GOP Vice Presidential Nominee and current Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, was found to have abused her powers in the continued investigation of a state trooper. That state trooper was in a divorce and custody battle with the governor's sister and had allegedly threatened violence against Palin's father, among other things. It was also determined that Palin used this as part of the motivation to fire the Public Safety Commissioner of Alaska, Walter Monegan, although she was within her rights to dismiss him.
In response, the McCain-Palin campaign issued a statement accusing the investigation of being partisan politics in an effort to discredit Palin and hurt the campaign.
While I see the Republican stance on this issue, when would be a good time to release the investigation results? It was already pushed up nearly a month so it would not be a last minute event prior to the general election. Having no investigation would have brought questions about other executive power abuses. There was an investigation into the trooper prior to Palin taking the governor's office and it was determined that he could keep his job. According to the current investigation, Palin, her husband, and her Cabinet made several attempts to re-ignite the trooper investigation in efforts to get the trooper dismissed. Given her personal connection, she should have left it to others re-investigate, if it was determined absolutely necessary and lawful.
I feel for the Palin family if the trooper actually committed such actions, but the system is not perfect and must be respected. It is Palin who has now put a shadow on the McCain campaign, not the investigation.
If anyone would BOTHER to read the report (numerous locations available ONLINE) - or go to whatever news source YOU prefer...
This entire investigation was a FARCE! The Public Safety Commissioner, had continuously acting insubortinately to his boss - THE GOVERNOR of ASLASKA - Sarah Palin. Repeated requests for him to stay within the budget, work with others, etc. were ignored. he had threated or made derogatory comments about her family. She continued to attempt to get to the bottom of the investigation into the Trooper issues, and was rebuffed. PS Comissioner Monegan and the Investigating Chair, went so far as to taunt Gov. Palin after the nomination, by sending over requests for her to autograph a "photo" - it was of her former brother-in-law, a current Highway Patrolman, still under investigation for illegally using his TASER on his 10 yr old step-son, drinking in his patrol car, threatening his wife (Gov. Palin's sister) with bodily harm, as well as other members of her family, and misuse of office. There were several other allegations...
I believe that the REAL waste here is the $100,000 cost to the citizens of Alaska, due to the erreous rush to release SOMETHING prior to the election by a Partisan Panel, led by a Democratic 'head-hunter'...Who promised Gov. Palin an 'October Surprise'.
Lovely politics they have up in Alaska, folks, right? And people think she has no experience to take on tough leaders in DC and around the world? This is a ridiculous excuse to sell newspapers without telling the entire story. If you really want to see some fire works - dig into the WEATHERMEN Underground (Chicago, Ill.) and ACORN - voting fraud and scandal...now there's some stories for you!
My undrstanding is that there is perceived pressure to fire the trooper. Again, if an investigation was initially done, then our only option is to accept it and move on. The trooper was not fired, whether or not he did the things he has been accused of.
The perceived pressure Gov Palin put on the Public Safety Commissioner had to be investigated. Without so, the Alaskan legislature would look either weak or supporting the governor. It should be noted that the results of the investigation were released now, versus the original scheduled date of October 29 to remove "October Surprise" element from the release. Postponing the results until after the general election would not allow the US citizenry to have a full picture.
Before anyone believes I'm biased, I am an undecided voter. But those accusations of ACORN and Weathermen are a stretch at best. As noted, Obama was a toddler when Ayers was part of the Weathermen. If we are saying that Ayers is to be labelled as such forever, then we should sentence all felons to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. As to ACORN, until it is proven that Obama has participated in such illegal activities, it does not adversely affect him. Doing so, we should tie McCain to the Keating 5.
Again, even after all of this, I am open to either candidate. Neither is perfect, so I don't consider anything short of an actual felony to be a deterrent. I'll vote on the issues.
Two things:
As I understand it, the committee that conducted the investigation was comprised of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats. Hardly partisan politics.
Additionally, the report found that Palin did, in fact, have cause for firing the guy. However, the abuse of power involved was mostly due to allowing her husband access to government facilities in order to get involved, make phone calls, and otherwise influence the situation. Much like with the government business done with her Yahoo account, it's just another example of the Palins blurring the line between personal business and government business.
It's not the smoking gun the Dems want to believe, nor is Palin purely innocent here.
In my mind, it calls into question Palin's argument that she is a maverick reformer who is not a typical politician. How much a voter makes of this case is up to them, but it does lay doubt into the perception that she is squeaky clean and above politics. How MUCH doubt is up to you.