Alaska Personnel Board Clears Palin of Wrongdoing in Troopergate*

Better late than never.
Sarah Palin is the new face of the Republican Party and the future of the feminist politics.

Yeah right. Wonder how much that ‘ruling’ cost the RNC? Where are the medical records?
Obama/Biden 08!

Think I read that Palin appointed 2 out of 3 board members

Whoo, I was worried for a minute that the cronies that Palin hired would find that she violated Alaska’s ethics laws. Thank God a TRULY independent investigator found that she did!
I can’t wait until she goes back to Alaska and we never have to hear her shrill, obnoxious voice again. I hope they impeach her or she loses re-election in 2010!

What a shock (NOT)! We all new this was coming–she appointed the panel.

Jake,
The difference (again) between reporting and journalism. You are doing the former here. Look a bit further into this “independent” panel. Thanks.

The McCain campaign hired the board.
Geez, how is this independent?
There’s a lawsuit pending for her in Alaska over her liberal per diem use and making the taxpayers pay for nights even when she was at home and not on official business, where this per diem thing is supposed to be used.

If Stevens gets elected and is forced to resign can palin appoint herself as Senator of Alaska? That is a scary though, almost as scary as her being President. Obama/Biden 2008!!!

Independent my foot…..send her packing back to Alaska and let them deal with her shrill voice. Seems to me she has other ethics violations to deal with.

From this, she doesn’t have the professionalism to serve as VPOTUS. Look at the way she conducts her administration, conducting govt business through a free yahoo e-mail account instead of the secured federal network. Her account ends up getting hacked. She falls for a prank call and says a ton of weird stuff without a thought as to how one ought to conduct themselves to a head-of-state- worse, she thought the way the prank-caller talked was the way a head-of-state would behave.
Well, she has another lawsuit waiting.
We’ll see.

Did you really just call this an “independent” board? Give me a break. Palin can fire every member of that board, so there is nothing independent about it. This is such a joke, and the timing of it is just so perfect.

McCain/Palin landslide????? I think the sound you heard was the toilet being flushed.

This was a no brainer.
She has the power to fire those panel members without reason, so of course they are going to clear her.
They have to defend their jobs, if they came to any other conclusion they would be like the other million people in this county… Out of a job.
None of those panel members are qualified to be in their positions, just like the dept. heads that Palin appointed… they were high school buddies with no qualifications, except they were friend with her and donated to her campaign.
Alaska loves their corrupt politicians, so they are just protecting one of their own.
But once a cheat, always a cheat and eventually it catches up to you.
So you Alaskans, enjoy your governor, and all your corrupt politicians… because we are sending Caribou Barbie back to you…. we in the lower 48 have no use for your corrupt governor and her pathological lying.
You voted for her Alaska… now keep her.

Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.
This is the clear result of his PLAN. And might explain NBC’s love for him – they are owned by GE!

BARACK OBAMA 08
TRUTH OVER LIES
FACTS OVER SMEARS
POLICY OVER DISTRACTIONS!
OBAMA 08 THE WORLDS BEST CHOICE FOR MOVING THE WORLD FORWARD FOR THE MESS THE LAST EIGHT YEARS HAVE PLACED ON THE WORLD!
AUSSIE FOR OBAMA!
95% OF AUSTRALIA APPROVED THIS MESSAGE!

>>>>This is not an independent board. The people on this board were appointed by Governor Palin. So of course they found in her favor…pathetic to do this before the election…pathetic!<<<<
Yeah and the previous report that criticized her for not controlling her husband but ultimately said she did not break any laws was almost entirely democrats. So spare us your astute analysis.
A new report just released — hours before the polls open on Election Day — exonerates Gov. Sarah Palin in the Troopergate controversy.
The state Personnel Board-sanctioned investigation is the second into whether Palin violated state ethics law in firing her public safety commissioner, and it contradicts the earlier findings by a special counsel hired by the state Legislature.
Both investigations found that Palin was within her rights to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
But the new report says the Legislature’s investigator was wrong to conclude that Palin abused her power by allowing aides and her husband, Todd, to pressure Monegan and others to dismiss her ex-brother-in-law, Trooper Mike Wooten. Palin was accused of firing Monegan after Wooten stayed on the job.

TO BAD AN Independent Board CANT CLEAR Palin of HER STUPIDITY!
FRENCH PRESIDENT LOL

Not to mention, Palin is scarily naive/gullible.
I would think that anyone, would get a tad suspicious as to whether it’s the French President on the line when he starts bragging about how good his wife is in bed, and laughing about killing animals and how fuuuuun it is. Instead of saying, “Um…Mr Sarkozy, you sound a tad…high?” or “Are you REALLY Sarkozy?”, she had no indication that she felt the call was suspicious.
Imagine if bin Laden calls her and poses as the Saudi Arabian King or something.
You don’t need to have gone to the Ivy League or a doctorate to figure that out!

Grey Matter
Yep….
They played the full thing this morning on radio on my way to work I could NOT stop laughing!
Palin is like Bush only dumber!!!
McCain in 2000 was ok for a republican
McCain of 2008 is a bitter twisted mistake!
Obama is not THAT ONE he is THE ONE to get America back on her feet!

Aussie,
I know.
She is an embarrassment to America. She’s an anti-intellectual, the way she rails against the whole real America crap.
She actually thinks she is qualified and doesn’t have any shortcomings. That is scary.
I CANNOT wait to see her face when she realizes her trip to back to Alaska is a one-way one! I’d like to see her face when it’s the “old guy whom’s speeches she’d heard since third grade” is announced to be the Vice-President elect of the United States!

Concerned in OH,
What is your point? Do you just enjoy nitpicking? His grandmother, someone whom he’s close to PASSED AWAY, for goodness’ sakes, do you think his mind might be at is sharpest then? It’s most likely got it mixed up with his grandfather who was born in 1918.
It’s not like the lies Sarah Palin tells about her Bridge to Nowhere, is it? Or lying about Obama’s comments?

We still waiting to wee Obama’s real birth certificat.

So troopergate was a bust…thanks for the late notice.

Concerned in OH,
Well, you enjoy nitpicking, then.
Human error. They prepared the statements in between campaign stops. What is your point anyway? This does not change the fact that both his grandparents served America honorably in the second World War.
If you insist on nitpicking on this, how about Palin’s fraudulent claims about the Bridge to Nowhere and earmarking to embellish her resume? About McCain lying about Obama not voting for supplies for the troops when HE DID, only the whole timeline thing?

James
THE WORLD IS STILL WAITING FOR JOHN MCCAIN’S BIRTH CERT!
WE ALL KNOW HE WAS BORN IN PANAMA.. DO YOU ?

CBS News gets a big tick from me!!!

Concerned in OH,
So answer my question then. Fine, if it’s a “glaring factual mistake”, what about Palin’s Bridge to Nowhere claims? McCain’s distortions of Obama’s record? Isn’t that a GLARING FACTUAL mistake with regard to his resume?
Hello, both tickets have been on campaign stops non-stop, with a tight and packed schedule, anyone would be tired.

The investigator in this case said that the Palin’s deletion of personal emails may have impacted his decision.
Think about it.

Concerned in OH,
Well, well, you can’t answer my question, can you? Rhetorical flourishes?
If you insist on holding Obama to such standards, how about I show you the you tube video that has McCain calling the people at his rally “My Fellow Prisoners?” Isn’t that factually inaccurate?
What does it say about a man who smears his opponent and incites a very ugly part of America most people hoped to leave behind in order to win the election? Palin claimed she sold the jet on e-bay but she didn’t! And she did not make a profit, she made a loss. She did not “fire” the cook. She transferred her. So that did not save the state any money, did it? Rhetorical flourishes?

How to be cleared. Make sure you run it by a board with people you gave the job to. DUH. I can’t imagine this is even worthy to be reported on it’s so stacked.

Sandy,
A FOX news poll puts Obama up by 7 points. I guess FOX is a left-leaning channel, no?
Get real. Your ticket has like zero ground game, no coherent message, an incompetent VP pick.

Concerned in OH,
Right now, I can see you thinking. Aw man, I should feel sorryw hen some dude’s grandma passes away. But he HAS to be such a horrible person, that he had to be that calculating. I MUST nitpick on this.
You still can’t answer my question? I find it horrible when Palin and McCain lie to embellish their resume.
Or maybe you should get help for your latent Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or extreme paranoia, from the way you seem so intent to pick it apart and see such a comment that even other McCain supporters do not see anything wrong with.

Grey Matter
Yep I know he/she makes me angry too..

I care about as much about Palin’s Alaska soap opera as I do about how many wars Obama said his grandmother lived through. Tomorrow we are deciding the future of our country, and THIS is what we are talking about?

Isn’t this board made up of Sarah Palin appointees? As in, she can fire the members if she doesn’t like the ruling?
Honestly, she’s no reformer, she’s unethical (the questionable firings, the state-paid travel for her family, etc.), she has little knowledge of anything (apparently she doesn’t even know the name of the current Canadian prime minister), and she’s not excessively bright. It will be interesting to see what Alaskans do with her now that they know more about her than they did when they elected her.
She’s the perfect face and image for the new divisive and shrinking GOP.

The first investigation found an ethics violation based on an Ethics Act that says clearly only applies to violtations where the govt officials are benefited MONETARILY….they forgot that little detail when they accused her of violating the Ethics Act…In reality they are now liable for defamation of character through their partison inital report…and I hope she sues the pants off of Branchflower and all involved in the bogus Legislative investigation…clearly a blatant attempt to smear her name.

“It will be up to Palin to continue to lead positively…”
Umm… don’t know what election you’ve been watching but all she has offered is negativism, innuendo, mischaracterizations, and tripe. So, I guess if you consider that ‘positive’ then I’d hate to see what you think is negative.

To all the Obama supporters good luck and dont leave till you have voted!
To all the McCain Palin supporters I hope Obama is a good President for you all!
Peace : )

Don;t hate.
Obama is the new Jimmy Carter…only with a much worse view of America and sympathy for the socialist left…
Palin is the future Ronald Reagan (according to Reagan’s Son not me)…Reagan was called alot of names and plenty ridiculed before he proved himself in the White House.
Palin needs 8 years more “seasoning” on the national scene to be ready. I hope she gets the opportunity to develop her gift of connecting with people that way. America needs someone that actually delivers on what they say they will.
Assuming McCain loses…I want her to focus on completing that gas pipeline project asap…that is the most important contribution she can bring to America…help us move towards energy independence….remember that pipeline was basically started during the Carter adm with the treaty signed with Canada…we should have had that gas to the lower 48 by now…she has taken the project farther than anyone else has up until now…she is a go getter and doer….not a talk alot do nothing (voting present over 100 times) politician like Obama

Truthteller
The US has three percent of the world’s oil reserves and you use 25 percent of the world’s oil per year…
Do the maths….
Only two countries in the world are energy independent Canada and Australia… Oil Coal Nuke and Natural Gas…

o b a m a :
Politics as usual!!!
Cheat, lie and steal!!!
Posted by: sisterdearest09

Aussie -
People like you crack me up…parroting the lines fed to you.
Do I need to point out the flaw in the ‘oil reserve’ argument? Ok – comparing America’s 25% consumption of world oil production to its 3% reserves ASSUMES that all oil reserves are used every year. Clearly, that’s not the case – that’s why it’s called a reserve.
example: The world uses 100 barrels per year, of which the US uses 25 of those barrels. The world reserves = 1,000,000 barrels, of which the US has 3% or 30,000 barrels. Can the US achieve oil independence with these reserves? Yes. It’s all about the size of the reserves…not comparing annual consumption to reserves.
Next time someone spouts off the consumption-reserve scenario, ask them how many barrels are in worldwide reserves.

*** It was overseen by a board stocked with people that Palin appointed. ***
Wrong. The Board is comprised entirely of holdovers, people who were on the Board when she took office.

sarah palin did not release her medical records. Why?

FishMonger
I crack you up ?? You crack me up… Its clear America has fallen behind in maths but logic aswell ?

re: Post by: Aussie | Nov 3, 2008 11:28:17 PM
What does that fact have to do with whether or not we should even LOOK for oil or to produce oil that we find?
Why are Dems against a COMPEHENSIVE solution that includes ALL forms of energy including oil, coal, nuclear and alternatives in order to gain energy independence?
Has any other leader advocated the bankruptcy of a major industry within his/her own country?

Palin and her supporters have been vindicated and sadly for the Dems she will not be charged for ethics violations. BECAUSE SHE WAS DOING HER JOB!

To Aussie from another Australian. i don’t support Palin and agree her Alaskan oil is not enough to save America and give it oil independence but don’t say Australia is energy independent, including oil in your list, when it is not. Australia has vast reserves of uranium, coal and natural gas, both CNG and LPG. We export large quantities of gas.I even changed my car (with a $2000 government subsidy) to LPG. But Australia has little oil of its own importing almost all of its oil.

It is a tie so far.
One investigation found she abused her power in her repeated attempts to get her ex-brother-in-law fired; the other says she didn’t violate a certain act.
Since it’s a tie, the jury is still out.

plainview
Australia produces more oil than it uses look it up and we will for the next ten years!
sorry mate..

According to Reuters, the panel which cleared Palin of ethical violations was a three member panel under her authority. The bipartisan panel of 12 with the majority being Republicans thought otherwise.

All this McCain, Palin stupid nonsense will be gone after Nov. 4th,… they will lose and then Alaska can deal with Gov. Caribou, hopefully the investigations by the independent panel will continue….. McCain will slowly become just another useless republican hack…..

The calls went out throughout the land. “What does Obama have to say or policy to endorse to win your vote?”.
Once again, what he says in SF is not what he says in Ohio/Pennsylvania/West Virginia.

Perfos
Try to get past the summary page and then split out what Sarah did vs her husband.
They only nail her for what she didn’t do, not for any action she took.
She never asked her employee to fire the bad cop even though she had the audacity to believe bad cops shouldn’t be on the force.
How terrible!!

Just to add further context to Mr. Grimaldi’s…Weren’t all three Personnel Board members appointed by the previous governor with one reappointed by Palin earlier this year? And can’t they only be fired “for cause?” Also, aren’t those unpaid positions?
Most importantly, isn’t the independent investigator (Tim Petumenos) that the board hired, and who carried out the investigation and wrote the report that was released, a Democrat? I believe that the two state lawmakers who headed the committee of the original legislative investigation praised the board’s decision to hire Mr. Petumenos. They said (I’m paraphrasing of course) that the board had made a good decision to hire him to conduct the investigation and that he was a tough and fair investigator with a sterling reputation.
I personally believe that there were questionable actions taken by members of Palin’s administration. However, I read Mr. Branchflower’s report (“cover to cover”, as they say) and I’m not an attorney, but I found serious problems with it. I also read the entire report released today, and I thought that Mr. Petumenos laid out the concerns that I had about Mr. Branchflower’s report quite well.

In the White House there is no time for speeches and on-the-job training. Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign and Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference.

Well, that is an incredible relief to have this reassurance that Sarah Palin has been cleared of any and all charges by this committee of sock puppets.
But I’m just wondering when she will owe up to her mis-statements on other issues, such as:
- Her lies about the Bridge To Nowhere.
- Her exaggerations about Alaska’s contribution to America’s total oil and gas production.
- Her lies about the progress of the plan for constructing a natural gas pipeline from Alaska (and the $500 million taxpayer giveaway to a foreign company).
-Her lies about her alleged pay-cut as mayor of Wasilla.
-Her lies about prior statements on climate change.
-Her lies about what Alaska’s state scientists said about the state of polar bears in Alaska.
And on and on and on.
I can’t wait for the explanations for all of those.

len,
Do you actually believe feminists support Palin?
Quite the opposite. She exploits her looks (which aren’t too bad for her age), she winks and coos etc.
Did you hear her talk to “Sarkosy”?
My God. Any feminist would shudder at the thought of her representing them.
She is the anti-feminist, par excellence.
Feminists supported Hilary Clinton. She is the ultimate for them.

So she files a complaint about herself with a Board appointed by the Governor and they clear her of any wrong doing. Sounds like how they used to handle things when Tammany Hall ran NYC.

More good news for the McCain/Palin campaign.
Hillary Clinton said:
“In the White House there is no time for speeches and on-the-job training. Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign and Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference.”

Jake,
Appreciate the update of your post. Thanks.

I was not surprised the Ethics Board cleared her. The ehtics board is appointed by Sarah Palin. So is the Attorney General.
I have many government PDF files. Sarah Palin did try to get Tropper Wooten fired. Her husband did it for her, once she found out she had to back off. And she got her staff to do also. Judge even warned her family to stop vendetta.
This attorney gave a legal opinion – I did find some objections to his reference used of the ethics law.
Court of law could have a different view I think!!
Sarah Palin whole political history reveals a person who uses personal agendas to fire people.
Sarah Palin is guilt in my book!!

“The Washington Post’s James Grimaldi adds some context for this investigation.”
I can’t begin to count the number of times that facts and stories didn’t get “context” because that would have hurt Obama and the Democrats. So many times there’s been *zero* interest in getting to the bottom of things or giving a full picture. The media does such a good job if they’re doing a show on a real life crime, detailing the logic of law enforcement, prosecutors and everyone involved, and not forgetting to turn over every stone or to suggest other ways of looking at the evidence. If only they’d used more of that ability to be balanced in covering this election.

This declaration of innocence is highly questionable for me since I have many government, agency documents indicating just the opposite. The attorney this time was Democrat. This is his legal opinion. It is not a courts opinion.
This attorney used a different interpretation of Alaska ethics law. Pressure from McCain Campaign top lawyers was high. The legislative investigation attorney was Republican. He found her guilty indirectly as he felt she allowed the pressure by others to fire Trooper Wooten. Top litigation attorney across America felt the first decision was correct and saw big law suits that will come of situation. All felt very serious!!
Divorce Trial judge warned Palin Family to stop their vendetta to have Trooper Wooten fired.
Reviewing whole political history of Palin reveals she does pursue vendettas against people she does not like to fire/dismiss them. Unfortunately legal retribution by these people against Sarah Palin for such horrible unjust employment tactics action is almost negligible legally. Alaska Laws only protect the top official. So therefore these top officials serve more like a dictator.
Wasilla residents know not to speak out against Sarah Palin. Sarah plays “populist” theme quite well. She realizes many of Alaska voters are not well read of knowledgeable on issues. But that is up to Alaska to deal with.
Alaska had 11 Republican official indicted by FBI since 2004. Republican Ted Stevens just convicted. There have been 0 Democrats. Sarah did not have any part of this. Alaska government was actually being investigated themselves.
Politics in Alaska is corrupt!! They are a state of only 267,000+ residents. 11 indicted legislators is quite high when you realize they only have 16 total.
My documents of police investigation, divorce trial transcripts, government/agency documents, etc indicate Sarah Palin did attempt to get her brother inlaw fired by indirectly allowing subordinate and her husband to use her position to access government heads to pursue firing Wooten.
I do not believe the case is over!! More will be coming. Monegan never expected to be rehired. He was only offended by the damage they did to his many years of past outstanding public police service in Alaska. Trooper Wooten has an excellent case for a law suit. Too bad he isn’t a better cop.
Everyone don’t believe everything regarding this second Ethics Board investigation. This is just another attorneys opinion.
More to still come!!

Sham.