Vetting, Wooten and Troopergate

Today I spoke to a person who is as close to the center of the Alaska political universe as there is in Alaska and was told there was absolutely no serious vetting done on Governor Palin.

"I would have heard something, I would have been called and at least been asked to make suggestions on who to talk to and what I've heard over the years," my contact told me.  

This seems to track consistently with the questions that have been raised about just how detailed the vetting process was. If there is one thing about Alaska, this is a small state and there are no secrets.

WOOTEN

How small a state is the biggest state in the union?

Since Friday morning I have fielded calls from no fewer than sixty different print and television outlets. In most cases every one of them wanted to contact State Trooper Mike Wooten for an interview but Wooten isn't taking interviews.

Yesterday, when speaking to a couple of different print journalist and a television crew, they mentioned they wanted to get in touch with Wooten. I told them I couldn't help them. Then they proceeded to mention they had been on their way out to Wasilla when they got delayed on the highway due to a motocrycle accident. 

Little did they know that when they passed the accident scene the Trooper on duty was Mike Wooten. 

In fact there have been several encounters over the last few days were news reporters trying to track down Trooper Wooten have been close enough to him to shake his hand.

That's how small the biggest state in the union is.

TROOPERGATE

In a statement released on September 2 through her attorney Thomas Van Flein, Palin once again shows how her propensity for a misrepresentation of the facts got her into trouble to begin with.

Palin is attempting to get the investigation moved into the executive branch so it is reviewed by the personnel board. 

In her statement, Palin writes, "In 2005 and early 2006, State Trooper Mike Wooten was the subject of a court-imposed Domestic Violence Protective Order."

As has been the governor's history with this issue, she offers up another twisted fact.

In 2005, Palin and her sister Molly went to the Palmer Courthouse  while Mike Wooten was in Portland with his stepson. They convinced a judge to grant Molly a domestic violence restraining order against Wooten. This was done so Molly could retain full custody of the children.

When Wooten returned from Portland, he realized that there was a order prohibiting him from seeing his kids. Three weeks later, Wooten was granted an appearance in front of the couple's divorce judge.

In front of Judge Suddock, Molly testified that Wooten never hit her or never physically abused her or ever touched the children. She told the judge she was feeling pressure from her family to file the order.

Suddock immediately dissolved the order because there was no proof of any domestic violence and called the order an abuse of the legal system. He then scolded Palin's sister for keeping Wooten's kids away from him.

This appears to be Palin's classic approach to deflecting attention away from situations she has created; blame the other person.

The governor's futile attempt to get the legislature to abandon their ongoing investigation goes completely against what she promised when this process began.

"Hold me accountable" she said back in August while welcoming an open and transparent investigation into the issue. Now she seems to be saying..let me hold myself accountable while I make up some facts.

On Friday July 18, 2008 on the KTUU News, Governor Sarah Palin was asked about a special investigation after allegations were raised about potential abuse of power: "We would never prohibit, or be less than enthusiastic about any kind of investigation. Let's deal in the facts, and you do that via investigation," Palin said.

Today Palin is pushing back by hiring a defense attorney after saying she has maintained she had nothing to hide and now wants the investigation to be moved into the executive branch and away from the legislature.

But then again Palin said she her and Monegan "never had a conversation on whether trooper Wooten should be a trooper or not."

A month later, Walt Monegan turned emails over to the special investigator he received directly from Palin regarding Trooper Mike Wooten being a trooper.

This attempt by Palin to move the investigation away from an independent special investigator into the executive branch speaks volumes about just how worried she is about how this will play out.

Meanwhile, Senator Hollis French has stated the report from special investigator Steve Branchflower will be issued before October 31, 2008. 

http://www.ktva.com/commissionercontroversy/ci_10206518