people, no matter what the issue is. Both of these people should scare the heck out of you. I can see how McCain made it thru being a POW, he is a stubborn person and being the son and grandson of Navy Admirals, he never wanted for money. The North Koreans never wanted to kill him, he was too valuable because of his father being an Admiral. McCain was a member of the Keating 5. Where is the honesty. There is none. Well, at least when McCain/Palin loose, McCain will have 8 homes to retire to, and Sarah can go back to shooting off her gun in Alaska. She can go back to trying to make Alaska it''s own country like they were trying to do before Sarah got the nod from McCain. What a crazy pair they make...It would be funny if it wasn''t so very sad for our country.

[arthurcl1]

Ha, the GOP wanted the Alasaka State Supreme Court to sqaush this from the public thinking we are not smart to know it''s another Bush Mcain Trooper Gate Scandal!
But the Court refused to shut this down! GOOOD!
Lawmakers are expected to release their own findings Friday, after Alaska''s Supreme Court refused to shut down the investigation in a decision Thursday. Campaign officials have yet to see that report - the result of an probe that began before she was tapped as McCain''s running mate - but said the investigation has falsely portrayed a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner as something inappropriate.

[estabwary]

It''s silly season.

[scallywag8]

Question. Many posters conclude that Governor Palin abused her authority as governor without waiting for the official report that will be released tomorrow. If the official report clears Governor Palin, will these posters retract their words or continue their accusations of wrongdoing by Governor Palin?

Posted by rhs648 at 12:23 AM : Oct 10, 2008

NO?

[incog-nito]

Next time I get a speeding ticket, I will tell the judge that my own investigation has found that I wasn''t speeding. I''m sure he''ll buy that.

[getreeltex]

Wait a minute, we''ve seen this before.


Bush investigates himself and finds no evidence of wrongdoing.


Next time you run a red light, get caught speeding, or doing anything at all to break the law, just investigate yourself and clear yourself of all wrongdoing!


Apparently Republicans think that being above the law is just one of many executive privileges.

[honesttalk]

This is a nonsense issue. It''s just a political vendetta with no legs and the Governor will be OK.

Now in more serious issues, what about Obama denials or changing the stories about Rezko, Ayers, ACOR, etc.etc?????

[powersmaker]

rhs648 -

I don''t care whether she is cleared or not. If she is cleared, it does not make her qualified for vice president. It''s a distraction ... kinda like all the jiberish coming out of the McCain campaign about Obama''s past.

[citizenusa-2009]

Today Esquire magazine backed the first Pres candidate in 75 years, Obama. They noted that Palin is shockingly UNQUALIFIED and basically, if we vote for McLame, it will be a re-run of the past 8 years.

The American people have FINALLY awoken after THOUSANDS HAVE DIED AND TRILLIONS HAVE BEEN SPENT TO FEED THE REPUBLICAN MACHINE.

[pensacola98]

The Governor is responsible for everything that happens in his or her office.

Saying that the employee was fired because the spouse of the governor told us to do it is a very lame excuse.

This speaks of a personal ineffectiveness issue on the part of the governor.

Governor Palin is responsible for what happened in her office. Passing the buck to her spouse is not an excuse.

How will the citizens of our nation be confident in Sarah Palin''s ability to discharge the duties of the Vice President without contamination or interference from her spouse?

[getreeltex]

50: the number of days after Palin announced she "will fully cooperate" with an ethics investigation into the "Troopergate" scandal that the McCain campaign announced she was "unlikely to cooperate" because it had been "hijacked" by Obama operatives. The probe was unanimously authorized by a bipartisan panel of eight Alaska Republicans and four Democrats.




lol!

[croft777]

This is a sick world we live in. This election is tainted, why vote? So Obama Lama ding dong paid Acorn $800,000 dollars back during the primaries to get him those new voters, and these new voters don%u2019t exist. They are dead people, invisible people whose address is at a restaurant. Now the FBI is in on this one. its a big one... not some petty thing that took the minds of some Obama Kool-Aid drinking supporters, but the mind of "that one" who is arrogant, deceiving, a lying tongue, Mr. ego who thinks he%u2019s the Messiah. Yeah you Obama, I can%u2019t prove it, but yeah I know you%u2019re in on this one. You want to win that bad, that you have to cheat and you get all of those supporters to cheat for you. Like Charles Manson, you sit back and watch their destruction, but you%u2019ll be caught, just like Charlie did. This sh*it was probably happening during the primaries too. Hillary won, we all know it. Well I hope they get you good, Hillary will be taking you%u2019re place, you%u2019ll be making new boy friends in prison, along with you%u2019re clan. 200,000 more registered voters then there are eligible adults in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Fraudulent votes in Indiana, where else? I heard many and how many more? Looks to be like the battle ground states, the states Obama was not winning. How many of these dead people and invisible non existent people already cast their vote? This is all a set up. Obama needs to be dropped from the race.
acorn has done this before

[misha128-2009]

The following headline says it all --

Obama Plans Transition; McCain Doesn''t

[getreeltex]

The Alaskan public safety commissioner fired by Sarah Palin was contacted three dozen times over 19 months by the governor and her staff, who were pressuring him to get Palin''s former brother-in-law, a state trooper, off the force, reports the New York Times.


Good news!


She''s investigated herself and found that she''s completely innocent of any wrong doing!

[mensarino]

Croft----Immaterial even if true,Obama will win by a landslide.

[skysoldier75]

You poor, poor Republicans!

Just when it seems that things can''t possibly get any worse for your party, Palin and McCain prove us wrong again.

I''m actually beginning to feel genuinely sorry for the GOP now, in a way. Nobody really deserves to be stuck with a total ditz like Palin.

This just really looks bad. I don''t think the American people are going to be impressed.

[toby2958]

Oh, look. Failin has cleared herself. How cute!!

[scallywag8]

If Palin was innocent there would not be a problem with investigating. It is obvious she has something to hide.

[getreeltex]

croft777



Yawwwwnn....


It''s not working but reaching shorty.


lol!

[powersmaker]

croft777 -

Toooot!!!

[lemonskink]

Sure, I believe them.

http://www.ronnierayjenkins.com/topics/education/The_Ballad_of_Caribou_Barbie/

[croft777]

Croft----Immaterial even if true,Obama will win by a landslide.


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Posted by mensarino at 12:29 AM : Oct 10, 2008


Hey corn nuggett, if they find out that Obama is in on the fraud with ACORN, do you understand that he will be thrown in prison, federal offense.You won''t have to worry about him getting those votes. He''s corrupt, and corrupt in the worst sense.

[toby2958]

If I were a republican, I''d be really really really embarrassed right now. LOL!

[powersmaker]

croft777 -

did someone step on a duck?

[mensarino]

Croft----Don''t hold your breath------too many "ifs" in your hypothetical,sweetcakes.

[skysoldier75]

Tina Fey''s dreams just came true...

[mensarino]

Well,you are outnumbered,redneck.

[croft777]

Well,you are outnumbered,redneck.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by mensarino at 12:35 AM : Oct 10, 2008


Rather be that, even though I''m not, than a radical towell heads that God will one day destroy.

[ossifier]

Croft,
You may want to uptitrate your meds. If you need advice, start with haldol. Works wonders for schizophrenia.

[inventagod2]

This is the best the Repugs could find?

[harbinger09]

LOL. Of course the GOP report exonerates Palin--they better unless they just want to throw in the towel on the election.

Now everyone except the GOP base will be waiting for the real, official report. Thank you.