[AK] Palin & Co trying to shut down the investigation she said she welcomed

The Alaska state trooper at the heart of a legislative investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power said yesterday he has not been contacted by the man overseeing the inquiry... Even conservatives are expressing resentment over the governor's about-face on the Monegan investigation...

PREVIOUS ENTRIES:

• [Palin's Troopergate] Is Abuse of Power "a Governor's Perogative"? - ...ADVOCATING ONLY TO GET RID OF HER SISTER'S EX? THAT'S GOING TO BE HARD TO JUSTIFY, AND WORSE TO BE CAUGHT LYING ABOUT.
• [AK] Investigating Palin's Troopergate Abuse of Power allegations (2) - ...NOW THE GOVERNOR'S LAWYER HAS FORBIDDEN HER STAFF FROM ANY DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE INVESTIGATOR, FORCING THE LAWMAKERS TO CONSIDER SUBPOENAS...
  

PALINS CALL IN THE LAWYERS TO SILENCE 'TROOPERGATE' INQUIRY IN ALASKA
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Todd Palin, husband of the vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and self-described "First Dude" of Alaska, is refusing a demand to appear before an investigation into the growing "Troopergate" scandal... She is also being advised by a high-powered team of advisers who have flown to Alaska to try and keep a lid on the controversy until after the 4 November election... Governor Palin has appeared at packed venues on the campaign trail alongside John McCain. But her lack of experience on the national stage and the vast gaps in her knowledge of foreign affairs have left the campaign wary of exposing her to too much scrutiny. Her campaign cancelled appearances in Florida yesterday as well as some fundraisers in California and Washington state that were already sold out... [Full article here]



NEW TROOPERGATE DOCUMENT EXPOSES PALIN LIES
Diary Entry by Mark C. Eades
September 20, 2008
An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into "Troopergate." Fighting back against allegations she may have fired her then-Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, for refusing to go along with a personal vendetta, Palin on Monday argued in a legal filing that she fired Monegan because he had a "rogue mentality" and was bucking her administration's directives. "The last straw," her lawyer argued, came when he planned a trip to Washington, D.C., to seek federal funds for an aggressive anti-sexual-violence program. The project, expected to cost from $10 million to $20 million a year for five years, would have been the first of its kind in Alaska, which leads the nation in reported forcible rape. The McCain-Palin campaign echoed the charge in a press release it distributed Monday, concurrent with Palin's legal filing. "Mr. Monegan persisted in planning to make the unauthorized lobbying trip to D.C.," the release stated. BUT THE GOVERNOR'S STAFF AUTHORIZED THE TRIP, ACCORDING TO AN INTERNAL TRAVEL DOCUMENT FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, RELEASED FRIDAY IN RESPONSE TO AN OPEN RECORDS REQUEST... [Full article here]



EXCLUSIVE: NEW DOUBTS OVER PALIN'S TROOPERGATE CLAIMS
Internal Government Document Contradicts Sarah Palin, Campaign
ABC
Sept. 19, 2008
An internal government document has been obtained by ABC News which directly contradicts Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety commissioner Walt Monegan, the move which prompted the contested state probe into what has come to be known as "Troopergate"... Even as the McCain/Palin campaign attempts to adjust their explanation for Monegan's dismissal, it seems obvious that Palin's lies are catching up with her... [Full article here]



ALASKA TROOPER WOOTEN NOT CONTACTED BY ’TROOPERGATE’ INVESTIGATOR
By Associated Press
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Alaska state trooper at the heart of a legislative investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power said yesterday he has not been contacted by the man overseeing the inquiry. The Legislature is investigating whether Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, fired former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because he would not dismiss trooper Mike Wooten. Wooten went through a messy divorce from Palin’s sister. But nearly six weeks into the investigation, Wooten told The Associated Press yesterday that he has not been contacted by the Legislature’s investigator, former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower... Palin has said she did not fire Monegan because of Wooten. However, last month she disclosed contact between members of her administration and the state troopers, questioning Wooten’s employment... Wooten said he refuses to "throw stones" at the Palin family or his ex-wife, Molly. He said he’s turned down cash offers, well into the tens of thousands, from tabloid newspapers for interviews. "I’m not going to tell them story they want," he said. "I’m going to tell the truth"... [Full article here]


FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES ALASKANS ANGERED THAT PALIN IS OFF-LIMITS
QUERIES ARE DIRECTED THROUGH THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN MACHINE. HER POLITICAL CAPITAL AT HOME IS ERODING.
Los Angeles Times
By Kim Murphy
September 21, 2008
Jerry McCutcheon went to Sarah Palin's office here last week to request information about the firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, the scandal that for weeks has threatened to overshadow the governor's role as Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate. McCutcheon was given a phone number in Virginia to call: the national headquarters of the McCain-Palin campaign. Why, he wanted to know, did he have to call a campaign office 4,300 miles away to find out what was going on in Alaska government? The longtime civic activist phoned his local state representative, Les Gara, who quickly filed a protest. These days, many such queries about Monegan -- or anything else involving Palin's record as governor -- get diverted to McCain staffers... A recent call to John Cramer, the head of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs -- who clashed with Palin during her years as mayor of Wasilla -- was returned by a McCain campaign operative who had just arrived from Washington, D.C. "John who?" she asked... McCain staffers have even been assigned to answer calls for Palin's family members, who have been instructed not to talk. "Why did the McCain campaign take over the governor's office?" the Anchorage Daily News demanded in an editorial Saturday. "Is it too much to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans, about her actions as Alaska's governor?"... Even conservatives are expressing resentment over the governor's about-face on the Monegan investigation and the infiltration of state government by the McCain campaign... Most of the battle lines have been drawn around what is commonly called Troopergate: allegations that Monegan was fired in July because he had refused to terminate Palin's former brother-in-law, a state trooper whose divorce from Palin's sister was messy... Several other witnesses had been scheduled to testify voluntarily but, on the advice of Palin's attorney general, also did not appear... Legislators say they will consider holding in contempt any witnesses who ignore subpoenas, and they have challenged the right of the attorney general, who is appointed by the governor, to advise state employees on whether to testify... "I don't know why they're trying to paint this [legislative investigation] as a Democratic partisan attack," said state Sen. Wielechowski. "The thing I constantly remind people of is: Democrats didn't push this. You know who pushed it? It was the Republicans. This is the thing people conveniently forget now. There were no Democrats out there screaming for an investigation."... [Full article here]