The Hush Money Agreement

Very interesting observation- Thanks for pointing that out. If that is in fact true then it just adds credence to a deliberative cover up and/or fabrication of her comment that she, "just found out."

I understand the logic behind sev pay in general, but for consistency sake, if we are to believe those in charge right now, any at will employee can be fired for any reason - especially one who had not yet been confirmed by the legislature for a commish job. I agree he may have gotten the shaft, but the Gov could have just as easily allowed the Legislature to NOT confirm him - then what? Would he still get sev pay? Either someone is at will or not, so in this case while he may have gotten the shaft, if the constitution that the Gov showed everyone is to be believed, he could be relieved of duty with no sev pay due at all. There is no liability here, and the argument that the state saved money by avoiding a law suit is bogus because the state employees in the Dept of Law, when not "investigating" the entire Wooten/Walt deal, would be otherwise paid by the state for working or not working. It would be one more lawsuit filed by someone against the state on meritless grounds without really costing the state much money to defend.

NO, no. no...Sarah didn't "give it to him, afterall she's responsible for this mess". The check didn't come from Sarah's checking account, it came from the State of Alaska. That's you and me. I certainly don't think he deserved any money. If the City he worked for wants to give him severance when he quit on them and ran to Sarah, that's their business. He probably was a fine worker...but either he or Sarah is lying and again, WE PAY.

So, the general idea being sold by the Palins and their boy Talis appears to be: Kopp didn't have to take the job. He sacrificed his "comfortable" job in Kenai to take it. It's only fair that he be paid something for the unfortunate way in which he was only able to stay for a week or so. Welllll..... 1. This is further support for the argument that he wasn't fit for the job in the first place. He knew his predecessor had been unceremoniously shown the door with no notice whatsoever. His predecessor was told he was serving "at the pleasure of the governor". Kopp should have known that before he handed in his resignation at Kenai. He also should have known this: His own stay at DPS could be terminated at any time without any prior notice or formal complaint about his performance. If he was so naive about the conditions of the job, why was he even appointed in the first place? 2. How long would Kopp have had to remain at DPS before he didn't deserve a golden parachute when resigning? A year? 19 years? So, because he voluntarily jumped at the opportunity to oversee DPS, the state (us) has to give him a get-well payment when his own actions were the cause of his resignation? 3. Have any other commissioners been paid severance when forced to resign? We know Monegan wasn't. Was Karleen Jackson at DHSS paid off? Why is it that no one in the media forces answers to these questions out of Palin? Does anyone realize that the payments are public information that can be demanded by any concerned citizen? 4. When did the negotiations for this severance payoff begin? How far in advance of Kopp's resignation did he demand a going away payment? 5. Sorry to dredge up an old question, but Palin has never answered it: When she said that she (through her staff) had "investigated" the allegations of Kopp's reprimand for harassment and found them "baseless", what did the "investigation" consist of and who conducted it? Further, when was it conducted? Before Kopp was hired, or after the first mention of it from the woman who had complained in the first place? 6. What are the limitations on Branchflower's authority as an investigator? How far is he permitted to go in investigating not only the circumstances of Monegan's ouster but also the hiring of Kopp, the resignation of Kopp, the payoff to Kopp, the use of the state Webmail service by Todd Palin, the diversion of state communications to private e-mail accounts to circumvent the Webmail system, the disclosure of confidential personnel information in the Wooten case, the obstruction of Branchflower's investigation by Colberg and Palin's staff, the examination of materials deemed by Palin to be "privileged".... the list goes on. It's clear that the AG's office and Dept. of Law can't be entrusted with any aspect of an investigation, as it's already been shown that they have tried to preempt Branchflower's work and were instrumental in paying off Chuck Kopp when DPS refused to do so. I know I don't have the money or time to pursue a Freedom of Information Act filing. The refusal of the governor to answer truthfully, and her continued hypocrisy as a "transparent" governor, is maddening, though. This is someone who was elected largely on the basis of being the anti-Murkowski, the anti-corruption candidate, the "open government" candidate. And yet, despite overwhelming indications that she's, if anything, worse than Frank ever could have hoped to be, she is able to focus people on the misdeeds of Trooper Wooten to justify virtually every action and concealment. Amazing. She might not be the most capable governor, but she sure has a feel for the intelligence of the average person on the street.