I cannot tell you how bored I am with Trooper’gate. And frankly, I’m glad at least one of the two investigations has had some nebulous and inconclusive conclusion.

I say “inconclusive conclusion” because, as Branchwater was quoted in the ADN today:

Branchflower writes that his investigation did not take into account late-arriving statements from several administration officials who, on the advice of Attorney General Talis Colberg, resisted subpoenas. They agreed to provide written statements this week, however, after a state judge upheld the subpoenas. Information from those statements was provided to the Legislative Council separately.

In fact, there were 10 witnesses not included in Branchwater’s investigation. Branchwater promises a separate report. Oh goodie.

I say nebulous since the only count from which they can extract a semblence of a scandalous headline is by Branchwater’s (legally erroneous) determination that Sarah Palin abused her power, in violation of the Executive Branch Ethics Act. How? By *not* telling her husband, Todd, to stop talking, or asking, about Trooper Wooten.

Huh? Okay… lemme ’splain.

Personally, I’d rather just recant Theresa C’s comment from another thread, and quit there. Dang… the girl nailed it in 14 words!

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Okay… INRE the six Alaskan legislators who sued to get an injunctive release (see original post and info here…) back on the 16th of December… alleging the Legislative Council was acting without budgetary authority, and outside Constitutional due process per the Alaskan Legislature.

The Alaskan Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s Motion to Dismiss… on Oct 8th. I was waiting to get the Supreme decision. However none is available as of yet. If the brief I linked above is correct, a decision should follow. (Which I’m actually quite curious on a legal intellectually level to see. Mostly about the Legislative Council appropriating funds without the approval of the entire body.)

In the context of all that still goes on… the Legislative Council witch hunt continues, most or all are responding to subpoenas. And the Personnel Board investigation and investigator are still in action.

Dat’s all folks…. I am so bored with this. After I found out a “guilty” is a $5000 fine, who the heck cares? The Alaskan Legislative Council is spending 20x the amount of the fine just to investigate…. no wonder Palin’s had to rip thru these guys in her gubernatorial term. They most certainly know how to waste the taxpayers’ cash.

But this entire story was meant only to damage Palin as a running mate from the beginning. Were this a story that genuinely lent credible threat to a “criminal” serving as a Veep, none of this would be slipping under the radar. But… like I said… a $5000 fine for a guilty charge??

But… if you need bathroom reading material, or need something to read to fall asleep to…. here’s the quick link to the entire Trooper’gate series.

Remember one of the two lawsuits in Alaska Superior Court – specifically the one filed by legislators? And at issue in that suit is whether the legislative council’s investigation is constitutional (infringing on due process rights), and if they were illegally allocating funds outside their jurisdiction.

Well, the slow hand of justice is still at work… the Anchorage Superior Court judge dismissed the suit… as he should. This is too large an issue for any court less than the Alaskan Supreme Court to decide. And no judge in their right mind will create such a precedence of ruling about state lawmakers budgeting, and constitutional rights of citizens.

So while this is “a story”… it’s actually just notice that the next step of appeal has commenced. Now what really would have been a story is if the Anchorage judge took it upon himself to decide such issues… that would be one ballsy guy in robes….

Pretty self-explanatory here. If you’ve been reading the Trooper’gate series here, you’ll be familiar with the points made in the statement.

Two new developments… First, there is an independent investigator working on the Personnel Board inquiry. Haven’t caught his name clearly yet, and unlike Sen French and Steve Branchwater, he’s not out there making public comments… as is appropriate for the process.

Second, there’s a couple of Alaskan Senators ready to launch a lawsuit against the McCain campaign for what they feel is interference in the Legislative Council’s witch hunt. Will try to grab this if and when it happens.

In other news on the same subject, Senate President and Palin nemesis, Lyda Green, is “absolutely disgusted, embarrassed, and ashamed” by the “intervention” into the biased legislative investigation, and what she describes as “disheartening” attack on Walt Monegan.

As I said in a previous Trooper’gate post… Palin went the extra mile to avoid bringing her internal battles with Monegan into the public eye. However, with his persistent charges that he was terminated for not firing Wooten, she was forced into a corner. He brung it on himself…

And where’s the outrage for their unabashed smearing of Palin? Funny… must have missed that.

I swear, I’m not sure why I’m wasting my time, or yours, with this post. Took about 24 hours off to be with my granddaughter, and re’entered the news world to find the media and Palin hater dogs are off, chasing a new bone of contention on the Trooper’gate/Monegan angle.

First, let me say this in no uncertain terms. I don’t care if Sarah Palin didn’t like which side of his head Monegan parted his hair… she had a right to terminate him for any reason she wished because he served at will.

Now, is this a scandal that she fired him for some personal vendetta, or not? And apparently, it’s becoming more than clear that it’s not. So now the media is off on another entrapment tangent, trying to play the “gotcha” game as to even her legitimate reasons for firing an appointee for sundry differences.

Case in point, Justin Rood at ABC news, whining over Monegan’s planned lobbying endeavor to the beltway to secure funds for an anti-sexual violence program. ABC triumphantly lauds it as “new doubt”…

And what’s the new bru ha ha? Is it related to Wooten? But no….

Instead it is questioning one of Palin’s reasons – citing an event that happened 4 days before she fired him, and his refusal to take another position.

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It’s official that Todd Palin will refuse to respond to the Legislative Council’s subpoena to appear. And, of course, the other expected event in tandem with that was Attorney Thomas Van Flein sent a letter yesterday to Indy Counsel Steve Branchflower letting him know just that.

For those of you who have kept up on the Trooper’gate saga via my posts, his reasons for Todd Palin’s refusal to appear are already familiar. i.e. no authority, unConstitutionally vague in what they want him to bring in for documentation, a violation of Constitutional due process, etal. You can read the three page letter in the link above for the specifics. But it’s a familiar shopping list already. The new addition to the list? It’s “unduly burdersome” for Palin to appear…. Todd’s a pretty busy “First Dude” at the moment, campaigning with wife Sarah.

But this really isn’t news… just the anticpated steps that would ensue considering the legal stance the AG’s office has adopted. But, I got politely called on the carpet for being not up to date by a disappointed reader on the side… LOL. So Donald? This one’s for you!

As I pointed out in my Sept 15th post on Trooper’gate, Senior Asst. AG Michael Barnhill was promising to fight the Legislative Councils subpoenas unless they agreed to accept his interpretation of the Personnel Board Act.

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I mentioned in my last Trooper’gate post INRE the GOP lawsuit that I didn’t think there were two suits, as Amanda Carpenter mentioned in her Townhall article. I hadn’t seen a second filed brief…. I guess I’m one of those doubters of media reports until I see the legal documentation.

Well, I also said I’d do a mea culpa if warranted. And here it is… TWO mea culpas, in fact. The first is that I was wrong, and there are two lawsuits.

The second mea culpa is that, not knowing the names of all the Alaskan legislators, I have the two briefs backwards. The 14 page brief in the first Trooper’gate post is the filing from the five Fairbanks citizens against Steve Branchwater…. not the GOP lawmakers I had read about first. So many names in this story…. boggles a girl’s mind sometimes! sigh….

Today I found what I needed… the 27 page brief filed by the GOP lawmakers, Representatives Wes Keller, Mike Kelly and Bob Lynn, and Senators Tom Wagoner and Fred Dyson.

Named defendants in this suit are Senators Hollis French and Kim Elton, investigator/counsel Steve Branchwater and the entire Legislative Council.

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Read all background posts on Trooper’gate here!

The mudslinging battles in the two investigations of Sarah Palin just got even muddier… Per the Portland Examiner today, five GOP lawmakers have decided to take legal action in the attempt to halt Sen. Hollis French’s legislative witch hunt.

The Personnel Board investigation will go on as planned.

JUNEAU, Alaska (Map, News) – Five Republican state lawmakers filed suit Tuesday to end the bipartisan investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of the public safety commissioner even though the vice presidential candidate once said she welcomed the probe into allegations of abuse of power.

The lawsuit called the investigation “unlawful, biased, partial and partisan.” None of the lawmakers who filed the suit in Anchorage Superior Court serves on the bipartisan Legislative Council that unanimously approved the investigation.

Continue reading Steve Quinn’s AP article here

Per an ADN (Anchorage Daily News) article today, Kevin Clarkson, Anchorage attorney for the five GOP lawmakers, sent an email to ADN, giving notice on his filed brief. [Clarkson was interviewed on Mark Levin's talk radio show this afternoon]

But first, I might say I disagree with Ms. Carpenter that there are two filed complaints. I believe there is only one. Reading the link to the brief, it appears the plaintiffs are the five GOP Senators – Robert Bettisworth, James Dodson, Seth Church, David Eichler, Thomas Temple and Alan Simmons – and filed *as* citizens of Alaska, being nailed for expenditures that are illegally appropriated. (None of which, I will add, are members of the Joint Legislative Council)

Now I can’t be sure as I have not seen any additional filed briefs. But who has the standing to file the lawsuit on behalf of the citizens of Alaska – and if any could, it would be their elected officials. And if I’m wrong, I’ll be the first to issue a public “mea culpa”…. LOL

But my first inclination is that the brief is covering the lawmakers, and the lawmakers as citizens…. not two separate complaints asking for declaratory and injunctive relief.

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It’s been a slow whirlwind of activity on the dual (and dueling) investigations of Sarah Palin, known as Trooper’gate. So I’ll catch you up on both the legislation investigation (aka, the “witchhunt”) and the Personnel Board investigation (aka the authority via Alaskan State law to hear complaints under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.)

The brief version so many like to have? (which I never recommend, since you should read and form your own opinions…) The legislative investigation has piled on yet one more event in their process that has the AG eyeing them and their methods of investigation warily. So he’s threatening to block their subpoenas unless they change their ways. In the meantime, the PSEA complaint filed with the Personnel Board may have a long row to hoe if they want to tie their medical records “leak” to Palin. And was it a “leak” at all, or merely common knowledge?

Now, the more indepth version with links…

As a brief recap (see more in depth in previous posts… the category linked above), a Personnel Board investigation can’t begin until they receive formal complaints. And as the Head Witch Hunter, Hollis French pointed out on Sept 1st, there were no complaints and therefore the Personnel Board was a moot point. Therefore, he believed the legislative investigation held priority standing.

It was, however, almost simultaneous with his statement that Palin’s Anchorage attorney, Thomas Van Flein, was filing her ethics disclosure/complaint with the AG’s office… thus kickstarting the procedure as per the Ethics Act. Palin’s disclosure dealt with the charges that she set her administration on Monegan, pressuring him to fire Trooper Wooten.

Sept 3rd, John Cyr – Executive Director of the PSAE (the AST union who negotiated Wooten’s suspension reduced from 10 days to 5 days with Col. Julia Grimes) – filed a separate complaint with the AGs office, also to appear before the Personnel Board. The PSEA complaint focuses on what they consider to be an invasion of privacy of Wooten’s personnel file, specifically his workman’s compensation claim. This, Cyr claims, is a violation of AS 39.25.080 in the Alaska State Personnel Act.

Both these complaints/disclosures – tho not briefs – present their case to the AG stating points of law and discussing evidence they have that makes them believe there is a case. The three-person Personnel Board deliberates if the evidence is sufficient to warrant the appointment of an independent counsel/investigator to pursue further…. much like a Grand Jury.

They can also take the facts at hand, and dismiss the charges.

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More Trooper’gate background posts here

The Alaskan legislation investigation of Palin’s “Trooper’gate” has been underway for about six weeks… but when it comes to efficiency, they pale by comparison to the expediency of Gov. Palin’s Anchorage attorney, Thomas Van Flein.

As of five days ago, Van Flein had already interviewed two witnesses that were at the heart of the damaging accusations. Frank Bailey is central to both charges… exerting pressure on Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire AST Mike Wooten, plus accusations he leaked private medical information from Wooten’s fire. Bailey’s recorded statements remain the same as previously accounted… that the Governor, nor her family or administration, never asked him to pressure Monegan or interfere in the process. Bailey remains on paid administrative leave.

The other interviewee? Michael Monagle of the Labor Dept’s Workers’ Compensation Division, and the keeper of Wooten’s medical file.

Monagle said that in regard to the controversy, there were rumors on the Internet that the governor or her office had requested Wooten’s workers’ compensation file.

“Absolutely not” true, said Monagle, who said that the file is “in my office in a locked file cabinet” for safekeeping.

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Talk about a stacked deck!

Sarah Palin is being investigated by the Alaska Legislative Counsel for any improper action she may have taken in firing the State’s public safety commissioner or any pressure Palin may have put on him regarding her brother in law: a State Trooper known for being violent towards members of his family and threatening to kill Palin’s father.

Mata Harley has the whole story covered in detail.

Questions about the partisan nature of the investigation arose after State Senator Hollis French (D), project manager for the investigation, promised the findings would be an “October surprise.”

Further questions regarding the objectivity of this investigation are raised by the following photograph which shows some Democrat members of the Alaska Legislative Counsel and State Sen. French, at an Obama event July 30, 2008. From the official Obama web site:

Members of the investigative panel who also support Obama:

Chairman: Sen. Kim Elton, Juneau
Sen. Hollis French, Anchorage
Sen. Bettye Davis, Anchorage
Sen. Lyman Hoffman, Bethel
Rep. David Guttenberg, Fairbanks

Will any of us be “surprised” in October when their report comes out?

The Trooper’gate story moves forward. And the latest is an AP article by Matt Voltz documenting Alaskan GOP Rep. John Coghill requesting removal of Sen. Hollis French as the lawmaker in charge of the Trooper’gate legislative investigation.

UPDATE 9-8-08: Per today’s Juneau Empire, Coghill’s letter of French’s obvious bias in the media fell on the deaf ears of the Alaskan Legislative Council. “Democratic Sen. Kim Elton responded that he is sure that partisan politics can be kept out of the probe.” To make a long story short… The Dem council member leader has assured Coghill that French’s belief that Palin is guilty, as he’s stated oft time in the media, will not affect his leadership of the witch hunt.

END UPDATE

A Republican lawmaker wants the Democrat overseeing an investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin’s dismissal of her public safety commissioner removed because he seems intent on damaging her vice presidential candidacy.

Democratic state Sen. Hollis French “appears to be steering the direction of the investigation, its conclusion and its timing in a manner that will have maximum partisan political impact on the national and state elections,” state Rep. John Coghill said in a letter dated Friday.

Coghill, from North Pole, is on the Alaska Legislature’s Legislative Council, the body that appointed French to oversee the investigation. The letter was sent to the council chairman, Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, whom Coghill asks to convene a meeting to discuss whether French should be replaced.

Coghill said the council instructed French, an Anchorage Democrat, to keep politics out of the investigation.

“He just failed that, in my view,” Coghill told The Associated Press Saturday.
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As I noted in my post, Trooper’gate: New charges, new battlefield, Palin filed an ethics disclosure with the proper Alaskan authorities on Sept 1st.

Additionally, there was a second ethics charge to be filed from PSEA’s John Cyr out of Wasilla INRE the leaking of Mike Wooten’s medial records. Cyr is the executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association…. that would be the union that represents the Alaska State Troopers. The same union, I might add, that was responsible for getting Grimes to issue a reduced suspension of Wooten after being investigated for his abuse of authority.

They are accusing Palin and her office to have had unauthorized acccess to Wooten’s medical files and employment data. And Cyr accuses Palin of dogging the AST ever since she took office.

“This administration has had a full on attack against the Department of Public Safety and the Alaska State Troopers,” Cyr said. “I think Trooper Wooten has been demonized and the governor has used her bully pulpit to hurt Trooper Wooten.”

However the man central to the medical records charge is Frank Bailey – a man who is already on record, under oath, stating he took no action at the direction of Gov. Palin.

Van Flein interviewed Bailey Aug. 28 based on Palin’s complaint.

In the interview, Van Flein said, “There’s an allegation that you improperly accessed confidential personnel files or confidential worker’s compensation files pertaining to Mr.Wooten. Can you tell me if there’s any truth to that?”

“There is no truth to that,” Bailey responded.

The governor’s attorney then asked, “You weren’t doing it because the Department of Administration had asked you to?”

“That is correct,” Bailey said.

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As the Obama supporters blanket the Internet with bits and pieces of suggested scandal to combat America’s enthusiams for Sarah Palin, the fuel is Trooper’gate for the most misinformation and, more importantly, mischaracterizations.

The accusers were off and running on a legislative investigation with endlessly morphing charges in the media, and an undetermined, unnamed group of suspects. They had witness interviews scheduled, and a planned date for the release of their findings… Oct 31, … four days before the Presidential election. Obviously a target date with deliberate political ramifications.

But the players in the game may have increased. On the defendents’ side, we have the already known Palin and special assistant, Frank Bailey. But some new names who may come on to the ice from the penalty box: Ivy Frye, another special assistant to Palin, Todd Palin himself, Commissioner of Labor Click Bishop, Administration Commissioner Annette Krietzer and Kris Perry (the last name haven’t ID’d yet, but assumed to be part of the PSEA).

The accusers are Dem Sen. Hollis French, ex Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, and spurred on by “also ran” gubernatorial loser, Andrew Halcro. Their sights are trained on Sarah Palin, and all remain targets to just that aim.

Every one of these charges are traced back to one man – Mike Wooten… Sarah Palin’s ex-brother in law, and the “trooper” of Trooper’gate.

This is truly ironic when you consider Wooten as the central “wounded” figure… by all accounts, a man who should never be an armed law enforcement officer. One can’t help but get a bit queasy about this odd political witch hunt when you know he is the fourth man waging open season on the Palins. He is also the man passing information to Halcro.

Wooten, according to Palin’s recently leaked emails to Monegan, has stated he would bring Sarah and her family down”.
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