Investigation concludes Palin violated state ethics law

Germany News.Net
Friday 10th October, 2008

U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin abused her power as governor of Alaska, an investigation has concluded.

A 263-page report by investigator Steve Branchflower which made a number of findings, was released to the public late Friday afternoon following a bipartisan 12-0 vote in Alaska's Legislative Council, which commissioned the investigation.

Gov. Sarah Palin, according to investigators, abused her power in pressing for the sacking of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister, or by failing to prevent her husband Todd from doing so. Her efforts broke a state ethics law that bars public officials from pursuing personal interest through official action.

"Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda," the report states.

Branchflower's report concludes Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act, which says 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."

State trooper Mike Wooten was involved in a nasty divorce from Palin's sister. Palin and her husband, Todd, accused Wooten of threatening Palin's father.

The investigation also canvassed whether Palin fired public safety commissioner Walt Monegan because he resisted pressure to sack Wooten.

The report says Palin failed to stop her husband's "inappropriate efforts" to use the governor's office to contact trooper employees in his attempts to have Wooten fired.

"Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda - to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired," Branchflower's report said.

"Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional. It is an individual responsibility imposed by law, and any effort to benefit a personal interest through official action is a violation of that trust. ... The term 'benefit' is very broadly defined, and includes anything that is to the person's advantage or personal self-interest."

In a second finding, Branchflower says Monegan's refusal to dismiss Wooten was not the sole reason for his dismissal but that it was a "contributing factor." Still, he said, Palin's firing of Monegan was "a proper and lawful exercise" of the governor's authority.

A third finding says a workers compensation claim filed by Wooten was handled appropriately.

A fourth finding concluded that the attorney general's office failed to comply with Branchflower's Aug. 6 request for information about the case in the form of emails.

The chairman of the Legislative Council, Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, said he agreed with Branchflower's findings but wasn't ready to suggest there should be any consequences for the governor.

"We don't charge people, we don't try people as legislators," Elton said. Any further action or disciplinary measures, he said, would be up to Palin's executive branch, the attorney general or the state Personnel Board.

Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, told the Anchorage Daily News the report is flawed because Branchflower didn't take into account statements and other materials submitted earlier this week by Todd Palin and administration employees who earlier had resisted subpoenas.

Therriault said Todd Palin's written response indicates that Gov. Palin, at some point, urged her husband to drop his efforts against Wooten. That information goes to the heart of Branchflower's conclusion that the governor violated the ethics law, Therriault said.

Therriault said Branchflower was unable to consider those late-arriving materials "because we had this artificial deadline today."

"Why?" he continued. "Because we're in a political season."

Senate President Lyda Green said the report doesn't speak well for the governor.

"The problem with power is that people pay attention to it," the Wasilla Republican said. "And it's very easy to get beside yourself and use it in the wrong way.

"And we do have to leave personal business at home," she told the AFD.

Two other legislators said the governer and her husband's actions were understandable.

"Who is going to blame Todd Palin for protecting his family?" said Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole. " Not me."

Palin and her husband consistently denied any wrongdoing during the investigation, saying Wooten was a "rogue trooper" who had threatened their family, an allegation Branchflower rejected.

A spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign referred to the imnvestigation as, "a partisan-led inquiry" run by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, but praised its finding that Monegan's firing broke no law.

"Gov. Palin was cleared of the allegation of an improper firing, which is what this investigation was approved to look into," campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said.

She said the Legislature exceeded its mandate in finding an ethics violation. "Lacking evidence to support the original Monegan allegation, the Legislative Council seriously overreached, making a tortured argument to find fault without basis in law or fact," she said.

Rep. John Coghill, a Republican who criticized the handling of the investigation, said it was "well-done professionally."

But he said some of the conclusions were judgment calls by Branchflower, and recommended readers should view them with a "jaundiced eye."

Palin originally agreed to cooperate with the Legislative Council inquiry, and disclosed in August that her advisers had contacted Department of Public Safety officials nearly two dozen times regarding her ex-brother-in-law.

But once she became Sen. John McCain's running mate, her advisers began painting the investigation as a weapon of Democratic partisans, a CNN report said.

Ahead of Friday's hearing, Palin supporters wearing clown costumes and carrying balloons denounced the probe as a "kangaroo court" and a "three-ring circus" led by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The state senator managing the probe, Sen. Hollis French, fueled those complaints with a September 2 interview in which he warned the inquiry could yield an "October Surprise" for the GOP. But Palin's lawyers already had begun pushing for the state Personnel Board to launch its own investigation, calling it the proper legal venue for the matter, the CNN report said.

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