ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of a legislative
investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by
firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter
Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from
Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state
trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law.
Lawmakers are expected to release their own findings Friday.
Campaign officials have yet to see that report - the result of an
investigation that began before she was tapped as McCain's running
mate - but said the investigation has falsely portrayed a
legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner
as something inappropriate.
"The following document will prove Walt Monegan's dismissal was
a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor
Palin and her administration," campaign officials wrote. "Trooper
Wooten is a separate issue."
Monegan said Thursday that he doesn't know what to expect from
the legislative panel's own report.
"I just hope that the truth is figured out," Monegan told The
Associated Press on Thursday. "That the governor did want me to
fire him, and I chose to not. You just can't walk up to someone and
say, 'I fire you.' He didn't do anything under my watch to result
in termination."
Palin's critics say that shows she used her office to settle
family affairs.
"When you're the governor, you leave your household hat at home
and you become governor," said state Senate President Lyda Green,
a Republican who has frequently clashed with Palin.
The campaign's report instead blames former campaign opponent,
Andrew Halcro, who has a blog, of conspiring with Wooten to pin
Monegan's dismissal on the family's dispute with Wooten. Three days
after Monegan was fired, they say, Wooten told his ex-wife, Palin's
sister, that: "You guys are going down. Get ready for the show."
Two days after that confrontation, they say, Halcro and Wooten
met at a hotel bar in Anchorage for more than three hours - and
that evening, Halcro posted the first accusations on his blog that
Monegan had been fired because of a vendetta against Wooten by the
Palin family.
"It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger after
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," the 21-page report concludes.
Although the report describes Wooten as a separate issue, the
McCain campaign goes into great detail about the "rogue" trooper
and his "long history of unstable and erratic behavior." The
campaign describes allegations of violence, including threatening
Palin's family and shooting his stepson with a stun gun.
The report also includes allegations that Wooten cheated the
workers' compensation system. Todd Palin has said he had numerous
conversations with government officials about why Wooten was
allowed to stay on the job.
"The Palins make no apologies for wanting to protect their
family and wanting to bring attention to the injustice of a violent
trooper keeping his badge and abusing the workers' compensation
system."
But Todd Palin said he never pressured anyone, including his
wife.
The McCain campaign says the investigation has become "muddied
with innuendo, rumor and partisan politics."
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