Chief Fired by Palin Speaks Out

[tannybogus]

The July firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan by Gov. Sarah Palin, who was announced as John McCain's running mate on Friday, has unearthed a stream of soap-opera-like details about Palin, her husband, her family and top state appointees. The controversy has also cut against Palin's reputation for holding an ethical line and standing up to colleagues in the Republican Party over matters of principle.

Monegan, 57, a respected former chief of the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview with The Washington Post's James V. Grimaldi on Friday that the governor repeatedly brought up the topic of her ex-brother-in-law, Michael Wooten, after Monegan became the state's commissioner of public safety in December 2006. Palin's husband, Todd, met with Monegan and presented a dossier of information about Wooten, who was going through a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly. Monegan also said Sarah Palin sent him e-mails on the subject, but Monegan declined to disclose them, saying he planned to give them to a legislative investigator looking into the matter.

Palin initially denied that she or anyone in her administration had ever pressured Monegan to fire the trooper, but this summer acknowledged more than a half a dozen contacts over the matter, including one phone call from a Palin administration official to a state police lieutenant. The call was recorded and was released by Palin's office this month. Todd Palin told a television reporter in Alaska that he did meet with Monegan, but said he was just "informing" Monegan about the issue, not exerting pressure.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/08/exclusive_chief_fired_by_palin.html?hpid=topnews

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. All This is in less than 6 hours since his pick, imagine by Monday!

I smell toast

Good find kicked and nominated

[secondwind]

9. I just cannot see Sarah Palin.....

meeting with leaders like Medvedev, Kim Jung Yil(?), Ahmadinejad, Sarkozy, etc...........have tried to picture her with these world leaders, but she seems just so MEDIOCRE........ Is this the best the Repukes can do? I feel sorry for them!

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tabatha]

11. Really?

[itsrobert]

14. Apparently, she will send her husband to meet with those leaders

and she'll just sit back and cash her paycheck while hubby does all the talking.

[wryter2000]

18. Welcome to DU

:hi:

Of course, all those people have put up with Bush. Palin might be an improvement.

[Frisbee]

20. I agree, but....

doubt she'd be any worse than * in meeting with and discussing issues with these leaders. Not that we want to keep the bar set that low.

[jhrobbins]

35. She actually, kinda sorta, a little bit, makes GWB look like a statesman

[iconicgnom]

24. I like cinnamon toast, sometimes. In fact, I think I might make some!

Palin looks like a gift from God, there's so many great stories and threads and even vids already coming out.

Y'know, whatever will be, will be, this US GE, but I've never been so happy with a Dem ticket. Not ever. That gives me tremendous hope.

[bkkyosemite]

2. CNN and MSNBC need to talk about this I'm emailing them.

[wryter2000]

19. Welcome to DU

:hi:

Give it a try, but I'll bet the corporate media will ignore it. I hope I'm wrong.

[spanone]

3. k&r

[RedLetterRev]

4. K&R n/t

[speedoo]

5. The Palins are very, very dirty. k&r. nt

[lonestarnot]

17. And she apparently likes that real fur.

[fascisthunter]

6. This Pick by McCain, Confirms to Most Americans that he is Slime

[MiniMe]

7. I think that may be why they announced it Friday of a holiday weekend

With a huge storm coming into the gulf.

[XOKCowboy]

8. Wooten is no gem of a guy...

He used a taser on a kid at some point but a the time of that incident Governor Palin didn't try to get him fired. I don't think her office even called for an investigation. It wasn't until he divorced her sis that she started pressuring Monegan to fire him. At least from what I've read. Any Alaskans please correct me if I'm wrong.

My question is how does the First Dude (as someone described him in an AK newspaper) get the right/nerve/authority to meet with the PS Commissioner and how would that NOT be considered intimidation?

[tabatha]

12. He used a taser because the child asked him to do it so that

he could feel what it is like.

He exercised poor judgment in doing what the kid asked, but it was not for control or anything nefarious.

[XOKCowboy]

16. OK that makes sense...

One of the replies said that another poster should learn about use of a taser at low power. Bad judgement sure but not the usual taser stories we hear.

Thanks for the info.

[notadmblnd]

33. Wasn't the kid also his stepson?

so the kid literally asked for it and it was his kid, sort of. It's stupid parenting, but hey, these would be the first people to bitch if someone stepped in and tried to tell them how to be a proper parent.:shrug:

[roguevalley]

22. sarah has been after him for a long time and he's a dick, I will give

that, but she's mean and vindictive. Todd Palin is worse.

[TahitiNut]

25. Well, Wooten was enough of a "gem" to marry Palin's sister and have kids.

Funny how that wonderful embrace of "families joining in Holy matrimony" doesn't mitigate the current claims huh?

I know! It must be all those gays getting married in California that are to blame for ruining their marriage!!
That must be it.
:eyes:

I wonder what happened to Palin's sister's prior marriage. Hmmm? The "family values" crowd is a riot.

[chat_noir]

13. Alaskan blogger

Sarah Palin’s sister Molly married a guy named Mike Wooten who is an Alaska State Trooper. Mike and Molly had a rocky marriage. When the marriage broke up, there was a bitter custody fight that is still ongoing. During the custody investigation, all sorts of things were brought up about Wooten including the fact that he had illegally shot a moose (yes folks this is Alaska), driven drunk, and used a taser (on the test setting, he reminds us) on his 11-year old stepson, who supposedly had asked to see what it felt like. While Wooten has turned out to be a less than stellar figure, the fact that Palin’s father accompanied him on the infamous moose hunt, and that many of the dozens of charges brought up by the Palin family happened long before they were ever reported smacked of desperate custody fight. Wooten’s story is that he was basically stalked by the family.

After all this, Wooten was investigated and disciplined on two counts and allowed to kept his position with the troopers. Enter Walt Monegan, Palin’s appointed new chief of the Department of Public Safety and head of the troopers. Monegan was beloved by the troopers, did a bang-up job with minimal funding and suddenly got axed. Palin was out of town and Monegan got “offered another job” (aka fired) with no explanation to Alaskans. Pressure was put on the governor to give details, because rumors started to swirl around the fact that the highly respected Monegan was fired because he refused to fire the aforementioned Mike Wooten. Palin vehemently denied ever talking to Monegan or pressuring Monegan in any way to fire Wooten, or that anyone on her staff did. Over the weeks it has come out that not only was pressure applied, there were literally dozens of conversations in which pressure was applied to fire him. Monegan has testified to this fact, spurring an ongoing investigation by the Alaska state legislature. But, before this investigation got underway, Palin sent the Alaska State Attorney General out to do some investigative work of his own so she could find out in advance what the real investigation was going to find. (No, I’m not making this up). The AG interviewed several people, unbeknownst to the actual appointed investigator or the Legislature! Palin’s investigation of herself uncovered a recorded phone call retained by the Alaska State Troopers from Frank Bailey, a Palin underling, putting pressure on a trooper about the Wooten non-firing. Todd Palin (governor’s husband) even talked to Monegan himself in Palin’s office while she was away. Bailey is now on paid administrative leave.

As if this weren’t enough, Monegan’s appointed replacement Chuck Kopp, turns out to have been the center of his own little scandal. He received a letter of reprimand and was reassigned after sexual harrassment allegations by a former coworker who didn’t like all the unwanted kissing and hugging in the office. Was he vetted? Obviously not. When he was questioned about all this, his comment was that no one had asked him and he thought they all knew. Kopp, defiant, still claimed to have done nothing wrong and said to the press that there was no way he was stepping down from his new position. Twenty four hours later, he stepped down. Later it was uncovered that he received a $10,000 severance package for his two weeks on the job from Palin. Monegan got nothing.

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/what-is-mccain-thinking-one-alaskans-perspective

[regnaD kciN]

15. Unless it gets proven in court...

...it's a good idea to be very skeptical about any charges thrown about in a bitter divorce.

I mention this because there are already many knee-jerkers who are taking Palin's sister's claims as Gospel Truth, and thus making the issue whether Palin was right to try to fire a guy who was abusing her sister and sister's family. That's framing it in pure G.O.P. style. Our framing should be that Palin is someone who would use political power to settle personal scores -- and make a similar target of anyone, no matter how clean or respected (like Monegan), who chose to follow the law rather than Palin's whims.

[Poiuyt]

26. Great post!

[Miss Chybil]

27. This post deserves its own thread. nt

[AzDar]

21. Kickety!

:kick:

[FVZA_Colonel]

23. I'm just afraid people are going to think "she got rid of two corrupt assholes."

"Good for her!" if this is run with.

[Douglas Carpenter]

28. thanks for posting

[UTUSN]

29. Weekend kick n/t

[radfringe]

30. this brings us to the central issue - abuse of power

did palin abuse her office for personal reasons?

I understand the findings of the investigation won't be available until after nov. election....

questions to ask: has palin supported/promoted funding/legislation regarding programs/education for women's rights? I ran a google, and find nothing of real substance regarding this...

alaskans check in....

[Bluenorthwest]

31. Meet a religious proclaimer, meet a liar

Here is my favorite part of the op :
"Palin initially denied that she or anyone in her administration had ever pressured Monegan to fire the trooper, but this summer acknowledged more than a half a dozen contacts over the matter, including one phone call from a Palin administration official to a state police lieutenant."

So she lied. Religious posturing Pentacostal, and she lied. That says everything there is to say about Palin, her so called 'faith' and her integrity. She lied. That part of the story is right there. She's a liar.

[DiverDave]

34. But, but, It's O.K. for HER

to lie, it's just the rest of us that better not.

Another hypocrite rethug :shrug:

[sasori]

32. I just can't picture Sarah Palin meeting...

with the leaders of the world.:shrug: she's just not.... authentic enough.

[Phred42]

36. HOw embarrassed is Grampy going to be

HOw embarrassed is Grampy going to be when he has to replace her - before November. Biden is going to eat her alive in the debate

[IamyourTVandIownyou]

37. Found the phone recording.

re: "including one phone call from a Palin administration official to a state police lieutenant."

http://blip.tv/file/1214523

Have a listen.