Palin cleared by independent counsel
News you won’t see flogged above the fold in tomorrow’s national newspaper front pages: Sarah Palin has been cleared of ethics violations by an independent counsel (as opposed to the legislative probe).
From the Anchorage Daily News:
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.
The Palins have argued that Wooten was a loose cannon who had tasered his stepson, drank beer in his patrol car, and threatened Palin’s father, and that their complaints that he shouldn’t be on the force were justified.
The Troopergate matter became sharply politicized after Palin was announced as Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate in Tuesday’s election.
The report, released at a Monday afternoon press conference at the Hotel Captain Cook, presents the findings and recommendations of Anchorage lawyer Timothy Petumenos, hired as independent counsel for the Personnel Board to examine several complaints against Palin.
Petumenos wrote the Legislature’s special counsel, former state prosecutor Steve Branchflower, used the wrong state law as the basis for his conclusions and also misconstrued the evidence.
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Trackbacks
- Jules Crittenden » Gate Shut
- MishMashZone » Palin Exonerated By Independent Council
- The Rude News » Blog Archive » Dirty Tricks 101
- Webloggin » Palin Exonerated in Troopergate Investigation
- independent counsel Clears Palin | Citizen-Right
- MacBigot Cached Glances
- Independent Council Clears Palin of Troopergate « BUUUUURRRRNING HOT
- Blatant Anti-Palin Bias in the Liberal Media: A Collection (130 Cases) « BUUUUURRRRNING HOT
- McCain-Palin Peaking at the Right Time! « Riggword Weblog
- Michelle Malkin » Pray
- Sarah VINDICATED! « Crazymountain’s Blog
- Game on! Palin cleared by independent counsel! Go vote for a war hero, not a Marxist “zero”! « Mark Epstein
- Me, Me, Me « Mark Epstein
- Troopergate, schmoopergate « Right Minded Online
- Palin cleared, for what it’s worth by now « WitSnapper | The Blog
- Media’s Latest Palin Scandal: Guilt By Daughter’s Boyfriend’s Mother Association « Conservative Thoughts and Profundity
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Now let’s take watershed’s brilliant reasoning on the Vice President and apply it to the President. If the “President of the Senate” is NOT “in charge” of the Senate, doesn’t that mean that a President Obama, should he be elected, is not really “in charge” of the country? (Not to mention, he doesn’t even get to vote when there’s a tie!) I could live with that.
The VP isn’t in “charge” of the Senate. Read your Constitution. He can only vote in a tie. I doubt any ties in the next 4 years. He bangs a gavel and keeps things organized, but has no say in bills or debates. As one VP said, “This job isn’t worth a bucket of ’spit’ (p*ss).” Obama will be a “yes man” to Reid/Kennedy/Pelosi. Don’t expect anything more than that, from a very inexperienced senator, interested only in drumming up support for 2012.
The public and especially students are naive and impressionable. The media, arts and education system has successfully manipulated and deceived them into believing the most convoluted reasoning. This latest biased reporting, by maximizing the initial spin and minimizing the eventual truth about trooper-gate (taser-gate)is just one small example.
With a misinformed and emotional electorate, our nation is ripe for being led down a path of destruction.
I can’t believe that I am seeing this happen before my very eyes.
garyganu
I’m expecting plenty more than that. Reid/Kennedy/Pelosi never said they would bankrupt the coal industry. Reid/Kennedy/Pelosi never said their policies would skyrocket the cost of electricity. Reid/Kennedy/Pelosi are all buddy-buddy Obama sidekicks when it comes to ignoring the wealth of native energy on the American continent.
That’s another reason to like Gov Palin. She gives a damn about American energy independence.
To all those that feel this report refutes Branchflower’s, that it was really all about finding the truth.
On page 8 of it it says that both Palins revealed to Gary Wheeler of the AST security staff in a November 2006 meeting that they felt Wooten was a security threat to their family. Why is that important? Because it directly contradicts what Gary Wheeler testified to in the Branchflower Report on page 44. No big deal right, difference in recollection maybe? Well actually it is important, Petumenos uses this testimony from the Palin’s to draw most of his conclusions. Problem is, Petumenos never interviewed Wheeler, never mentioned this contradiction in his report anywhere.
What do you make of that?
Palin being cleared reminds me of the “October Surprise” that the liberals pulled in 1980 – claiming that candidate Ronald Reagan sent opposition candidate George HW Bush to Paris in a top-secret SR-71 jet to negotiate with the Iranians so that they would keep the hostages until Reagan won the election so that Carter would be defeated. The investigation dragged on for years and years, only coming to the conclusion that it had never occurred just before the 1988 elections. Of course, the report officially clearing both Reagan and GHW Bush was released only after the election.
Does anyone else remember Ray Donovan? He was the disgraced US Secretary of Labor under President Reagan who asked the famous question after he was acquitted “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?”.
That’s all this was with the charges against Governor Palin, a political hit job. The fact that the left is still clinging to it only serves to show how desperate they are.
Well, DUHHHHHHHH! Sarah Palin cleared for doing her job.
Now when will we see investigations of Barack HUSSEIN Obama’s relationship with ACORN, Bill Ayres, Mr.Rezko, intimidating media outlets that oppose him,…
…and with half his brain tied behind his back just to make it fair!
The VP isn’t in “charge” of the Senate. Read your Constitution. He can only vote in a tie.
Quite true. But here, in Malkin world, people would rather disagree with me than actually be, well, right. It’s fun to watch.
graysonret and watershed, have YOU read your Constitution? You are confusing “being in charge” with having a vote. The Constitution clearly makes the VP President of the Senate. Is there a higher office in the Senate than “President”?
Yes, it’s true that lacking a vote renders the VP fairly impotent, but that doesn’t mean he’s not the highest ranking official (in charge) in the Senate. Until the 1960s, it was common practice for the Vice President to preside over daily Senate sessions. Just because modern VP’s have become lazy doesn’t mean they don’t have the constitutional right to preside over the Senate should they choose to do so.
From Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution:
From Wikipedia:
Toolshed, I think you have Governor Palin confused with BHO!
Obambi is the one who has NO executive experience. The only thing he has ever run is his mouth.