A Day after a State investigator, working for the Alaska Legislature, found that Sarah Palin violated state ethics laws and abused her power as Governor by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from the state police, Sarah Palin fired back.
The alleged abusive brother-in-law is pictured to the right ---- >>>
"If you read the report, you will see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member," Palin said as boarded her campaign bus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "You got to read the report."
Her attornies were a little more blunt. "Here, there is no accusation, no finding and no facts that money or financial gain to the governor was involved in the decision to replace Monegan," the lawyers said.
Any abuse of power, they said, was on the part of the Legislative Council members, not the Palins.
"Sen. French and Sen. Green may have abused their government power by using public money to pursue a personal vendetta against the governor..."
"Put bluntly, Branchflower completely misapplied the Ethics Act and has instead sought to create a headline to smear the governor," the lawyers wrote.
The entire investigation stems from the firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who oversees the state police. Monegan claims he was let go because he would not take action against Trooper Mike Wooten. Wooten used to be married to Palin's sister and is accused of threatening and being abusive t the family.
Monegan's refusal to fire Trooper Wooten from the state police force was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor to fire him, the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower states.
In other words, Branchflower says it was not criminal, maybe not even imporper, but it still wasn't the right thing to do.
Sarah Palin is a very popular Governor, but she has enemies in both parties because she made her name as a whistle blower against corruption.
It seems it is payback time.
6 comments:
"Branchflower Report to the Legislative Council
Page 8 of 263
II Findings
Findings Number One
For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides "The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.""
The concept of the public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government, and its seminal idea that; within the public, lies the true power and future of a society, therefore, whatever trust the public places in its officials must be respected.
One of the reasons why bribery is regarded as a notorious evil is that it contributes to a culture of corruption in which public trust is eroded.
A famous example of the betrayal of public trust is in the story of Julius Caesar, who was killed by Roman senators who believed they had to act drastically to preserve the republic against his alleged monarchical ambitions. It is an interesting concept, nevertheless.
America can now be not so proud to add another not so famous incident of rape of the public trust.
Sarah Palin, You are not trustworthy.
Distrust is worse than just the absence of trust. It rears its ugly head when you actively expect that the other guy will take advantage of you, when you have reason to suspect that, given a chance, your “friends” will further their own interests and ignore yours
Distrust generates an expectation of potential harm.
Dear Ms. Palin,
Do America and the human species a favor, step down and out of politics, and stop having children.
Citizens for a Better America.
It is truly a disgrace that women around the country feel well represented by Palin. I understand that women want to have a female VP but I don't think that this person has the experience nor the inteligence or at least political sense to be that. Let's not forget people that we are talking about the VP of the US, not about voting for american idol. I ask all the Palin's fans if they honestly think that she is the right woman to be the face of the american women? Think before answering.
this bitch needs to take her ass back to Alaska
GUILTY OF ABUSE OF POWER
hmmm, sounds an awful lot like Nixon
An interview was held with Gov. Sarah Palin and members of the Alaska Media. Here's that interview. Imagine this person as an official of the executive branch of US government (Vice President.) Remember she was found in violation of the State of Alaska Executive Ethics Branch Act, by an independent investigator Stephan Branchflower
Palin: 'Very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all'
Sarah Palin's tortured logic allows her to state that she has been cleared of any ethical breaches
Somewhere Richard Nixon is rolling over in his grave and wondering why he resigned, all he had to do was talk about all the good that he had done.and remember Nixon was the first president to visit China. Of course he also obstructed justice, and prolonged the Vietnam War while bombing Laos and Cambodia, and is responsible for the presence of the Khymer Rouge in Cambodia and the Killing fields. Let's not give Sarah Palin any more power than she has as Governor. He words and logic are so twisted she could have you believe that she could bend a spoon with her mind!
An interview was held with Gov. Sarah Palin and members of the Alaska Media. Here's that interview. Imagine this person as an official of the executive branch of US government (Vice President.) Remember she was found in violation of the State of Alaska Executive Ethics Branch Act, by an independent investigator Stephan Branchflower
Palin: 'Very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all'
Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: October 11, 2008 - 4:28 pm
Comments (266) | Recommend (6)
From Lisa Demer in Anchorage --
Gov. Sarah Palin took about 5 minutes and 30 seconds Saturday afternoon to talk by phone with Alaska reporters and give her view of the Troopergate investigation. She called the case "Tasergate," a reference to an earlier finding from a trooper investigation that her former brother-in-law used a Taser on his stepson.
Meghan Stapleton, a campaign spokeswoman, opened the conference call and limited questions to one from each reporter. On the line: the ADN, KTVA-Channel 11 and KTUU-Channel 2. Palin could apparently hear us only when an operator turned on our individual lines (which probably explains why there was no response to my follow-up question).
Listen to the interview here:
Here's a transcript:
Palin: Hey, thank you so, Meg. Thank you so much. Thank you also to our local reporters up there in Alaska. Even hearing your names make me feel like I'm right there with you at home. It's good to get to speak with you. Let me talk a little bit about the Tasergate issue if you guys would let me and, Meg, you want me to just jump right on in there?
Stapleton: Sure governor, go ahead.
Palin: OK cool.
Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that. Todd did what anyone would have done given this state trooper's very, very troubling behavior and his dangerous threats against our family. Todd did what I think any Alaskan would do.
And he, Todd did what the state's Department of Law Web site tells anyone to do if they have a concern about a state trooper. And that's you go to the commissioner and you express your concern. And Todd did what our personal detail asked him to do. Bob Cockrell early on as I was elected and was asked are there any threats against you, and Todd brought the concern as I did to Commissioner Monegan about the state trooper's threats. He did what any – I think -- any rational person would do so again, nothing to apologize there with Todd's actions and again very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing.
(Stapleton invites the first question).
ADN: Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case?
Palin: Not at all and I'll tell you, it, I think that you're always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving. In this case I knew that I had to have the right people in the right position at the right time in this cabinet to best serve Alaskans, and Walt Monegan was not the right person at the right time to meet the goals that we had set out in our administration. So no, not having done anything wrong, and again very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all.
ADN: Have you read the whole report? (No response; Stapleton invites question from KTVA reporter).
KTVA-Channel 11: … The report that came out yesterday, do you think that the end result is partisan?
Palin: Yeah, I did think it did turn into a partisan circus to tell you the truth. Yes I did. You know from Day One it's been the Personnel Board that clearly laid out in state statute there -- Personnel Board deals with any issue of question regarding a governor, a lieutenant governor or an attorney general in the state of Alaska. What this legislative investigation -- quote unquote -- turned into was a political circus.
KTUU-Channel 2: Governor, so good to hear from you. Do you approve of the way that your campaign has handled themselves here in Alaska? We've had a lot of people voice concerns about what they call attacks of good people in our state while you are away.
Palin: Well I haven't heard of any attacks on good people in Alaska from our campaign. If you have specifics there, maybe I could answer specifically. But no, in John McCain's mission here, in taking the high road, as you're going to see too with a lot of unfair shots he has taken in this campaign with some of his opponents' supporters, McCain and I taking the high road, being positive. I wouldn't support nor would I condone taking shots at any good Alaskans.
KTUU-Channel 2: Let me answer your question since you asked for specifics.
Palin: Sure.
KTUU-Channel 2: Walt Monegan was called "rogue." How do you feel about that?
Palin: Rogue isn't a negative term when you consider that in a cabinet you need a team effort going forward with a governor's agenda. And our agenda has been to find efficiencies in every department and make sure that we are serving the people of Alaska to the best of our ability given the resources that we have. And remember I fought very hard to increase funding for state troopers so that we could fill positions there and goals not being met that included not being able to recruit and retain all the state troopers that I wanted to best serve Alaska. That could be characterized I think as a cabinet member who – it's not a negative term I think -- being rogue in terms of not meeting those goals.
The Branchflower report
Posted by Alaska_Politics
FINDINGS:
Finding Number One
For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides
The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.
Finding Number Two
I find that, although Walt Monegan's refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin's firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.
Finding Number Three
Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten's workers' compensation claim property and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers' compensation benefits to which he was entitled.
Finding Number Four
The Attorney General's office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for infomration about the case in the form of emails.
From the Branchflower report
Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired. She had the authority and power to require Mr. Palin to cease contacting subordinates, but she failed to act.
Such impermissible and repeated contacts create conflicts of interests for subordinate employees who must choose to either please a superior or run the risk of facing that superior's displeasure and the possible consequences of such displeasure. This was one of the very reasons the Ethics Act was promulgated by the Legislature.
***
Governor Palin has stated publicly that she and her family feared Trooper Wooten. Yet the evidence presented has been inconsistent with such claims of fear. The testimony from Trooper Wheeler, who was part of her security detail from the start, was that shortly after elected to office, she ordered a substantial reduction in manpower in her personal protection detail ... an act that is inconsistent with a desire to avoid harm from Trooper Wooten or others.
...It is noteworthy that in almost every contact with the subordinate employees, Mr. Palin's comments were couched in terms of his desire to see Trooper Wooten fired for reasons that had nothing to do with fear. His comments were always couched in terms that he was a bad Trooper, that he was not a good recruiting image for the AST, that his discipline amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist, that nothing had happened to him following the administrative investigation, and so forth...
I conclude that such claims of fear were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins' real motivation: to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family related reasons.
Sarah Palin's tortured logic allows her to state that she has been cleared of any ethical breaches
Somewhere Richard Nixon is rolling over in his grave and wondering why he resigned, all he had to do was talk about all the good that he had done.and remember Nixon was the first president to visit China. Of course he also obstructed justice, and prolonged the Vietnam War while bombing Laos and Cambodia, and is responsible for the presence of the Khymer Rouge in Cambodia and the Killing fields. Let's not give Sarah Palin any more power than she has as Governor. He words and logic are so twisted she could have you believe that she could bend a spoon with her mind!
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