Check out this OP from Alaska last month: "Palin owes public an explanation"

[RiverStone]

Did a Google search and found the following, an interesting read. This is from the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman out of Wasilla Alaska (8/14/08).

Since her campaign for and election to the state’s highest elected office, Gov. Sarah Palin, a former beauty queen and high school basketball standout from the Mat-Su Valley, has been our local princess of politics.

We have been proud the governor calls the Valley home and that we have a voice reflecting our local values and priorities in our state’s top administrator. In the nearly two years since her election, Palin, for the most part, has done much that reflects well on her office and where she comes from, including finally prodding progress on plans to develop our vast natural gas resources.

That pride comes from trust — a trust the governor is straining as she and her administration continue to flounder over her recent firing of former state Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan amid allegations Monegan wouldn’t cave to pressure to fire Palmer-based Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten. Wooten is Palin’s former brother-in-law and is embroiled in a custody battle with the governor’s sister.

First Gentleman Todd Palin has admitted approaching Monegan on behalf of the Palin family about Wooten, and now we have learned that, despite initial statements from the governor to the contrary, that some members of Palin’s staff also contacted the DPS about Wooten. In a press conference Wednesday, Palin admitted there were about “two dozen” such contacts and said those happened without her knowledge. She said many of those contacts were made by her former chief of staff, Mike Tibbles.

“I now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it,” she said.

We’re sorry, Madame Governor, that’s not enough. The people of the Valley and Alaska deserve a better explanation that answers more questions that it raises.

Palin’s awareness of this pressure from staff comes directly after the discovery of a taped telephone conversation between the governor’s director of boards and commissions, Frank Bailey, and AST Lt. Rodney Dial. During that conversation, Bailey pressures Dial to take action against Wooten. Bailey backs up the governor and says she knew nothing of his contact with the AST.

Unless there’s evidence to the contrary, we’re forced to believe this. At the same time, Palin is asking us to also believe this of the other staffers who have done the same. One or two such contacts is an anomaly, about “two dozen” is a pattern. Aside from the serious implications of using her public office to satisfy a personal family vendetta, we’re troubled with the continuing revelations stemming from the Wooten fiasco. Here are two questions our governor needs to answer:

• If there was no direction from Palin’s office for staff to pressure the Department of Public Safety, is it just coincidence that Tibbles, Bailey and others acted independently and without provocation from the administration?

• If Bailey acted independent of Palin’s wishes with his contact with DPS about Wooten, why is he still a part of the administration?

Even without the Palin controversy this is a difficult time for Alaska politics. The recent conviction and indictments of state lawmakers, including charges against U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, have shaken the public’s trust in our elected representation to its core. Now we have to wonder if we can trust our governor as well.

Alaskans are a rugged yet forgiving population. We don’t demand perfection and don’t expect all our babies to be kissed every four years. What we do expect, and deserve, is honesty and truth. Governor Palin, if you didn’t use your office to satisfy a family grievance, show us. If you did, admit it, sincerely apologize and move on.

http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2008/08/16/opinion/editorials/doc48a51dbf1fa38687124478.txt