Drop the ethics thing RIGHT NOW! It's a trap

Apparently it was a brother in law who was beating his wife. She fired him as a state trooper. Republicans are just waiting for you to start screaming this one. MSNBC just said that was the story.

Unless we drop this now, we will be on the side of the wife beater.

Maybe someone can prove this wrong, but unless we are sure that we can prove she was lying, this makes her the defender of women at a time when McCain want PUMAS.

btw, are you suggesting that 'wife beaters' be fired from their jobs?

And also, it matters not what the truth is. Were talking about a republican here. Repubs will believe her. So in the medias eyes she will be a defender.

Time will tell if it's reality or not, as more information becomes available.

Commissioner dismissal
On July 11, 2008, Governor Palin dismissed Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety and instead offered him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he subsequently turned down. Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann.< In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson, and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days.[br />
Governor Palin asserts that her dismissal of Monegan was unrelated to the fact that he had not fired Wooten, and asserts that Monegan was instead dismissed for not adequately filling state trooper vacancies, and because he "did not turn out to be a team player on budgeting issues." Palin acknowledges that a member of her administration, Frank Bailey, did contact the Department of Public Safety regarding Wooten, but both Palin and Bailey say that happened without her knowledge and was unrelated to her dismissal of Monegan. Bailey was put on leave for two months for acting outside the scope of his authority as the Director of Boards and Commissions.

In response to Palin's statement that she had nothing to hide, in August 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired Steve Branchflower to investigate Palin and her staff for possible abuse of power surrounding the dismissal, though lawmakers acknowledge that "Monegan and other commissioners serve at will, meaning they can be fired by Palin at any time." The investigation is being overseen by Democratic State Senator Hollis French, who says that the Palin administration has been cooperating and thus subpoenas are unnecessary. The Palin administration itself was the first to release an audiotape of Bailey making inquiries about the status of the Wooten investigation.

Wooten and the police union alleged that the governor had improperly released his employment files in his divorce case. However, McCann's attorney released a signed waiver from Wooten demonstrating that Wooten had authorized the release of his files through normal discovery procedures.

I see where the guy was suspended for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson, and violating game laws, but nothing about beating his wife.

Can you provide a link where that accusation was made? Thanks.



But once again the police union comes to the rescue of a brother officer:

After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days.

It was bi-partisan, and there was enough doubt that it warranted an investigation. Remember.. she is also the person that quit a commission and then went after eveyrone on the commission to get them all fired. Seems she has a revengeful streak...

Was he even charged with it? Is it a he said/she said with no evidence either way. Perhaps he should have been at the very least charged for she fired him.

political poison

Due process? That'll be an interesting argument from the "law and order" people.

Hell.. ask any divorce attorney how many allegations fly in an ugly divorce. As someone who was abused by a former spouse, I know it happens.. I also know it's the most used tactic in a divorce to gain advantage (sadly.) If the guy wasn't charged or convicted of it, then NO ONE knows if it's true. The point is that she not only tried to get the guy fired, she also fired the commissioner that refused to fire him... and lied about.

Why the hell would I back off an ETHICS investigation of a governor?

I would rather focus on the fact that McCain went for shock value over added economic and foreign policy for his ticket. There's no political advantage on grilling her over this.

.

It's a serious investigation right now, and appears to be a serious case of abuse of power.

haul 'em before the guv and she can lay down the law any way she sees fit.

And that is the very definition of corruption. Abusing your power to go after someone personally no matter who else gets axed along the way.