Rebranding Troopergate: A Seinfeld moment

On Saturday, Governor Sarah Palin phoned in from a campaign stop in Pennsylvania to answer questions, limit one per reporter, from the local media.

Before she opened the painfully limited question and answer session, she prefaced her answers by attempting to rebrand what has now become known across the globe as Troopergate.

"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," Palin said according to an audio of the teleconference with reporters.

Tasergate?

Palin's clumsy attempt to try and rebrand the three month independent investigation into allegations she abused the power of her office is reminiscent of the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza tries desperately to rebrand himself as "T-Bone" to his co-workers and ends up being branded "Koko the monkey."

The challenge for Palin attempting this tortured exercise is that the contents of the Branchflower report released on Friday leaves no room for rebranding this investigation; it is truly a "Troopergate" affair.

After reading the 260 page report it is clear that we know things today that dispel all of the excuses offered by the governor and raise serious questions about the pursuit of Trooper Mike Wooten, the Monegan firing and her management of state government. 

What we know now.....

We know Todd Palin stated in his deposition that he was unaware that Trooper Wooten had been suspended until after Monegan got fired on July 11, 2008.

We know that Walt Monegan testified under oath that Todd Palin knew about Wooten's suspension all along dating back to January 4, 2007 when he met with Monegan in the governor's office. According to Monegan, Palin said he was upset that Wooten got off with a few days suspension, a slap on the wrist, according to Palin.

We know both Governor Palin and Todd have both claimed publicly that they were fearful of Trooper Wooten and only did what they did to protect themselves and their family against a "rogue trooper".

We know that Gary Wheeler, a State Trooper who has been on the governor's security detail since 1981, testified under oath that at no time since Palin has been governor, has her or Todd ever voiced a security concern or fear about Trooper Wooten.

Wheeler also testified that shortly after being elected, the governor voluntarily reduced her personal security detail from six down to three and decided she wanted to drive herself to work everyday.

In fact, Branchflower wrote in his report he doesn't believe the Palins were truly afraid of Wooten:

"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.

"We know Governor Palin has stated that she replaced Monegan because he wasn't a team player and she wanted the right person in the position, so she hired Chuck Kopp.

We know according to Kopp's testimony that he was formally offered the job four hours before Monegan was fired on July 11, 2008.

We know that when Monegan was fired that afternoon by Palin acting Chief of Staff Mike Nizich, Monegan asked if they already had a replacement and Nizich replied they had a "short list", when in fact they had already formally offered the job to Kopp hours earlier.

We know according to the testimony of both Monegan and Kopp, that the Palin administration was aware of the sexual harassment complaint filed against Kopp back in 2006 after there was a move to bring Kopp on board with DPS shortly after Palin's election. According to Monegan, Palin Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles, upon hearing the news commented that they better steer clear of Kopp for awhile. 

We know that although Governor Palin told the news media a week after Kopp was hired, that the sexual harassment complaint from Kopp's past was looked into and found to be unsubstantiated; Kopp testified that in the 30 minute interview before he was offered the job, neither Bailey or Nizich asked him about the sexual harassment complaint even though the administration was told about the complaint back in 2006.

We know Kopp testified that when he received a phone call from Frank Bailey in July gauging his interests in Monegan's job, when he asked why Monegan was being fired Bailey stated that "Todd was mad at Monegan."

We know that Bailey told Kopp that the governor had lost confidence in the Alaska State Trooper's ability to protect her, even though she voluntarily reduced her own personal security detail and her security detail testified she had never once voiced a concern about feeling threatened.

We know that both Bailey and Nizich in their initial discussions with Kopp, brought up Trooper Mike Wooten and the governor's frustration that he was still a Trooper.

We know that Nizich brought up the governor's frustration with Monegan not making the state jet available to the governor on demand when in fact Monegan had already supplied the governor's office with data showing the exact usage of the jet. 40% used by the governor, 40% used by the Dept. of Corrections to transport prisoners and 20% split between trooper calls for service and contract work for federal agencies contracted to police fisheries. 

We know that after Frank Bailey's infamous recorded phone call to State Trooper Rodney Dial, he received a stinging rebuke from Deputy Commissioner John Glass.

We know that although Governor Palin told Kyle Hopkins of the Anchorage Daily News that Frank Bailey acted on his own, Glass testified that when he asked Bailey why he would call a Trooper outside the chain of command, Bailey responded that Governor Palin "felt good and was comfortable' about Dial because they had attended the same church in Wasilla.

We know that Glass went on to testify that he felt that the phone call from Bailey to Dial was a result of a conversation that the governor had with Bailey and that he felt when talking to Bailey about the phone call he was talking to the governor. We also know that during Bailey's taped phone call to Trooper Dial, he mentioned more than once he was calling on behalf of the governor and Todd.

We know that Monegan, Glass and others warned both the governor and Todd about their pursuit of Wooten. They were warned about the legal consequences of illegally pursuing a classified employee and attempting to violate his rights.

"This conversation is discoverable ... You don't want Wooten to own your house, do you?" Monegan warned Palin's Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles once.

Another exchange had Glass warning Bailey that continuing to pressure anyone and everyone in the matter would end in "an unbelievable amount of embarrassment for the Governor and everybody else".

The real story...

The pursuit of Wooten wasn't about a fear for the safety of the first family, it was an attempt to get him fired so he couldn't pay spousal support and Sarah's sister (Molly) would get custody of the children.

During the custody battle, Molly had asked for 55/45 custody and Mike asked for 50/50. Judge Suddock ruled that Molly was under employed and he didn't see the fairness in making Mike pay for Molly's refusal to work a full time job.

According to Branchflower's report, Judge Suddock was forced to comment on the ongoing situation where the Palin's were trying to get Wooten fired.

He went on to say that the Palin's relentless attacks on Wooten should cease and they should remember Aesop's fable about slaying the golden goose. "For whatever reason, people are trying to slay the golden goose here and it tends to diminish his earning capacity."

At the end of the day, Judge Sudduck granted 50/50 custody much to the displeasure of Molly.

We know that both Governor Palin and Todd had an obsession with getting Wooten fired to get even while benefiting her sister. This wasn't about an effort based on concerns for their own safety or the safety of their family, that much we know for sure now.

In finding Governor Palin guilty of abusing her power as governor, Branchflower concluded:

"The evidence supports the conclusion that Governor Palin, at the least, engaged in "official action" by her inaction if not her active participation or assiatnce to her husband in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired (and there is evidence of her active participation). She knowingly permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office and the resources of the Governor's office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."

But more importantly, we know now that  Governor Palin's press release on July 18, stating;

“To allege that I, or any member of my family....directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous"...

....was, quite simply, a lie.