Sarah Palin: Investigation ReportReveals Abuse of Power

John McCain’s running mate violated “ethics rules” when firing Alaska’s Commissioner of Public Safety. That is the conclusion of the investigation report on the Troopergate issue. Senator Sarah Palin denies any accusation.

With John McCain struggling in the polls, the report released on the Troopergate issue really set the cat among the pigeons. According to a group of Alaskan Republican and Democratic lawmakers, it was a real abuse of power when Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate, dismissed Alaska’s Commissioner of Public Safety. Rumor has it that the candidate for vice-presidency was actually taking care of family issues when violating her home-state’s ethics rules.

The case, also known as the Troopergate issue, is about the firing of Alaska’s Commissioner of Public Safety in July 2008. After a six-hour hearing, the investigation report claims that family grudge wasn’t the only reason why Commissioner Walter Monegan was fired. However it did contributed to his layoff. He’s said to have been fired because he wouldn’t buckle to Palin’s pressure. According to him, Palin wanted Mike Wooten, a state agent, to lose his job. The latter divorced her sister. According to Sarah Palin, Monegan was fired because of a disagreement on a budget issue.

The exceptional access of Palin’s husband

The 263-page report does not recommend any judicial sanctions, or investigation. But it does show that Todd, her husband, was had special access to the governor’s office as well as the offices of her advisors. Stephen Branchflower, who led the investigation, said that Palin did nothing to keep that from happening, which constitutes professional misconduct. Besides, he used this extraordinary right to try to have his brother-in-law fired.

Before Palin became governor, police officer Wooten made some mistakes, such as shooting at a moose, drinking beer in his cruiser, and trying a taser gun on his son-in-law. But his case was closed. Todd Palin asked the Commissioner of Public Safety in her wife’s office so that new disciplinary actions be taken against him. In 2005, Sarah Palin herself convoked Colonel Julian Grimes, her brother-in-law’s superior, to ask her why he had not been dismissed. She is said to have claimed details about her brother-in-law’s behavior, though the case was confidential.

The release of the investigation report in the middle of the presidential campaign and less than four weeks before November 4 could be a nuisance for Palin and McCain. On Saturday McCain’s running mate denied any abuse of power. When asked if the accusations against her were true, she answered: “No, and if you read the report, you will realize that there is nothing illegal or unethical about it. You have to read the report.”