Topic: The Wheels Just Fell Off The Straight Talk Express

[Bezor]

Sarah Palin will take McCain down after today.

[GRAYWOLF]

[Bezor]

The LAST thing a Navy pilot wants is to crash and burn. 



The report said a family grudge was a likely factor in the dismissal

Palin abused power, probe finds
 
The report said a family grudge was a likely factor in the dismissal
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is guilty of abuse of power, according to a probe by the state legislature.

The Republican vice-presidential candidate was accused of sacking a senior state official, Walter Monegan, in connection with a family feud.

The verdict could have a significant effect on Republican hopes of winning next month's US presidential election.

Mrs Palin denies any wrongdoing, and her supporters say the charges are motivated by her political opponents.

She stood accused of firing Mr Monegan for refusing to sack a state trooper who was in a bitter custody battle with her sister.

The report concluded a family grudge was not the sole reason for the dismissal, but was a likely contributing factor.

Speaking after a bipartisan investigating panel reached its decision on what has become known as Troopergate, Mr Monegan said he felt "vindicated".

"It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions," he said. "And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

Ethical violation

The panel found Mrs Palin in violation of a state ethics law prohibiting public officials from using their office for personal gain.

  I would encourage people to be very cautious, to look at [the report] with a jaundiced eye

Gary Stevens
Republican senator


Economy could deflect sting

"I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110 (a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act," investigator Steve Branchflower concluded in the panel's 263-page report.

But Mrs Palin's lawyer said that the report had not been conclusive.

"In order to violate the ethics law, there has to be some personal gain," said Thomas Van Flein.

"Mr Branchflower has failed to identify any financial gain."

And Alaskan state Senator Gary Stevens, a Republican, said there were "some problems" with the finding.

 "I would encourage people to be very cautious, to look at this with a jaundiced eye," said Senator Stevens, after the report's release was announced.

Several Republican politicians had earlier attempted to have the investigation stopped on the grounds that it was politically motivated.

The investigation into the affair began before Mr McCain selected Mrs Palin as his running mate in August.

The US presidential race has now become so polarised both Republicans and Democrats will likely see the report's findings as vindication for their own trenchant views about Mrs Palin, says the BBC's Richard Lister in Washington.

Alaska's governor will either be seen as the victim of a Democratic party hatchet job, or a hypocrite.

Most voters, for now at least, seem more concerned about who will extract them from the current economic crisis, than any questions about political infighting in far-off Alaska, our correspondent adds.




Palin's supporters say the probe was politically motivated

Violent trooper?

Mrs Palin maintains she fired Mr Monegan in July over a budgetary dispute.

But Mr Monegan said he was dismissed for resisting pressure from Mrs Palin and her husband, Todd, to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten, Mrs Palin's former brother-in-law.

Mr Monegan said he simply wanted the truth to be made known.

 
Sarah Palin has denied any wrongdoing over the affair

"The governor did want me to fire [Mr Wooten], and I chose to not," he told the Associated Press news agency.

"He didn't do anything under my watch to result in termination."

Todd Palin has admitted he did publicise what he called the "injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge".

But he said his wife, who did not give evidence to the enquiry, then told him to drop the matter.

The McCain campaign on Thursday issued its own report, written by its staff, stating that the Alaska governor was not guilty of any wrongdoing.

"The following document will prove Walt Monegan's dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administrators," campaign officials wrote. "Trooper Wooten is a separate issue."

The 21-page report suggests that the allegations against Mrs Palin stem from a conspiracy planned by a former campaign opponent of hers, Andrew Halcro, and Mr Wooten.

"It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger over drinks with Trooper Wooten led the legislature to allocate over $100,000 of public money to be spent in what has become a politically-driven investigation," it concludes.

The McCain campaign says the inquiry has been muddied by innuendo, rumour and partisan politics.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7662820.stm

[Bezor]

Alaska panel finds Palin abused power in firing

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday. The politically charged inquiry imperiled her reputation as a reformer on John McCain's Republican ticket.

Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report by a bipartisan panel that investigated the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.

The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

The report found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. "I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

"I disagree," said Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein. "In order to violate the ethics law, there has to be some personal gain, usually financial. Mr. Branchflower has failed to identify any financial gain."

The statute says "any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that (public) trust."

Palin and McCain's supporters had hoped the inquiry's finding would be delayed until after the presidential election to spare her any embarrassment and to put aside an enduring distraction as she campaigns as McCain's running mate in an uphill contest against Democrat Barack Obama.

But the panel of lawmakers voted to release the report, although not without dissension. There was no immediate vote on whether to endorse its findings.

"I think there are some problems in this report," said Republican state Sen. Gary Stevens, a member of the panel. "I would encourage people to be very cautious, to look at this with a jaundiced eye."

The nearly 300-page report does not recommend sanctions or a criminal investigation.

The investigation revealed that Palin's husband, Todd, has extraordinary access to the governor's office and her closest advisers. He used that access to try to get trooper Mike Wooten fired, the report found.

Branchflower faulted Sarah Palin for taking no action to stop that. He also noted there is evidence the governor herself participated in the effort.

Wooten had been in hot water before Palin became governor over allegations that he illegally shot a moose, drank beer in a patrol car and used a Taser on his stepson.

In proceedings revealed by the report, former Alaska State Trooper Col. Julia Grimes told investigators that Sarah Palin called her in late 2005 to discuss why Wooten hadn't been fired, and Grimes told her the inquiry was confidential by law.

"Her questions were how can a trooper who behaves this way still be working," Grimes said. "I asked her to please trust me, that because I can't tell her details I would ask her to please trust me that I would take the appropriate action if and when I knew what the findings were. ... I couldn't have another conversation with her about it because, again, it's protected by law."

Grimes said Todd Palin also contacted her by telephone in late 2005 to discuss the confidential investigation of Wooten.

Wooten's disciplinary case was settled in September 2006 — months before Palin was elected governor — and he was allowed to continue working as a trooper.

After Palin's election, her new public safety commissioner, Monegan, said he was summoned to the governor's office to meet Todd Palin, who said Wooten's punishment had been merely a "slap on the wrist." Monegan said he understood the Palins wanted Wooten fired. "I had this kind of ominous feeling that I may not be long for this job if I didn't somehow respond accordingly," Monegan told the investigator.

For months afterward, Todd Palin filed complaints about Wooten, saying he was seen riding a snowmobile after he had filed a worker's compensation claim and was seen dropping off his children at school in his patrol car. Monegan said Wooten's doctor had authorized the snowmobile trip and his supervisor had approved his use of the patrol car. Monegan said Alaska's attorney general later called him to inquire about Wooten, and Monegan told him they shouldn't be discussing the subject.

"This was an issue that apparently wasn't going to go away, that there were certainly frustrations," Monegan said. "To say that (Sarah Palin) was focused on this I think would be accurate."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081011/ap_on_el_pr/palin_troopergate

[MG]

Beeze, I don't think its such a big deal. Her supporters will not be moved one inch by this. They will see it as a form of "SwiftBoating" their candidate and skip right over it. The people who WILL be incensed by this have already decided to vote against McCant/Saracuda.

I don't see this as a game changer.

She IS a greedy, grasping, vindictive, evil, waspish, power mad lunatic. Some people LIKE that in a woman!   

[Bezor]

Beeze, I don't think its such a big deal. Her supporters will not be moved one inch by this. They will see it as a form of "SwiftBoating" their candidate and skip right over it. The people who WILL be incensed by this have already decided to vote against McCant/Saracuda.

I don't see this as a game changer.

She IS a greedy, grasping, vindictive, evil, waspish, power mad lunatic. Some people LIKE that in a woman!   

I have no problem with powerful women.  Powerful women who posess thos traits, I run away from.   

I've said it before:  she is the type of person who you get your points across to and let it go after that for who knows how she will process the information?   That frankly is disturbing to anyone thinking of electing her as president.  PRESIDENT?  who said she was that?   Simple life ecology puts him at not finishing his 1st year term.  Hence President Palin.  Sorry, but to cruid nasty meanspirited and nasty.......If the what has been shown in McCain ralleys regarind bigoted American, it could come to pass that Obama is killed.  At least Biden will be able to pick up the sticks after such a kennedyesque scenario.  Of the VPs (Biden and Palin) who would make the better president?  If that dosen't hit you between the eyes as far as who to vote for, I'm not certain what it would take for your poor soul to vote Obama.

[MG]

Of course, the same descriptors could be applied equally to a cerain former Democratic contender of the female persuasion.....

[Otto Puzzell]

If the crap spouted Obama's suddenly, politically expediently former associates takes hold in America, is that better? White bigotry, black bigotry. One coming from a wacko off the street at a rally, the other coming form an adviser of many years. Shot the president? Bomb the Pentagon? One coming from walk in fringie, another coming with an unrepentant confidant of a would-be commander-in-chief.  I also wouldn't be completely shocked to find out the rally nut jobs are being paid for by supporters of the IL Senator.

Nice little corner Dems believe they have people painted into:

If you are against Obama/Biden, you are a racist.

If  you support McCain/Palin (not necessarily the same thing), you are racist. 

As opposed to gun toting crazies coming out of the woodwork, the more likely result of this election, and the rhetoric surrounding it,  is pollsters get one message from people they reach on the phone, or approach at the mall,  who are afraid of being labeled as racist, contrasted with what happens in the voting booth, when there is no stigma of being racist when voting for who you prefer, the result may indeed be significantly different. The bigots exist in either camp will say "see, I told you so", no matter what the outcome.

Time will tell. But what do I know, I'm probably a racist, since I don't love the idea of Obama as president. After all, what other reason could there possibly be?

[Bezor]

If the crap spouted Obama's suddenly, politically expediently former associates takes hold in America, is that better? White bigotry, black bigotry. One coming from a wacko off the street at a rally, the other coming form an adviser of many years. Shot the president? Bomb the Pentagon? One coming from walk in fringie, another coming with an unrepentant confidant of a would-be commander-in-chief.  I also wouldn't be completely shocked to find out the rally nut jobs are being paid for by supporters of the IL Senator.

Nice little corner Dems believe they have people painted into:

If you are against Obama/Biden, you are a racist.

If  you support McCain/Palin (not necessarily the same thing), you are racist. 

As opposed to gun toting crazies coming out of the woodwork, the more likely result of this election, and the rhetoric surrounding it,  is pollsters get one message from people they reach on the phone, or approach at the mall,  who are afraid of being labeled as racist, contrasted with what happens in the voting booth, when there is no stigma of being racist when voting for who you prefer, the result may indeed be significantly different. The bigots exist in either camp will say "see, I told you so", no matter what the outcome.

Time will tell. But what do I know, I'm probably a racist, since I don't love the idea of Obama as president. After all, what other reason could there possibly be?

The "Bradley Effect", named after Bill Bradley's loss to Dukemajian for California's Govenorship. 

And what about the people voting for Obama who don't see him as black?

You could always vote Paul and take out McCain and Obama.

[Otto Puzzell]

The "Bradley Effect", named after Bill Bradley's loss to Dukemajian for California's Govenorship. 

I wasn't familiar with that term, but after doing some reading, that sums it up nicely, and tells me I'm not as full of beans as I might seem (at least on that opinion).

And what about the people voting for Obama who don't see him as black?

Kudo's to them. And to those who vote against him.

You could always vote Paul and take out McCain and Obama.

I didn't say who I was leaning toward. But being a contrarian, I tend toward the defense people who are bing savaged by the press, be it guilt by association, gender bias, antitheism, age bias, or a journalist's inability to report without one of their own biases shining through.

As usual, you post good food for thought. I'm glad you're spending more time here.

[Ultra]

As usual, you post good food for thought. I'm glad you're spending more time here.

'xactly!

 

[Bezor]

[qoute]
I didn't say who I was leaning toward. But being a contrarian, I tend toward the defense people who are bing savaged by the press, be it guilt by association, gender bias, antitheism, age bias, or a journalist's inability to report without one of their own biases shining through.

That I think is the common denominator.