Rep. Coghill speculates about aftermath of Troopergate report
Published Thursday, October 9, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — The results of an investigation into an alleged abuse of power by Gov. Sarah Palin are due before a state legislative council Friday.
Palin, now campaigning as a candidate for vice president, will likely feel political effects of the report. However, the legislature will decide whether to take action on the investigator’s findings.
Whether those results, expected from special investigator Stephen Branchflower, will be made public is among the matters the legislative council will likely take up tomorrow.
The legislature approved $100,000 in July to investigate Palin’s dismissal of former state Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Also of concern is whether the governor, her husband Todd Palin, or members of her administration abused their power in trying to pressure Monegan to fire a trooper, Mike Wooten, who is divorced from the governor’s sister and allegedly made threats against members of her family.
The investigation became politically electrified after presidential candidate Sen. John McCain named Palin to his ticket Aug. 29.
Rep. John Coghill, a Republican from North Pole, is on the joint council.
He offered three potential outcomes, noting that each is hypothetical at this point.
• If the report finds an ethical violation or misuse of power, the charge would likely be forwarded to the state attorney general’s office with a recommendation. Because the attorney general is appointed by the governor, the recommendation would be accompanied by a request for independent counsel, Coghill said.
To underscore the seriousness of any wrongdoing, the report could be passed on with a resolution by the full legislature, he noted.
“Unless it’s so egregious that it requires a special session, I wouldn’t expect to see that (a resolution) until the beginning of the next session,” he said, adding that he doesn’t anticipate such a finding. The legislature convenes in January.
• Branchflower’s report could reveal weakness or inconsistency in state laws defining misuse of power, Coghill said. Areas that could come under review are boundaries of a governor’s authority and procedural rules for handling such complaints.
“This is the first time that any kind of investigation has taken this serious of a tone,” Coghill said. “I think we messed up the process, bad.”
Coghill attempted to intervene last month, urging parties to leave politics out of the process. He was labeled an operative of the McCain campaign, which he denies.
Any statute evaluation would likely be tabled until the legislature convenes in January. Members could change after the November election.
“There’s no sense in beginning something you can’t finish,” he said, adding that more discussion now could also be difficult as the presidential election approaches. “Talking statutory changes would, in my view, fan the flames of political rhetoric.”
• Finally, if the report shines a light on any criminal issue, the matter would be forwarded to the attorney general’s office with a recommendation, Coghill said. He hasn’t seen any indication of criminal misconduct to this point, and noted that the legislature doesn’t have the authority to launch a criminal investigation.
Impeachment would be a worst-case scenario for a governor charged with abusing power.
“If there was something impeachable, then the Senate would take that up,” Coghill said. “That’s an outside chance, but impeachment is always within the realm of the legislature.”
And if Branchflower finds no wrongdoing?
“It is political season, so there will be no apologies,” Coghill predicted. “If it is bad judgment only, the hand-slapping has already happened, really.”
The legislative council is expected to decide which parts of the Branchflower report to make public. Depositions, or at least names of state personnel, could be kept under wraps, Coghill said.
“The pressure is so great nationally, even internationally, to make it public, I think it’s probably best to make it as public as possible,” he said. “It’s probably being blown more out of proportion than it should be.”
Community Discussion
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Here is Todd Palin's affidavit, courtesy of the ADN:
http://media.adn.com/smedia/2008/10/08/1...
Todd seems obsessed with his former brother-in-law... following him, taking pictures of him, watching him shop, talking with his bro-in-law's friends and neighbors, hiring a private investigator to follow him. He admits to amassing "a packet of information" (p. 14) about him and having "hundreds of conversations" (p. 4) about him to anyone who would listen. I you or I did this, we would be charged with harassment, maybe even stalking. It's an interesting read, as far as affidavits go. Sure tells us a lot about our First Dude, the guy who would be our co-VP.
Funny, the GOP already has released a finding of no wrong doing. It's been read on most political news stations over the last hour. Do they already know the outcome? Has the report already been written by McCain backers? I don't believe anything that comes out of anyone's mouth any more.
Troopergate illustrates the issue of the state employee union protecting its member’s employment over the public interest. DWI (driving while drunk) is a huge problem in Alaska and to have a trooper who allegedly admits to DWI, driving with an open container, illegal hunting and making death threats (domestic violence is also a huge problem here), and is not charged AND fired is indicative of the systemic corruption of the state troopers and their union.
This inaction by the Department of Public Safety and the union to make a public example of this trooper further undermines the public image of trust in our troopers. The divide is even larger for the rural areas of our state where suspicion of the integrity of law enforcement is very high.
Troopergate is an indictment of the Department of Public Safety and the union involved not Todd Palin or the Governor. The issue of department corruption and keeping unqualified personnel as troopers and undermining public safety has been politicized in an attempt to hurt the Governor and influence the national election. It also conveniently makes it difficult for the state executive branch to ever make any meaningful changes in the DPS in the future.
Brian
Brian, welcome to the Palin Troopergate party. I can tell by your post you are new to this whole thing and you haven't actually read anything concerning it but decided to spout off anyways.
So here is a link that should get you up to speed, so your future posts on this issue won't seem quite so brain damaged.
Happy Reading!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Publ...
noainc (brian),
WHAT????? Where do you get this???
Have you read the internal investigations reports on the Palin Complaints that have been made public?? Nothing in them substantiates any of the claims you make here. He admitted to, and only to, taking of the moose and tasering the kid. He received more punishment with 5 days of unpaid suspension then any common citizen would have received. The taser doesn't even meet the elements of a crime. The moose - a misdemeanor that is treated as a violation by fish and game. The palins eating the moose before reporting it is a Felony. So how bout the corruption at the governors level? The felonies committed by her family.
Union protecting bad cops - I don't agree. ANY union protects the process and rights of its members. Specifically against witch hunts like this. We've seen cops from all agencies go to jail in recent years because the process and their rights were maintained and they were proven quilty. Just like you and me. they went to jail and no one ever said they shouldn't have - including their union.
You expect the cops to read you your rights but it's ok if, during a bitter divorce, their ex-in laws file false report after false report and you think they should be fired just because one person says it happened but have no proof. Come on!
This governor has lied repeatidly to us but it's the cops fault. I fired monegan because we needed a new direction against alcohol and recruitment. But we offered him a job heading the alcohol board. That makes sense. I support the Troopers - but she cut their budget and gave them a 5% raise when other agencies are paying 25-30% more.
Recruitment wasn't Monegan's fault - it's the governors. They are still short handed. They are still loosing people to other agencies for better pay. They aren't combating alcohol - not because of monegan - but because they don't have the staff.
Stop drinking the Palinaide and look at this, her statements, using common sense objectively.
the cops are innocent until proven guilty just like you - and they have rights, protected by their union, just like you do.
He wasn't proven guilty - not because of corruption - but because the reports from the palins were old, false, and common divorce crap.
So try crucifying Palin for going to a meeting instead of reporting supposed abuse she was watching through a window. Hmmm meeting or protecting my sister?? Hmmmmm oh shucks - I'll go to the meeting and report this in a few years. NO - it never happened. That's why she didn't report it. Palin reported things only to then say she didn't actually see but heard RUMORS. That's filing a false report folks. A crime.
So corruption.... yeah - Palin. Crimes - yeah the palins, false reports, and felony eating of illegally taken game.
Oh yeah - you can't prosecute a case without evidence. So thanks to the Palin/heaths eating the moose you can't charge wooten anyway. they conviently reported that years later too.
Wake up.
DPS has great people working for them, the union ensures their rights are maintained, and the citizens go on hating them, yet call them the moment they need help. Bunch of hypocrites.
Thank you to all the Law Enforcement Officers Statewide. I know in my time of need you will be there - I hope you know a lot of us appreciate you!!!
I appreciate Rep. Coghill's wish to make as much of this public as possible. It's unfortunate he's been painted as a political operative. He notably did not join the effort by some of his fellow legislators to squelch the investigation.
I disagree with Coghill on many issues (I'm a fiscal conservative, but definitely not a social conservative), but he's always stuck me as honest. That means a lot to me. He's in the middle of the process, and his observations and critiques are worth listening to. This is relatively new ground for Alaskan politics. Beyond the report itself, we need to learn from this how we can make the system work better.
The thin blue line once more forms a circle to protect the cancer that eats away at it from within. Troopers aren't expected to behave at the same standards as the public. They are expected to be above reproach. They do themselves no service by closing ranks around a bad apple. You'd think they'd want to purge themselves of rot rather than embrace it.
kozloski,
What about INNOCENT - plain and simple don't you understand?
Why does it have to be a thin blue line.
I haven't read anything, with an objective mind, that says he is guilty. If you read it with a bias opinion of law enforcement then you'll see and read and hear what you want.
Saint - wooten is not. Criminal he is not.
Why should Troopers allow a trooper to be vicitmized by his in-laws just because he's a trooper? Why isn't he afforded the same due process everyone else is?
Based on your approach anyone could claim anything and the trooper is wrong. Sure - we expect them to live to a higher standard, right wrong or indifferent, but that doesn't mean we don't have to prove they were wrong.
I think it's clear Wooten, while not a saint, didn't act criminally at anytime. 99% of this is divorce white trash. Plain and simple. Only the sister obtained power and attempted to get her people to act illegally. Yes illegally. It would have been ILLEGAL for monegan to re-visit punishment upon wooten.
Additionally - isn't it interesting that not ONE single person has come forward to say they TOO were vicitmized by wooten. Not another ex-wife, not a citizen - NO ONE. Hmmm could it be Palins reports were the crap they were investigated to be.
It might just be they were above reproach and Wooten didn't deserve to be fired so he wasn't.
I sure hope some of you POS's don't call upon the troopers for help and take them away from those of us who appreciate them.
Absolutely amazing. This isn't the east coast. Our troopers can't even accept a free cup of coffee or they'll get fired for accepting a gratuity, yet you think they'll cover up abuse of power. HOLY SMOKES.
This has been posted before in another thread, but it bears repeating here:
The facts are really quite simple. From the Fall of 2007 through mid-2008 Commissioner Monegan repeatedly tried to undermine the Governor's authority by working against her and the administration over the Department of Public Safety's budget.
As everyone knows, this Governor came into office on a reform platform and one of her principal accomplishments has been to reduce wasteful spending. Commissioner Monegan refused to abide by this fiscal reform policy. One of the governor's top Department of Public Safety priorities was to fill as many as 56 trooper vacancies, but the Commissioner re-routed dollars away from these positions and into his own chosen areas of funding.
Last Fall, Commissioner Monegan proposed a 10-year strategic plan that committed state dollars and removed the governor's constitutional budget authority; he also traveled to Washington, DC to lobby Congress for federal earmarks without the Governor's knowledge; and then finished off the year by engineering a press conference that included his friend Senator Hollis French to present the department's own budget just days ahead of the Governor's reform budget.
Monegan continued his obstructionist conduct through the first half of 2008. Early on he publicly requested reinstatement of budget money the Governor previously vetoed. Think about that: One of the Governor's own cabinet members publicly contradicting her veto decision! And in repeated emails among the governor's staff and the Commissioner's staff, Commissioner Monegan's brazen refusal to follow the appropriate interdepartmental channels to request more money was obvious.
The final straw came in late June and early July of this year when Commissioner Monegan arranged for yet another unauthorized trip to Washington, DC to request more financial assistance from Congress.
The bottom line is that Commissioner Monegan refused to comply with internal budget approval channels and lodged repeated requests for funding that were out of line with the other appropriation requests for every other commissioner and agency. Those are the facts leading to Walt Monegan's reassignment on July 11th. We have copied for you a set of relevant emails that were submitted to the Personnel Board today.
Make no mistake, as a political appointee, Mr. Monegan served at the pleasure of the Governor and was duty-bound to execute the Governor's policy objectives. After eight months of repeatedly ignoring the Governor's budget priorities, making public statements that directly challenged the Governor's policy agenda, and taking numerous unilateral actions in conflict with the Governor in support of his own policy agenda, his replacement in July 2008 should have come as no surprise and cannot now seriously be questioned. Absolutely no credence should be given to any Ethics Complaint against the Governor for her appropriate exercise of her executive discretion under this set of facts.
It is important to note that Commissioner Monegan and John Cyr, the head of the police union who filed a Complaint against the Governor before the Personnel Board, and who appeared with Trooper Wooten on a recent CNN interview, repeatedly changed their stories as to why Monegan was dismissed. While at first Monegan had no idea, John Cyr actually talked about budget differences.
And they stuck to those lines until Mike Wooten had another child custody battle a few days after Monegan's dismissal and threatened the Governor's sister Molly at that time, saying You guys are going down. Get ready for the show. Molly called 911 that evening, but no one came to her aid, as Wooten actually predicted.
So the immediate assessments of Monegan and Cyr began to morph into an evolution of excuses and repeated retractions by Monegan, Wooten, and Cyr. And they enlisted blogger Andrew Halcro to launch their smear campaign against Governor Palin.
In fact, Mike Wooten met Andrew Halcro for drinks at a hotel bar for more than 3 hours, and concocted the malicious scheme to fulfill the threats made to Molly. Hours later, Andrew Halcro posted a blog that lodged the first accusation of Wooten's involvement in Monegan's reassignment. Later that day, John Cyr held a press conference, retracting his early insistence that this was budget related and switching to the Wooten story though it takes Commissioner Monegan at least another day to retract his initial statement and blame Wooten.
The following Tuesday, July 21, 2008: Hollis French and Walt Monegan appeared on a radio show together and talked about getting an aggressive prosecutor to prove the existence of "a complex crime". French stated that he was "angry" that his friend Walt Monegan got fired. Remember, Hollis French was the same Senator who supported the budget proposal that sought to undermine Govenor Palin, and Walt Monegan was the Palin cabinet member who publicly sided with French against the Governor on that important policy decision.
And thus, the genesis of what turned into a partisan effort to take down the Governor. The bar room banter turned into a full-blown Legislative investigation spearheaded by Monegan's friend and well-known Obama supporter Hollis French, and overseen by another Obama supporter Chairman Kim Elton, who contributed $2,250 to the Obama campaign.
Time after time, a new excuse, a new statement, more stories about what happened. And it only grew once Senator John McCain asked Governor Sarah Palin to join him on August 29th as his running mate.
That day, former Commissioner Monegan actually told the Anchorage Daily News during an interview, “For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the Governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff.”
But that same day, the Democrat machine also kicked into gear. This is when Obama and his campaign inserted itself into Alaska politics, and the political circus became even worse. Within no time, one-time supporters of the Governor who worked alongside the Governor to produce reform and accomplishments in Alaska, turned on her, alongside party lines. And Commissioner Monegan prepared to change his story yet again, saying for the first time that he was told his budget would be cut if Wooten retained his job. In early September, CNN reported that the Obama campaign reached out to John Cyr. During that time, Senator Hollis French appeared in the national media pre-judging the outcome of the investigation which had only just begun.
And as many of you heard last Friday, it was revealed that "independent" prosecutor Steven Branchflower allowed Senator French to tamper with the witness subpoena list, even though French pledged to not be involved. Branchflower now says that he will complete his "factfinding" by the end of this week and put out a report by October 10 at the latest. No serious, impartial investigator and no serious prosecutor would ever make such reckless predictions.
Having spoken to the Governor as recently as yesterday, I can personally tell you that Governor Palin is an open book and has absolutely nothing to hide.
This Governor is transparent and honest. I cannot emphasize that enough. This Governor has called for transparency and honesty, and the Democrats are on a smear campaign. The Personnel Board is the ONLY agency charged by law with addressing complaints concerning ethical issues, including hiring and firing matters involving the Governor. The legislature's investigation no longer resembles a fair inquiry and does not have proper jurisdiction. And given all that has developed, the Personnel Board is also the only place to go to ensure the facts are protected from the political circus that has come to Anchorage. And recently, even the Trooper union has acknowledged the role of the personnel board.
Governor Palin has been an open book in this case and has acted with the highest standards of ethics.
The above document is related to one of the lawsuits that was filed in objection to the political bias that has shadowed this investigation.
GDogg,
Are you talking to me??
But hey yo G - I'll conceid Palin is innocent of the false accusations against her if you conceid that wooten is innocent of her false accusations against him.
I don't believe DPS is corrupt any more then you believe Palin is guilty.
Peace out!
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