BTW, we've gotten way off topic. Wasn't this a discussion about Gov Palin?
On that note, looks like some email messages have been released in the "troopergate" investigation. I can't find much detail in the news - what a surprise - but here are some interesting details reported by Townhall.com FWIW:
Democrats be warned, “Troopergate” may backfire.
The latest revelation in the investigation on Sarah Palin’s decision to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan reinforces her credentials as a reformer who strived to abide by her state budget and maintain dignity within the ranks of her law enforcement as Governor of Alaska.
Emails released by Palin’s lawyer in the evolving “Troopergate” investigation show Palin fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because he routinely undermined her on budget issues, not because of his refusal to fire Palin’s ex brother-in-law Trooper Mike Wooten.
While Monegan’s firing was unrelated to Wooten, Palin did make her concerns about the trooper, who admitted to “tasering” his stepson, threatening the Governor’s family with violence and who has had a restraining order issued against him by his ex-wife, known.
Thomas Van Flein, Palin's legal counsel, submitted a report to Alaskan lawmakers investigating whether Palin abused her power in firing Monegan that said the comissioner was terminated due to his “outright insubordination.” Fein cited evidence showing Monegan defied the Governor by making public requests for projects Palin did not support in her budget, such as an $1.8 million increase for the Anchorage Community Land Trust (a project Palin had previously vetoed) and by planning an unauthorized trip to Washington to lobby the Alaskan delegation for more money. Monegan wanted Washington to give him between $10 million and $20 million to rehire retired troopers to specialize in sexual assault cases. The Palin administration maintained Monegan needed to fill his 56 general enforcement vacancies that already had an existing funding stream before hiring specialized enforcement staff outside the budget.
Flein included an avalanche of 2008 emails from Palin’s staff that discussed Monegan’s, a political appointee who served at the Governor’s pleasure, disruptive agenda in his report. None of the emails mentioned Wooten.
Palin did, however, write an email to Monegan regarding Wooten in 2007. In it, she asked Monegan to provide comment about a bill to ban the sale of guns to individuals who are considered a threat to public safety. She said the bill raised concerns about her “ex brother in law, the trooper who threatened to kill my dad yet was not even reprimanded by his bosses and still to this day carries a gun, of course.”
“Remember when the death threat was reported,” Palin told Monegan “and follow-on threats from Mike that he was going to ‘bring Sarah and her family down’—instead of any reprimand WEW were told by the trooper union and the personnel that we’d be sued if we talked about those threats. Amazing. And he’s still a trooper, and he still carries a gun, and he still tells anyone who will listen that he will never work for that b**** (me) because he has such anger and disdain towards my family. So consistency is needed here. No one’s above the law. If the law needs to be changed to now allow access to funs for people threatening to kill someone, it must apply to everyone.”
Alaskan lawmakers who voted to issue 13 subpoenas to various Palin aides, including Palin’s husband, Todd, last week to further their abuse of power investigation.
Palin has refused to testify, saying she believes the inquiry is "tainted."
A Friday hearing revealed that a Democratic partisan who is actively supporting Barack Obama’s candidacy had manipulated an independent investigator’s Stephen Branchflower’s subpoena list as reported here by Townhall.
Any chance the email messages will be public viewable? I'd love to get some unfiltered information. Frankly, if this stuff is true, it can only help bolster Gov Palin's reform credentials.
Also, politicization of the investigation? Inconceivable!
A Friday hearing revealed that an Obama partisan has manipulated an independent investigator’s subpoena list for a controversial inquiry against GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The investigation is intended to determine whether Palin abused her office by firing Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Palin says she fired him over budget issues. Her foes believe the firing was due to Monegan’s unwillingness to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law State Trooper Mike Wooten, a man who has admitted to “tasering” his stepson, illegally shooting a moose and has been accused of threatening his former father-in-law with violence and drinking in his police car.
Investigator Steven Branchflower admitted he had ceded control of his subpoena list to Sen. Hollis French (D.) during Alaska’s Joint Judiciary Committee September 12 hearing that was scheduled to approve subpoena requests. [CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO.] French is a partisan who has endorsed Palin’s Democratic presidential ticket rival Barack Obama for president and is actively supporting his candidacy.
Lawmakers approved 13 of Branchflower’s subpoena requests that day, which included one for Palin’s husband, Todd. Four other subpoenas were approved for aides Branchflower believes participated in a meeting called by Palin’s former chief of staff Mike Tibbles where Wooten’s firing was allegedly discussed.
Rep. David Guttenberg (D.) asked Branchflower why he was requesting subpoenas for only those people attending the meeting and not Tibbles himself.
Branchflower said he would “have to defer that question to Mr. French.”
“I put the list together with, talking to Mr. French,” Branchflower added.
Sen. Gene Therriault (R.) told Branchflower, “I don’t understand why you would have to defer that question to Sen. French. If it’s your list you’re in complete control of the list, then why can’t you answer the question?”
Branchflower had no explanation. He only offered, “I’m not sure why his name was removed. My initial request was to have him on the list.” At that point, French interjected. “It appeared to me there wasn’t the political will to subpoena Tibbles.”
“Something’s fishy here,” Therriault replied. “I mean either Mr. Branchflower conducts his investigation without direction, and now we know he’s been directed on the date and changing what he’s doing and how he’s doing it because of the time pressure he is feeling. And now we’re hearing that people that he’s trying to get information from, there’s direction going on on that, too.”
Indeed. Although the investigation is far from concluding, French has suggested it may culminate in an “October surprise,” perhaps even Palin's impeachment as Governor-- a game-changing outcome that would certainly increase the Democrats chances of winning the White House in November.
The final report, which French has already described as “damaging,” is set to be released on October 31, four days shy of the presidential election. Since the investigation began last August, there have been disputes over the timing over the report’s release, as Therriault mentioned. Although there’s been general agreement that Branchflower should conduct his investigation in a “timely” fashion, some Democratic politicos, like French, have been pushing for an October deadline.
French, who is “project director” of the inquiry against Palin, and investigator Branchflower are two of three main players in this investigation Republicans say have been tainted by partisan politics. The other is Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, chairman of Alaska’s Legislature’s Legislative Council that’s overseeing the investigation. Both French and Elton are strong Obama backers.
Branchflower, who currently resides in South Carolina, was appointed by French to conduct the actual investigation. He worked with French several years ago when both were members of Alaskan law enforcement.
Palin’s lawyer Thomas Van Flein said the entire investigation is “unlawful and unconstitutional.” He recently wrote a terse letter to Branchflower, blasting the investigator’s “seemingly biased conduct of the investigation in recent weeks.”
Alaskan Republicans have asked Chairman Elton to replace French with someone less partisan, but Elton denied their request.
According to campaign finance data available on opensecrets.com Elton has donated at least $2,000 to Obama’s campaign. Three other Democrats on the Elton’s 14-member council are also supporting Obama for president, as identified on Obama’s presidential website.
Further fueling the GOP’s fire is the fact that former Commissioner Monegan and state trooper Wooten are surprisingly mild-mannered about this “scandal” that’s blown into a national news story after Palin’s vice presidential appointment.
Monegan told the Anchorage Daily News on August 30 that he was never pressured to dismiss Palin’s former brother-in-law. “For the record,” he said, “no one has ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff.”
Wooten, for his part, has reportedly turned down at least $30,000 from tabloids hungry for his side of the story. His union, however, the Public Safety Employees Association, filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s office, to find out if Wooten’s personnel file had ever been illegally disclosed.
The same week PSEA filed their complaint, CNN reported that Obama campaign officials had been contacting Wooten’s union, although Obama spokesmen have vehemently refuted CNN’s report as well as one from the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund that said more than 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researches had been deployed to Alaska to dig up dirt on Palin.
Also, interesting bit of news:
John McCain's campaign says the Republican is picking up the support of a top Hillary Clinton fundraiser and member of the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee.
Lynn Forester de Rothschild has said she thinks Democratic nominee Barack Obama is arrogant and has a problem connecting with average Americans.
Rothschild is a member of the DNC's Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York. She was one of Clinton's top fundraisers, bringing in more than $100,000 for her presidential campaign. She built a multimillion-dollar telecommunications company before marrying international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.
Rothschild plans to announce her support for McCain on Wednesday in Washington.
p.s. Amanda Carpenter is a babe!
