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Friday, October 10, 2008

Disaster, Part 2

posted by on October 10 at 17:40 PM

The verdict on Troopergate: abuse of power.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state’s public safety commissioner.

RSS icon Comments

1

What's that you say? The sky is blue?

Huh....

Posted by i have a medium penis | October 10, 2008 5:39 PM
2

Hmm. Report released on Friday at 5:30 PST. My guess is they try and sweep this under the rug and hope it goes away by Monday morning. That or blame the liberal media.

Posted by Mr_Friendly | October 10, 2008 5:45 PM
3

Yeah - excellent timing on that October surprise, fellows.

Posted by Ziggity | October 10, 2008 5:51 PM
4

ok, I guess I'm dumb.

does "unlawfully abused her authority" mean the same as "abused her power... but violated no laws"? because cnn says the latter.


Posted by stinkbug | October 10, 2008 5:56 PM
5

CNN and the NYTimes do seem to contradict each other on the legality issue. The verdict itself (linked from NYTimes) says:

...Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

However, the report goes on to say:

...Governor Palin's firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.

I read that to mean that while the firing itself was legal (she had the authority as governor to do so), the reasons for the firing violated state ethics laws.

But I'm no legal expert, so anyone who has a better reading, please feel free to correct me.

Posted by David | October 10, 2008 6:12 PM
6

Oooooh the fat lady has a sexy voice!

Posted by Obama4Lyf | October 10, 2008 6:15 PM
7

it wasn't clean
it wasn't business, it was personal

integrity, anytime soon?

Posted by 4f...sake | October 10, 2008 6:21 PM
8

it's over. nail in the coffin.

Posted by jon c | October 10, 2008 6:31 PM
9

Ok, CNN has updated their headline and story, which now reads:

Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's refusal to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten from the state police force was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor to fire him, the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower states.

However, it states that her efforts to get Wooten fired broke a state ethics law that bars public officials from pursuing personal interest through official action.

Guilty, guilty, guilty.

Posted by David | October 10, 2008 6:38 PM
10

She should be forced to watch the work ethics episode of The Office from last night.

Posted by stinkbug | October 10, 2008 6:47 PM
11

So it's still OK that she fired Monegan because he wanted funding for a sexual assault initiative and she didn't? "Legitimate budget dispute" my ass.

Posted by asteria | October 10, 2008 6:52 PM
12

That Parah Salin is ceal runt.

Posted by the bells....the bells | October 10, 2008 6:53 PM
13

Kind of interesting how this isn't mentioned at all on Drudge Report.

Posted by DP | October 10, 2008 7:18 PM
14

It's not the action, it's the motivation behind it.

It's completely legal for a police officer to cross through a red light by flashing their lights, but they don't always do it with the proper motivation.

You know, code of conduct for your office and such.

Posted by AJ | October 10, 2008 7:22 PM
15

@2: The weekend media fog does not exist in election season. Woo-de-hoo.

Posted by AJ | October 10, 2008 7:25 PM
16

Does McCain wonder if perhaps he's still in a vietnamese national pow camp, and that all this was just a bad dream?
Pleace Hoa, pull out another fingernail, or whatever that is you do so well, this has to be a dream....

Posted by kinaidos | October 10, 2008 7:39 PM
17

@4,5 - pushing Monegan to fire Wooten: violated ethics rules. Firing Monegan: OK, because the law says she can fire him for any reason, or for no reason at all.

Posted by Steve | October 10, 2008 7:44 PM
18

What she did may be perfectly legal but that doesn't make it right. A cop who pulls you over for doing 5 mph above the speed limit while everyone else is doing 80 has the legal right to give you a ticket but would be a complete asshole for doing so.

Posted by RainMan | October 10, 2008 7:50 PM
19

inside baseball. anyone stupid enough to vote mcshame/failin won't care.

Posted by maxsolomon@home | October 10, 2008 8:29 PM
20

Monegan was an "at will" employee. She could fire him at anytime without cause. But all the crap along the way was unethical.

Posted by Bob | October 10, 2008 8:58 PM
21

What's the difference between Sarah Palin's mouth and her vagina?

Only some of the things that come out of her vagina are retarded.

Posted by Rank Stranger | October 10, 2008 9:15 PM
22

"...unlawfully abused her authority..."

Wait, aren't all abuses of authority unlawful? If it were lawful it wouldn't be an abuse of power.

Posted by Y.F. | October 10, 2008 9:16 PM
23

Agreeing to be McCain's VP might have killed her career.

Screw this coming back in 2012 nonsense; she's now a tainted brand who's been burning bridges like an arsonist up in Alaska to try and cover up her scandals. Now she gets sent back to a house with a cracked foundation, with a reputation that's gone from zero to -bazillion in two months flat.

Hope you enjoyed your moment, Mrs. Palin, because the moment is over.

Posted by Ryan | October 10, 2008 9:29 PM
24

I'll miss her, she got me an interview with Anderson Cooper, a story I can tell my grandkids one day and they can say "so what?"

Posted by Bob | October 10, 2008 9:58 PM

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