Troopergate: Not Over Yet

The Republican Brand is dead and Palin is going out with their failed policies...

The report charges Sahara Palin with abuse on the grounds that she did not intervene to prevent Todd Palin from continuing to contact State officials regarding Trooper Wooten. [Report at 65-66] The problem with that conclusion is that she as Governor has no right to do so.

Todd Palin is a private citizen, and as a private citizen, he has a constitutionally protected right to petition the government, a right perhaps most recently spelled out in the Norr-Pennington doctrine. He does not lose that right of petition simply because he is the spouse of the Governor. He can access and petition any public official on any matter as often as he likes, just like any other citizen.

In fact, had Sahara Palin, as Governor, and thus a state actor, interfered with Todd Palin's right to petition, as the report suggests she should have, Todd Palin would have an open and shut case against the State of Alaska under Section 1983 for the violation of his civil rights, specifically his right to petition the government.

And as a practical matter, it was infact Mr. Monegan who asked Sahara Palin to have Todd speak for the family and control all involvement in the matter. [Report at 28 & 58]

On October 10, the Alaska Legislative Council found Sarah Palin guilty of abusing power. Immediately Ms. Palin said "if you read the report you'll see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member." This quote by Palin is only 50% true. The Legislative Council report says that it was LEGAL for her to fire Commissioner Monegan, since as Governor she has the right to hire and fire her staff at will. The report also says that her firing of Commissioner Monegan was an UNETHICAL abuse of power.

Palin tells you half of the truth, and lies outright about the other half. You know the old saying: If you tell a lie, make sure it contains some truth so it will be believable.

From the report:

Palin tried to force the Commissioner to prosecute Trooper Wooten (her former brother in law) for illegally shooting a moose. The Commissioner explained to Palin that if they charged Wooten they would also have to bring charges against Palin's sister, who was present on the hunt, had the moose permit and illegally let her husband use it. They would also have to prosecute Palin's father, who cut up the moose and stored it in his freezer, sharing the meat with the Palin family. In other words, the Palins were OK with Wooten illegally shooting the moose when it happened. They participated in the hunt and kept the meat. But a year later when Wooten was divorcing Palin's sister, suddenly the Palins turned him in for illegally killing the moose.

The Palins turned Wooten in to the State Troopers disciplinary commission about a year and a half before she became Governor. The Troopers investigated Wooten, finding that some of Palin's allegations were true and some were false. The Troopers disciplined Wooten with a few days suspension. When Palin tried to get Monegan (the new Commissioner) to re-open the case once she was Governor, Monegan told her he couldn't do it. All the allegations had already been investigated and Palin had no new evidence. Trooper Wooten belongs to a union, and he can not be fired just because the Governor doesn't like him.

So, the Palins hired a private investigator to trail Wooten night and day, trying to catch him doing something wrong. The investigator takes photos of Wooten dropping his kids off at school, using his patrol car. The Plains file a complaint, saying it is illegal for him to ferry his kids in a patrol car. They try and get him fired for this, except it turns out that since Wooten was working a swing shift, his Commander had given him a waiver to bring his kids to school in the car. Wooten and Palin's sister have been divorced for 3 years, yet the Palins continue to persecute Wooten. Palin just can't forgive and get past this family drama.


I urge you to read the report yourself:

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Interactives/Politics/Election2008/branchflower_report_to_the_legislative_council.pdf

Troopergate? Is that about calling the cops about the massive fraud ACORN did in registering the million of non-literate and homeless folks on welfare shooting hoops?