"To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing,
if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

The Straight Scandal Express

by West Virginia Rebel

If true, this could cause problems for Team McCain:

Key Alaska allies of John McCain are trying to derail a politically charged investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of her public safety commissioner in order to prevent a so-called “October surprise” that would produce embarrassing information about the vice presidential candidate on the eve of the election.

In a move endorsed by the McCain campaign Friday, John Coghill, the GOP chairman of the state House Rules Committee, wrote a letter seeking a meeting of Alaska’s bipartisan Legislative Council in order to remove the Democratic state senator in charge of the so-called “troopergate” investigation.

Coghill charged that the senator, Hollis French, had “politicized” the probe by making a number of public comments in recent days, including telling ABC News that Palin had a “credibility problem” and that the investigation into the firing of public safety commissioner Walter Monegan was “likely to be damaging to the administration” and could be an “October surprise.” Wrote Coghill: “The investigation appears to be lacking in fairness, neutrality and due process.”

The investigation, authorized by the Legislative Council last July, revolves around charges that Palin abused her power by embroiling the governor’s office in a bitter family feud involving her ex-brother in law, a state trooper named Mike Wooten. Specifically, the council is investigating whether Palin fired Monegan when he refused to dismiss Wooten (who at the time was involved in an ugly custody battle with Palin’s sister) after getting repeated complaints about him from the governor and her husband, Todd Palin. (Among the allegations that were raised against Wooten by Palin’s sister: he had Tasered his ten-year-old stepson and shot a moose without a permit.) Palin has denied wrongdoing; Monegan has said he believes his firing was connected to his refusal to fire Wooten.

French, the Democrat overseeing the probe, has hired a special counsel to determine, in effect, whether Palin “used her public office to settle a private score,” he recently said. He has also suggested that the probe may turn up evidence that state laws were violated by Palin’s aides because they pulled confidential personnel files on the trooper.

But Coghill, who told NEWSWEEK that he has the backing of Republican Speaker of the House John Harris in his effort to remove French, suggested Friday that the investigation into Palin’s firing of Monegan should be shut down entirely. “If this has been botched up the way it has, there’s a question as to whether it should continue,” Coghill told NEWSWEEK.

Regardless of whether or not Palin actually did anything wrong, it would seem to me that any attempts to stop the investigation just makes the McCain campaign look bad. Not good for the guy who’s promising us reform.

Comments

Posted by on 09/06/08 at 06:21 PM from

It seems to me that Palin has little to worry about with regard to “Troopergate”.  Monegan is a putz and the investigation is being driven by her political opponents.

I also question your analysis, WVR.  You’re reading into this much more than you should, and the little comment at the end doesn’t seem to make sense.  A little advice:  when you do these drive-by posts, try and explain WHY you say what you do.

Posted by mikeguas on 09/07/08 at 12:25 AM from

Perhaps their issue is with statements like this. Usually during an investigation, you won’t see comments like this. Usually you’ll see statements such as, “We have no comment while the investigation is on going.”

French says the McCain campaign failed to contact any of the Senators involved in the investigation during the vetting process of Gov. Palin.

“If they had done their job they never would have picked her,” said French. “Now they may have to deal with an October surprise,” he said, referring to the scheduled release Oct. 31 of the committee’s final report.

This is clearly biased, and already stating judgement or at least speculating, which you normally don’t see in an ongoing investigation and specifically by the lead person overseeing the investigation. I think the team McCain has a very good case at claiming something is wrong here.

Link

Posted by on 09/07/08 at 12:55 AM from

Tasergate is ridiculous. People on the left are forced into defending the continued employment of this drunk cop who tazer-ed the Governor’s 10 year old nephew. It is absolutely fascinating that all details of the drunk cop’s behavior are left out in some articles about Gov. Palin sending email and messages requesting the termination of her ex-brother-in-law (the drunk cop who tasered her 10 year old nephew and threatened to injure the Governor’s dad).

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