Vetting, Wooten and Troopergate

Wooten committed many crimes and violations of public trust that were not released by the Alaska State Troopers due to "Union rules". When that information is released Alaskans will have a better taste for the person at the center of "troopergate" more accurately named "tasergate". Wooten drove drunk on numerous occassions and used his badge to avoid the same penalties anyone else would face. He assaulted and threatened several people while being intoxicated at bars in Anchorage and Wasilla. He took his girlfriend Angela Johnson on training trips while married to Molly. None of the real dirt on Wooten is even out there yet. He has hurt many good people. He received almost no punishment while under the AST leadership. In fact, AST did not investigate many of the allegations se forth against Wooten in an effort to protect their image. Why would anyone question a move to remove a leader that failed to take corrective actions against a rogue Trooper, if that is in fact what Palin did. Monegan was a decent LE official loved by many because of his native roots but the truth be said he did not lead effectively. Its to bad Wooten's issues along with the poor behavior of those he wrapped into his lifestyle now has to have an effect on a VP nominee. Had AST leadership truly dealt with Wooten none of this would even be in the media. All Alaskan's should demand Audie Holloway take decisive action in the case of Wooten based on ALL of the information that clearly indicates he is a liar, a cheat, and a drunk. AST should interview Angela Johnson during one of her outs with Wooten and get the truth about why they divorced which is similar to other accounts of abuse proported by those who were married to Wooten. Wooten is a child bully who picks on his many wives and children, and is angry at the world, and needs to revisit his anger management education received while in the Air Force. Wooten has no long term friends and there is good reason for that. He steps in and creates kaos then reaches out and destroys others...I hope he is stopped before he hurts or kills another Alaskan!

Did Sarah Palin commit perjury in 2005 when she appeared in court with her sister? I don't know about Alaska, but here in Georgia even the most basic appearance before a judge requires that you be under oath. Was Sarah Palin under oath in that case? Are there transcripts of what she said? In your post "Vetting, Wooten and Troopergate" you wrote about Gov. Palin appearing in court with her sister, you wrote the following: In 2005, Palin and her sister Molly went to the Palmer Courthouse... ...They convinced a judge to grant Molly a domestic violence restraining order against Wooten. 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. If Sarah Palin was under oath in the first appearance, and was directly contradicted by her own sister just 3 weeks later, do any of the lies Sarah contributed to the case amount to perjury? Someone lied before the judge, either Sarah Palin and her sister Molly on the first appearance, or Molly on her second appearance when she told the judge all of her earlier testimony was false. Are there any transcripts? Keep up the good work, you may single handedly save this country from this truly corrupt Cheney wannabe.

"In 2005, Palin and her sister Molly went to the Palmer Courthouse while Mike Wooten was in Portland with his stepson." All I can say is clearly there was no abuse because WHY would a mom let her son spend time out of state with someone who is abusive???? That would be abusive on the mom's part! Gimme a break.

Okay, I haven't seen anything about the no confidence vote by corrections employees against DOC Commissioner Joe Schmidt and how the Gov (his high school buddy) stood up and said she supported him unconditionally, essentially telling all those in corrections they were a bunch of whiney liars. Did I miss that?

I served in the Marines with a Mike Wooten from Alaska back in the early 90's. Any chance this is the same guy? Was in a bad bad car accidentn and had a fairly large scar on his grape.

I came to Alaska nearly 3 years ago. Since the first day I set foot here, I knew this was the place I wanted to spent the rest of my life. I've been following Alaska politics since my arrival, to include the most recent Governor's election. Sarah Palin stands head and shoulders above any other person that I would want to run not just our state, but our country as well. Those of you who are taking shots at Sarah and her family should be ashamed of yourselves. This is a time when we as Alaskans should be united as one to support our Governor. We have a chance to make history or at least be a part of it! Andrew, please look inside yourself and realize what you're doing is accomplishing nothing more than giving Alaska a black eye. Your efforts could be spent in so many other positive ways, rather than playing the "Pay back" game. This so called person you know that supposedly has their finger on the pulse of what goes on in Alaska politics obviously isn't in that great of a position, or somebody WOULD have been beating on their door. People tend to make themselves sound more important than they really are sometimes.

Just in case some may have missed it, and I might be included in that bunch, is Frank Bailey still home getting paid to stay out of the spotlight on all of this? I just want to make sure that either he lied about speaking on the Good Gov's behalf, or he's telling the truth and catching the Sponge Bob marathon on the state dime. Can someone please let a brother know what his status is?

...when you read Sarah Palin's statement to the State Personnel Board (available as PDF on www.adn.com) take a look at paragraphs 16, 17 and 18. This is where the root of the real scandal lies, because Sarah Palin's version of "clean, fair and efficient" government is what put her at odds with Monegan in the first place -- the fact that he was fired because he wouldn't terminate Sarah's brother-in-law is what's going to bring it all to light. Basically, the Palin administration has been starving the public safety department for two years. They've downsized the public safety budget (or, maybe more accurately, refused to keep up with the cost of doing business) while demanding that the Commissioner hire unfilled positions. But the Troopers' pay scale is non-competitive with other municipal police departments within Alaska, and Monegan told her so...but she didn't want to hear it. The Palin administration refused to fund the administrative costs of running the State Troopers as an effective organization for protecting the life and safety of Alaskans. She has put the entire State of Alaska's population at risk for an idiotic ideological belief in "government downsizing," doing "more with less," and other hollow Republican cliches that warrant no repetition here. By not providing Monegan with the resources his department required, she guaranteed his ineffectiveness on the hiring front, and held it over his head as an excuse for his firing. At the end of the day, she was holding onto the purse strings as a contingency until Monegan fired Wooten -- which WASN'T going to HAPPEN. Thus Monegan was let go. That's the way she rolls... The rest of the country will discover very quickly how vindictive and catty she really can be if they're stupid enough to elect her to the VP position. Can someone out there please look at the past two years' budget for the Department of Public Safety and please prove me wrong???

Yes, it's a small state, and that's why there are a lot of people who know a lot of things about Sarah Palin that have been very afraid to question her. First, the Daily News has an editor who is out of touch with Alaska and trying to impose McClatchy's California values on our state - and they love Palin's anti-oil stance because they are against any development. The Daily News has only done a few negative articles since the VP announcement because they are afraid the national media might scoop them. KTUU, for whatever reason, also failed to do any serious coverage of the Palin administration until scooped by Andrew Halcro on the Troopergate issue. Even the Juneau Empire, which can't possibly stand by a governor who doesn't even live in the capital city and has allowed most of her commissioners to telecommute, has treated this administration with kid gloves. Now that there is a real possibility that this woman will become the President of the United States, people who can vouch for Palin's lack of qualifications need to talk to the national media, call the McCain campaign, contact Andrew or Dan Fagan with information that can be verified. Here are some questions I'd like answered: How many cabinet meetings has Palin held since taking office? How many meetings with each commissioner (and that doesn't count "walk and talks" during Palin's many public appearances)? How much actual time does Palin spend on the job (and that doesn't count checking the blogs on the Blackberry)? What is in those redacted emails? And I'd like the national media to look at our bloated state budget - certainly people in states where taxes are high and government is facing deficits and budget cuts might want to know how easy it is to manage a budget when you have multi-billion dollar surpluses. Next, review the record of Palin's experience working with the legislative branch on the capital budget - the lack of direction, the surprise (and contradictory) budget cuts, the "school principal" meetings. How about her threats to campaign for democrats in the state legislature who supported her wacky tax and spend philosophy? All those questions are about things that have been at least partway in the public record - but I'm sure there are more serious issues with this administration that, until now, people have been reluctant to bring forward for fear of political retribution. There are about 60 days left. Now is the time to speak.

Mr. Halcro, I have been reading this blog regularly since your regular ADN column was canceled. What I am struggling to grasp is why anybody should view you as a credible source. There are a lot of reasons you would want Governor Palin to be viewed poorly. You lost the Governor's race to her by nearly 40 points and you clearly have future political ambitions that would be aided by a weakened perception of her. As for "TrooperGate": 1. Isn't it true that you were the first person to make the claim that Monegan was fired due to the issue regarding Trooper Wooten? Isn't it also true that Monegan has never claimed this to be the case? 2. This wasn't the first time Monegan had been removed from his position, was it? He was dismissed by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich(Dem) in 2006. He did say that he was pressured to fire Trooper Wooten, but that brings us to... 3. If you were Governor of Alaska and learned that an Alaska State Trooper had been accused of using a state issued taser on his 11 year old stepson, threatening to kill his father-in-law, abusing his power on a regular basis, driving drunk on a regular basis, hunting illegally, and abusing workers compensation, what would you do? Any rational person would ask the appropriate authority (Monegan) to investigate the matter. Should the reaction be any different if it related to a family member? I don't believe so as long as all were aware of the conflict of interest. Monegan did not open an investigation. I am not claiming that this played no part in his dismissal, however there were other concerns as well about his ability to lead the department. Mr. Halco, please enjoy your 15-seconds of fame. If you wish to have any credibility I strongly urge you to present balanced arguments using all available facts and information. Kind Regards, Alaskan in Seattle

1.) Monegan stated in an interview last Saturday that he believed that if the entire reason he was not fired was because he refused to fire Wooten, it was a significant part of it.

2.) Monegan stepped down under the administration of Mayor Mark Begich because he had been considering retiring but Begich needed a commitment for him to stay on through his next term to implement his public safety agenda. When this story broke, Begich put out a statement saying that he didn't want Monegan to leave and in no way was Monegan fired like he was under Palin. 

3.) Wooten was disciplined by the previous commissioner under the previous administration. Remember these complaints were investigated and adjudicated way before Palin was elected. When Monegan took over the reigns as commissoner he was continuosly pressured to take action against Wooten, which he couldn't because the complaints had already been adjudicated and Wooten punished.  

How many more times is this lady going to continue getting away with all these things? It is getting so old! Oh well,this Wasilla vote is for OBAMA!

This is how an Alaskan blog should be handling this very serious situation, no small town, high school gossip just a fair and factual discussion....good work Andrew! Apparently the world is watching...no sh*t.

This evening I heard more whining from Sara and her taxpayer funded mouthpiece. She has been playing this same tune for so long it is worse than a broken record, so sad that folks still buy this act. This goes back to her time as Mayor in Wasilla and continues today. They are picking on me because : I'm a strong woman, I live in Wasilla, I'm too good looking, My husband rides snowmachines, I'm too tough on corruption, I'm not a good old boy, My daughters pregnant, I had to go visit my son in the Army, I raised taxes on the Oil Companies, My brother in-law is a creep, I'm a hockey mom, I'm a republican, I work with democrats, I'm too independant, I'm looking out for Alaskans, I am really good at getting Earmarks, I am opposed to Earmarks, I fired Walt Monegan for twenty different reasons which don't make sense and change constantly, My realtor and I ran a dairy, and on and on and on. Always some big bad boogy men are out to get her. Never Never Never Her Fault.

The Legislature authorized the spending of $100K for a special investigator into possible wrongs of the Governor. Now, the state Dept. of Law hired a high class attorney with up to $95K to protect the govenor. This is all the peoples moneys. What the fell is going on here? The Govenor got caught in more of her own lies, and we pay to protect her.? Did any of of these recent legislator that were recently convicted or under suspect receive any state legal financial assistance? Of course not. I would insist that the legislature not fund any of these monies for Gov Palin, her husband or any one else involved in this case for her defense. This must be causing night mares for Sen McCain and the GOP leadership. This will end up being a horrible embarrassment for the people of the state of Alaska. Sarah Palin has asked others to resign, and she should do so immediately. She will not of course, and continue this charade for all of the world to watch. I am a 66 year old GOP voter that has never missed a national election. I would not consider under any circumstances vote for Sarah Palin for VP, or for Obana as president. I personally resent Sarah Palin for placing me in this situation. What a disgusting individual!!

Mr. Van Flein has a glaring conflict of interest, and he should resign immediately and disgorge all fees back to the State. As a member of the bar, Mr. Van Flein is charged with representing his client's interests exclusively, and being vigilant to avoid conflicts and appearances of conflicts. He makes no efforts to do so in either regard. He is Sarah's lawyer, bought and paid for . . . but not by her. He is representing Sarah Palin individually. What the State has paid Mr. Van Flein for is an advocate piece (and a poor, dishonest and defamatory one at that) nakedly designed to attempt to salvage Palin's VP hopes. Mr. Van Flein's position is that State ethics laws govern and that process should be followed. Where does that law provide that the employee being investigated gets legal counsel at State expense? I'm sure Randy Ruedrich is kicking himself for his ignorance of this little known codicil in the State of Alaska charter whereby he could have had his ethics defense paid for by the State. Given the poor lawyering and pandering to her Royal Highness here by someone that is supposed to be the STATE's lawyer, one can only imagine what plumb spot in the VP's office Mr. Van Flein has been promised. Does the Alaska Legal Community have no Cox, Richardson or Ruckelshaus? Members of the Alaska Bar should be embarrassed and humiliated. What, if anything, will they do about it?

The legislative council met last month and decided subpoenas would be unnecessary because Palin's staff were cooperating so wonderfully. I suppose we can expect that cooperation to evolve into a motion for an injunction by Van Flein in the next day or so. French did the diplomatic thing by not turning the investigation confrontational last month, but his time as a prosecutor should have told him that expecting good faith from the subjects of your investigation is a bit naive. He should have had Branchflower armed with whatever subpoena power the legislature could grant, and as soon as Colberg tried to pre-empt the investigation and Palin refused to cooperate fully under claim of "executive privilege", there should have been immediate service of subpoenas. I have serious doubts that this will be resolved by the end of October. The funny thing is that some of the national media are under the impression that the investigation was timed to throw a wet blanket on the Republican convention. Of course, we understand that the investigation well preceded the nomination of Palin, but the national media are finding it very easy to take shortcuts in their reports. With Palin on the campaign trail, much of the investigation is going to have to proceed without her deposition, I think. I expect Van Flein will completely stonewall this thing in the near future, and it won't be pleasant to watch.

Palin needs to understand that the coverup is worse than the crime. I suspect that it hard to do given that her political career apparently has been based on untruths.