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NewslettersAlaska panel finds Palin abused power in firing
By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday. The politically charged inquiry imperiled her reputation as a reformer on John McCain's Republican ticket.
Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report by a bipartisan panel that investigated the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.
The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.
The report found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. "I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."
Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
Palin and McCain's supporters had hoped the inquiry's finding would be delayed until after the presidential election to spare her any embarrassment and to put aside an enduring distraction as she campaigns as McCain's running mate in an uphill contest against Democrat Barack Obama.
But the panel of lawmakers voted to release the report, although not without dissension. There was no immediate vote on whether to endorse its findings.
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And they came to this conclusion without so much as an interview with the principals. Sure makes for an easy indictment, huh?
Is being a maverick breaking the laws? I thought that is what we call crooks.
And why did Palin do this? Becuase she was POed at a former brother-in-law. Boy what would she do if she had real power like as Vice-President? She is dangerous and not to be trusted becasue if she would use her office to do that fire someone over some petty personal grudge think of what she would do to those that disagree with her.
This is going right over your head, sthelena. Take some good advice and go back and read what has been posted. A decision on SP was made by SP haters without so much as a talk with those being discussed.
You don't have to break a law to be a maverick. Maybe you should google "maverick".
The report from the Associated Reporter published a half truth and not the whole truth which shows he is biased. And lots of people will read it and naively believe it. READ THE WHOLE REPORT.
The second finding was, "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."
This investigation was politically motivated by Palin's enemies to embarrass her. Why else would a legislative committee investigate a lawful decision by a governor to fire someone she hired?
No laws were broken and nothing came from the investigation except some biased headlines. Waste of taxpayer dollars.
Commissioner Monegan refused to fire a deadbeat cop that threatened people and family with his uniform and Taser. Why? Palin did the right thing and fired the deadbeat cop's boss. The deadbeat cop is receiving unemployment compensation. The guy should be in jail before he hurts someone.
"A long-awaited Alaska legislative report concluded that Republican Sen. John McCain's vice-presidential running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, abused her authority and broke state ethics law by trying to remove her former brother-in-law from his job as a state trooper."
Broke state ethcis laws, but maybe she didnot break any other laws. Isnt that enough. Abused her authority. Imagine what she could do as Vice Prez. She would probably have her former brother in law on death row within the week.
and bill clinton did not have a cigar epesode in the white house LOL.
The one story I read said there were more republicans than democrats on the panel. The head of the group was a republican. If those are Palin haters maybe they are on to something.
Maybe you should get your facts straight.
Sthelena, YOUR "facts" are non-existent. SP is not liked by the AK congress because she went against the "good ol' boy" grain, Dem and Repub alike. She apparently made some pols angry. And anybody who makes a pol angry is okay in my book.
so everyone in Alaska hates Palin. That's good to know.
Come on now she got caught doing something wrong and isnt woman enough to stand up and be honest about it. I just read another story where it said Palin and gang wanted to prosecute the brother in law for shooting a moose. The guy used his wife's permit, that would be palin's sister, and palin's daddy butchered the moose. Both of those are crimes according to the head of the police there but Palin only wanted to single out the brother in law.
Palin = crook. Look alaska is filled with them so that is nothing new.
Now, see, you keep putting your foot in your mouth. SP is VERY popular in AK. The ones who hate her are the self-important pols, Dem & Repub. That's the kind of POTUS we need...one who will shake up Congress and wake up America. Is JM that guy? I doubt is seriously. But neither is BO. They are both losers. We need SP's fire in an experienced POTUS. We'll never get that in this election from either side.
At any rate, you are rally looking foolish on here with each additional post.
Now, see, you keep putting your foot in your mouth. SP is VERY popular in AK. The ones who hate her are the self-important pols, Dem & Repub. That's the kind of POTUS we need...one who will shake up Congress and wake up America.
At any rate, you are rally looking foolish on here with each additional post.
Maybe you know something the rest of us dont. Palin is running for Vice Pres. Do you already have a plan for her to dispatch Mccain and suddenly become Pres? Can you explain how she is going to suddenly become the President when she is running as Vice. Pretty good title for her since she is a common crook politician.
Not that the pair of crooks will win, but
"at any rate, you are rally looking foolish on here with each additional post."
sthelena, you are correct that a large majority of the panel conducting the probe were Republicans, but that is irrelevant to some people on this site. Facts are obscured or twisted to meet the needs of those mental midgets. They will argue you into the ground, attack you, etc. and at the end of the day you will gain little additional information or insight from them.......in other word, you are wasting your time.
Here is a link to a brief article about the probe. I don't think that most of the words are too long or complicated for your critics.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4998XF20081010
Here are just a few of the multitude of issues that have change from time to time.
Character is important.......no, character is not important......yes, character is important.......no, character is not important......
Popularity is important......no, popularity is not important......yes, popularity is important.....
Women's rights are important.....no, women's rights are not important.......yes, women's rights are important.........
Keep governments out of businesses.......no, let governments bail-out businesses.....no, keep governments out of businesses......
Stop socialism and all government giveaway programs.......no, keep public schools.......no, stop socialism and all government giveaway programs.....no, keep public schools....
Vicious campaign lies are OK.......no, vicious campaign lies are not OK.......yes, vicious campaign lies are OK..........
Freedom of religion is important......no, you can't be a Muslim........freedom of religion is important.......no, you can't be a Muslim......
Our Historic downtown should be preserved......No, our historic downtown should be turned into condos......our historic downtown should be preserved........
we want change.....no, elect Donnie Beer as Mayor.....LOL
As I recall, Sarah Palin commented on this herself during an interview early on, about Tasers used on her nephew, even documented death threats from this guy - Her sister's hubby was a menace and nutcase rolled into one, and deserved to be fired, among other things.
But as usual, leave it to the Dems to tell the only half the truth.
Either they have very lax ethics laws or this was the lightest slap on the wrists ever.
I've always found the issue of ethics 'laws' to be an oxymoron. How do you teach ethics? Amusing, huh?
Yeah, a woman made an effort to protect her sister who had been abused by the cop who was supposed to be fired, and a cop who used a taser on her nephew. And his boss who was covering for him. She could be the most liberal democrat in the world and I'd support her on what she did,
Is this another suggestion that it is OK for an elected official to be unethical as long as they don't break the law? If so, it sounds like more of the same to me. Washington is filled with elected officials who are not concerned about ethics, but do everything that they can to "skirt" the laws. I thought that most people wanted to "throw the bums out" for that reason, among others.
I also thought that attorneys believe that there is a judicial system to decide if a person is guilty and what their punishment, if any, should be. But now you seem to be suggesting that it is OK to leave it up to the Governor to decide. Confusing....
You are certainly aware of how nasty things can get during the process of a divorce. Allegations, accusations, etc. go wild..and usually the truth is somewhere in the middle of all of the claims of each side/party. Getting involved in such matters is often a big mistake.
Ethics violations don't seem to amount to much unless there is a hot issue to the public. After all, Barney Frank has been reelected and even given the chairmanship of the powerful House Finance Committee. After his episodes, this NYT article sums up the fallout:
"The New York Times reported on July 20, 1990, that the House Ethics Committee recommended "that Representative Barney Frank receive a formal reprimand from the House for his relationship with a male prostitute."[4] Attempts to expel or censure Frank, led by Republican member Larry Craig (who himself was later embroiled in his own homosexual scandal), failed.[5][6] Rather, the House voted 408-18 to reprimand him.[7] This condemnation was not reflected in Frank's district, where he won re-election in 1990 with 66 percent of the vote, and has won by larger margins ever since."
Breaking laws gets more attention than ethics violations. So far, there is no censure for Palin and not likely to happen.
This proves it is not safe to elect her for Vice President.
She allowed her husband to have direct access to her own staff and they called to ask why the govorner's ex brother in law (the guy who shoots kids with tasers and threatens the governor's family with bodily harm) had not been fired. I bet if we dig further we will find out that someone was sitting in a lawn chair when this happened. (I've heard they are more comfortable then bleachers). Will someone please ask Steve Tully what he knows about this whole situation.
Jed
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Some of you say they convicted her with out so much as questioning her . Well if you do some research you will find they did supina her to testify in her own behalf but she resisted the supina as did her husband . She used what she called executive privilege . Hello she has not been elected yet , there for she has no executive privilege . Now she has abused the power of the office of the Vice president . Which not only dose she not hold nor should she ever hold . What a joke
She and others were exercising their right to delay appearing for 90 days. Look it up. But those who would prefer to give her a bad name before the elections "convicted" (You really ARE clueless.) her without due process.
Joke indeed!
. . .she has no executive privilege . Now she has abused the power of the office of the Vice president . Which not only dose she not hold nor should she ever hold . What a joke
1. I really thought that being the governor of a state was an executive position.
2. I don't understand how one can abuse a power one does not posess.
3. Is there a spell checker on this blog. or do I need to type first in a word processing program so I can run spell check before I paste on here?
Get a Mac. hehe!
If you have the Google toolbar you can use the ABC check function. It rocks!