Troopergate: The final words?

http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/g/134db782-50f0-42e5-8171-791804d9fbc1 Here's a note to Mr. Branchflower, who clearly is verbose, but obviously none too keen a scholar of logic: Gov. Palin's so-called "firing" of Monegan (it wasn't a firing, it was a re-assignment to other government duties that he resigned rather than accept) can't simultaneously be a violation of the Ethics Act and "a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority." This, gentle readers, is a 263-page piece of political circus that actually explicitly refutes itself on its single most key page! What's more incredible is that Branchflower utterly ignores the public admission made by Walt Monegan himself that ought to have ended this entire inquiry (boldface mine): "For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff," Monegan said Friday from Portland. "What they said directly was more along the lines of 'This isn't a person that we would want to be representing our state troopers.'" That explains, of course, why it took a couple of weeks for Monegan to be persuaded that he'd been improperly "fired" (for supposedly refusing to fire Wooten) by an Alaska blogger, Andrew Halcro — a bitter loser whom Gov. Palin crushed in the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial race (he got less than 10% of the vote, proving that most Alaskans have long since figured out he's an untrustworthy windbag). Instead, Branchflower has piled a guess (that the Palins wanted Wooten fired, rather than, for example, counseled, disciplined, or reassigned) on top of an inference (that when the Palins expressed concern to Monegan about Wooten, they were really threatening to fire Monegan if he didn't fire Wooten) on top of an innuendo (that Gov. Palin "fired" Monegan at least in part because of his failure to fire Wooten) — from which Branchflower then leaps to a legal conclusion: "abuse of authority." Branchflower reads the Ethics Act to prohibit any governmental action or decision made for justifiable reasons benefiting the State if that action or decision might also make a public official happy for any other reason. That would mean, of course, that governors must never act or decide in a way that makes them personally happy as a citizen, or as a wife or mother or daughter, and that they could only take actions or make decisions which left them feeling neutral or upset. This an incredibly shoddy tower of supposition, and a ridiculous misreading of the law. Branchflower puts under a microscope every direct and indirect contact that can possibly be claimed to to come, directly or indirectly, from Gov. Palin or her husband, Todd. In none of them did either Sarah or Todd Palin demand or request that Wooten be fired. Some of them date back to before Gov. Palin was even a candidate for governor. All of them are equally well explained by legitimate concerns that Wooten was a potential threat to the Palin family (having already made death threats against Gov. Palin's father) and/or an embarrassment to the Alaska Department of Public Safety and the entire state law enforcement community. That the Palins also had strong — and entirely understandable! — negative feelings about Trooper Wooten does not make any of these communications remotely improper, much less illegal. Nevertheless, Branchflower leaps to the personal conclusion (page 67 of the .pdf file) 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." Well, here's another memo to Mr. Branchflower: When the family is question is the family of the Governor of Alaska, and when her security detail is charged with protecting her from threats, and in the process of that, the security detail actively seeks out information as to who may have previously made death threats against the family, that's no longer solely a "personal family related reason." And when someone like Trooper Wooten threatens to bring ridicule and shame to the entire state of Alaska, that's no longer solely a "personal family related reason" either. Branchflower, I'm told, is an attorney and a former prosecutor. If he thinks this kind of nonsense could support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, or even a finding of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, then he may be the worst lawyer I've ever encountered — and I've met a lot of awful ones in almost three decades before the bar. More likely, however, Branchflower knows that his imaginary case will never be tested before any judge or jury — and instead, Branchflower's audience, and the audience of his political patron Sen. French, is a purely political one. They do not want you to read the 263 pages of his report, but I invite you to do so: By the end of it, you'll be thoroughly convinced that both Wooten and Monegan ought to have been fired! And if you're a person, as I am, who admires husbands and fathers who stand up for their families, you'll definitely want to shake First Dude Todd Palin's hand, and maybe even give him a (manly) bear-hug. No, indeed, Sen. French and Mr. Branchflower dearly hope most Americans won't look past the headlines generated by this ridiculous farce of a report. French and Branchflower hope that Americans will be misled into thinking this report is from someone whose judgment or opinions actually count for something — instead of being from a hitman hired to complete a political hatchet job, as it actually is. This report changes absolutely nothing, except that it will be manipulated politically by Obama supporters and Palin haters in an attempt to drive more potential voters into taking sides with Trooper Mike Wooten — a proven child abuser (Tasered his own 10-year-old stepson on a lark) who's been conclusively determined by his own department to have also engaged in drinking and driving in his squad car, and to have used a deadly firearm to violate the very fish-and-game laws he himself was specifically assigned to enforce. "It is nearly certain," wrote Col. Julia Grimes, then then Director of the Alaska State Troopers Division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety, "that a civilian investigated under similar circumstances would have received criminal sanctions." The only real question in Tasergate remains why Trooper Mike Wooten is still not only uncharged for his confessed crimes, but carrying a badge and gun — to the continuing shame of the good and decent people of Alaska.

http://www.slate.com/discuss/forums/thread/1951620.aspx (Guest Post by Bill Dyer a/k/a Beldar) Democratic state senator and staunch Barack Obama supporter Hollis French of Alaska boasted in early September that he would provide an "October Surprise" which would upset the McCain-Palin campaign. Indeed, he originally planned to time it for October 31, four days before the election, for maximum impact, until other legislators forced him to abandon that particular strategy. Today, however, in an episode of political theater that would make Josef Stalin blush, French gave it his very best shot: The investigator he hired and directed, Steve Branchflower, has labored mightily and given birth to a bloated and redundant 263-page report which boils down, for purposes of the ongoing presidential campaign, to two paragraphs that completely contradict one another. And the one of them that's unfavorable ignores the most important — indeed conclusive — evidence on point, but goes on to provide Branchflower's guess as to whether Gov. Palin has done anything improper. Please understand this, if you take nothing else away from reading this post: The Branchflower Report is a series of guess and insupportable conclusions drawn by exactly one guy, and it hasn't been approved or adopted or endorsed by so much as a single sub-committee of the Alaska Legislature, much less any kind of commission, court, jury, or other proper adjudicatory body. It contains no new bombshells in terms of factual revelations. Rather, it's just Steve Branchflower's opinion — after being hired and directed by one of Gov. Palin's most vocal opponents and one of Alaska's staunchest Obama supporters — that he thinks Gov. Palin had, at worst, mixed motives for an action that even Branchflower admits she unquestionably had both (a) the complete right to perform and (b) other very good reasons to perform. Here are the two key "findings," however (from page 8 of the .pdf file; boldface mine): Finding Number One For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust." Finding Number Two I find that, although Walt Monegan's refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, 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. Here's a note to Mr. Branchflower, who clearly is verbose, but obviously none too keen a scholar of logic: Gov. Palin's so-called "firing" of Monegan (it wasn't a firing, it was a re-assignment to other government duties that he resigned rather than accept) can't simultaneously be a violation of the Ethics Act and "a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority." This, gentle readers, is a 263-page piece of political circus that actually explicitly refutes itself on its single most key page! What's more incredible is that Branchflower utterly ignores the public admission made by Walt Monegan himself that ought to have ended this entire inquiry (boldface mine): "For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff," Monegan said Friday from Portland. "What they said directly was more along the lines of 'This isn't a person that we would want to be representing our state troopers.'" That explains, of course, why it took a couple of weeks for Monegan to be persuaded that he'd been improperly "fired" (for supposedly refusing to fire Wooten) by an Alaska blogger, Andrew Halcro — a bitter loser whom Gov. Palin crushed in the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial race (he got less than 10% of the vote, proving that most Alaskans have long since figured out he's an untrustworthy windbag). Instead, Branchfire has piled a guess (that the Palins wanted Wooten fired, rather than, for example, counseled, disciplined, or reassigned) on top of an inference (that when the Palins expressed concern to Monegan about Wooten, they were really threatening to fire Monegan if he didn't fire Wooten) on top of an innuendo (that Gov. Palin "fired" Monegan at least in part because of his failure to fire Wooten) — from which Branchflower then leaps to a legal conclusion: "abuse of authority." Branchflower reads the Ethics Act to prohibit any governmental action or decision made for justifiable reasons benefiting the State if that action or decision might also make a public official happy for any other reason. That would mean, of course, that governors must never act or decide in a way that makes them personally happy as a citizen, or as a wife or mother or daughter, and that they could only take actions or make decisions which left them feeling neutral or upset. This an incredibly shoddy tower of supposition, and a ridiculous misreading of the law.

Listen - Palin has proven time and time again that she is Dishonest (nice way to say liar). If you just watch her TV interviews from the beginning both she and Todd lie all the time. What she has done is take our her Personal Vendetta for Wooten on the entire organization of AST. People think about it - she jepordizes our Safety to get even. Yes that is right. She is Self Centered and cares nothing about anyone or anything but herself. Stop giving her so much air time it is what drives her. I personally turn off everything she is on - I cannot stand to hear one more lie in a high pitched tone. PS - I hope I never here the word ALSO again.

This investigator was obviously following the 911 commission procedures to the letter and why not they got away with not doing the right thing by doing little to nothing also. I just wonder how much more does it pay these days for doing less? More for less or less for more means the same when it involves Quid Pro Quo(bribe).

I fail to see how justice has been served to Walt Monegan. She took money away from him. He should sue her in civil court. To hear her talk about God and God's will is simply nauseating. She took away an honorable man's livelihood and tried to do the same to another man. I don't know what kind of Christianity she practices.

In yesterday's Daily News, Sarah attempts to brush aside rumors, such as her attempt to ban books. Unfortunately, she used a bad example. She claims that she was accused of seeking a ban on Harry Potter. She further claims that it wasn't yet published when she was mayor. Either she's ill informed, or a liar. She was elected in 1996, and the first Harry Potter was published in 1997. (just in time for banning by an over zealous mayor) Why should we believe anything she says?

... In the not so distant horizon the "Economic waterfall" has come into focus.... Alaska was set on a one way course down the river by ACES and AGIA... and the 1000 foot waterfall can now be seen in the distance.... The Effects of these laws is becoming evident as the oil companies retract for better investment returns in other parts of the globe.\ and if you think 7 dollar gas is going to finance a multi-billion dollar gasline AFTER Transcanada is providing gas from their OWN projects... "You are a complete fool" ... After watching the sessions... and this debacle.. have concluded that this State NEEDS REAL fiscal conservatives.... REAL ONES!... YOu know the kind... "Small government, more infrastrucute, and laws based on sound economic theory... Because.. as much as everyone wants a gasline to happen... It will not happen in our lifetimes... with 7 dollar gas... and it won't happen under Trans-Canada's watch... ...Notice the decline in the "Denali Commercials?" .... Again.. "The Market is the Master" ... and there is not going to be any STINKING Gasline to the States... and since.. this last spike in commodity prices was a result of a major global corrections and unregulated hedge funds... well you won't ever see oil over the demand supply curve anytime soon... and the demand supply curve is showing 50 doillar oil and 6 dollar gas for the next 50 years... --that leaves Alaska on the brink of long-term disaster folks... and *wink* *wink* ... "Palin ain't got the horsepower to keep up" So, let's Draft "Hawker and Halcro" ...

I'm still waiting for someone to explain what "Misapprehension of the law" means.

all the parties involved communicated one with another before, during and after both investigations. In some circles this is called conspiracy and obstruction...the evidence & facts are still there, folks with no business reading and passing along confidential information. The FBI needs to take a look at this case on constitutional grounds of guaranteed right to privacy.

Hopefully not. Hopefully, our legislature will take action re: those who ignored subpoenas. Hopefully, our legislature will show backbone and strongly address the multiple issues our ethically-challenged governor, husband and staff have foisted on our State. This troopergate fiasco is just one of many on SP's list of dishonorable and/or stupid deeds. IMO, the apparent favoritism Petumenos shows SP/TP & Co discredits his conclusions. SP's habit of "pushing the envelope" beyond reason will require additional laws to legislate common sense ethical behavior by our elected officials. Supremely ironic, as this gov touted that she was the better choice compared to the "good ol' boys" corrupt standard. Yet here she is, probably billing us again to stay in her own home and pay her mortgage --- freeloading off the state with money that should instead be put to use helping disabled kids or repairing roads or fighting crime. Palin & Co can deny all they like - but via their corrupt behavior they have irretrievably lost credibility with independents like me.

What are we to make of this development? Will it affect Alaskans' reaction to the Troopergate report? http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6210144&page=1 "Troopergate" Trooper Now Pushing Paper After Palin's Public Comments, Trooper Hit With Threatening Phone Calls By JUSTIN ROOD November 7, 2008— The Alaska state trooper who was the subject of harsh allegations by Gov. Sarah Palin was taken off patrols recently for his own safety, after her comments allegedly prompted a series of threatening phone calls, KIMO-TV in Anchorage reported Friday. In the early months of Palin's administration, Palin, her husband and top aides worked to get the trooper, Mike Wooten, booted from the ranks of the Alaska State Troopers, according to two separate investigations into what eventually erupted into the "Troopergate" scandal. In comments to the media and documents released to the public, Palin accused Wooten, her ex-brother-in-law, of making death threats against her family, drinking on duty, tasering his 10-year-old stepson and shooting a moose out of season, among other things. "The trooper in question here did conduct dangerous and illegal activities," Palin told ABC News' Charlie Gibson Sept. 12, in her first nationally-televised interview after joining the GOP ticket as its vice presidential candidate. Wooten "threatened to kill my dad and. . . his threats were he was going to bring down the governor and the governor's family," she said. Wooten has denied the claims or said his actions were misrepresented. His supporters have said Wooten was unfairly targeted by Palin and her family, because of his prolonged custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly. Following Palin's comments about Wooten in the national media, "people with little or no knowledge of the situation call and make complaints, make threats, talk about what a danger he is," explained John Cyr, head of the Alaska trooper's union, to KIMO. "All it takes is one person to show up and do something stupid." Sources at the Department of Public Safety confirmed Cyr's account to KIMO, an ABC affiliate. Wooten is now working a desk job, KIMO reported. The troopers' union has expressed concern because the new position means he can no longer earn overtime pay. Palin fired her then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in July, after he repeatedly declined to take action against Wooten beyond the short suspension ordered by an internal agency review. The first Troopergate investigation, by the Alaska legislature, found that Palin had broken state ethics laws in her quest to punish Wooten. The second probe, by the state's gubernatorially-appointed Personnel Board, found she did not. Palin did not respond to inquiries from KIMO. Click Here for the Investigative Homepage. Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

..."Burned out and No where to turn"

Sarah lives in a world where everything that Sarah does is right and great. Talking with her is almost irrelevant to assessing the reality of a situation. Fortunately, her usually successful tactics did not work on the national level. Unfortunately, Alaska is way out of step with the national views (ex: even Congress is repelled by the possibility of a convicted felon in one of the highest law making offices of our "great country". Here in this maverick Alaska - it is likely that troopergate will get set aside.

I have gone from being a Palin supporter to being just tired of the constant whining from Todd, Sara and their blindmice supporters. AKJIM and these Palin exscuse makers remind me of parents who refuse to accept that their child can do anything wrong. Year after year teachers observe serious problem behavior with their child but all these parents can do is blame the teacher, other students, the principal, other parents, bus drivers and just about anyone other than their precious little babies Todd and Sara. I have to think this is much the way Todd and Sara were raised in a world of nothing ever being their fault. Eventually this results in the type of denial and bullying behavior we see from Todd and Sara. For some reason AKJim and others will do ANYTHING to protect the Palins from the reality of their flawed, dishonest and mean spirited actions. If you read the lettrs to the editors and postings by AKJim and the gang we are supposed to believe that there was a Alaskan, then National and now International conspiracy against poor poor poor Todd and Sara that involves hundreds of people and has been going on for years. We are supposed to believe that everywhere these people have gone and every government or business activity they have been involved with they have somehow been victimized by all these evil folks who are just out to get them. While AKJim may never grow tired of constucting twisted defenses of these two Drama queens and professional victims I am just tired of the whining and phony gibberish that spews from the Palins and their hired mouths like Meg Stapleton. Can't they just go away ??

Mr. Halcro, It is really a shame that you continue to attempt to kneecap Governor Palin in every possible way. It is pretty well known that you are the one who instigated the whole Troopergate thing with Walt Monaghen and State Senator French. Well, as they say, what goes around comes around. Your bitterness and bile emanatate from everything you do. You have money and some recognition, but no one will ever elect you to high office as they can sense what a vindictive and petty little man you are. Best of luck in the future -- I know what, maybe you can run for Senator if Stevens gets kicked out -- and chalk up another angst-ridden, twisted attempt characterized by that last debate. Regards, Brian

Oh my god, where is the justice? This whole saga is such a sad mess. I hold out hope that there are those directly involved who will pursue true accountability for Palin. At least she will be watched a heckuva lot more closely now.

Essentially Petumenos took Steven Branchflower hard work, cut and pasted it, added some commentary by the Palin's, and then handed it in as original work. If I had been his college professor I would have given him an "F" and reported him to the dean. Petumenos was hired to undermine the Branchflower report and he did his job. I am sure his payment came in a plain manila folder, that was slipped under the table in a darkened restaurant somewhere in Anchorage. Thank you for your service and if we have any more "special work" for you we will contact you. The Alaska legislators need to give BOTH reports the attention they deserve. In other words they should read the Branchflower report carefully and immediately address its findings and they should line the bottom of their canary's cage with the other one. Personally I am tired of watching the Palin's try to derail justice at every turn. I have spent eight years watching the Bush administration do this and I am embarrassed to see it happening here in my home state.

Looks like Palin has created a loss of income for Trooper Mike Wooten. I guess he'll have to sue her to make up for it. http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2008/11/trooper-at-center-of-troopergate.html

How can Sarah's detractors and enemies - including Andrew - accept Frenchflower's report at face value when it is so seriously incomplete? Frenchflower never talked to Sarah and never looked at Todd's deposition. Yes, it is true that Sarah did not make herself available and that Todd's statement was late - but that doesn't change the situation. Frenchflower made a judgment, formed an opinion without all the evidence. From ADN: Petumenos took sworn testimony from both Palins as well as from her top aides. Late in his investigation, Branchflower got written answers to questions he had submitted to Todd Palin and some aides, but never from the governor. Petumenos also had access to thousands of e-mails from Palin and state employees, far more than Branchflower. Petumenos said he wasn't confident he had all the evidence because of Palin's use of private e-mail accounts and the deletion of some e-mails.