Palin Abuses Power

So I read the finding in which a legislative investigator said that Governor Palin abused her power.  Frankly, I don’t think it holds water.  In order to spare you from having to read the thing, let me summarize it. 

Basically, the deal is that Palin’s sister and brother-in-law went through a nasty divorce and custody battle.  The brother-in-law is Mike Wooten and was a State Trooper.  Palin’s father filed a complaint with the Troopers alleging that Wooten is basically a dirt bag and shouldn’t be entrusted to enforce the law.  This complaint was filed BEFORE Palin became governor. 

The complaint launched an administrative investigation of Wooten.  Before and then after Palin became the governor, she and her husband continued to call around to see how the investigation was going and express their opinion that they didn’t think that Wooten should be a Trooper.  Eventually, Wooten was disciplined, but not fired.  Some time after that, Palin fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who was ultimately responsible for Wooten’s discipline. 

The charge against Palin is that she fired Monegan in retaliation for Wooten not being fired. 

The finding says that the firing of Monegan was completely appropriate, ethical, and legal.  The finding also says that Wooten properly received his workman’s compensation benefits and complains that the Attorney General isn’t cooperating. 

The big “Palin abused her power” line comes from the first finding.  It alleges that Palin broke the ethics code because she used her position of public trust for personal benefit.  I read through all of the finding (skip to page 65 for the conclusion) and it just seems very very weak to me.  Basically, it catalogs a bunch of times when one of the Palins called or emailed people about Wooten.  The finding is that by doing so, it put undue pressure on government officials for Palin’s personal reasons.  Again, remember the firing was completely legit, so this is just about the Palins calling people to discuss Wooten’s situation.

First, the Palins obviously have a personal interest in Wooten’s case since it was Palin’s father who filed the complaint and it involved a death threat against the father.  They called before and after Palin became governor, so it’s not like they only started nagging the government officials after she became governor.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with them calling to check on the case and offer an opinion.  Particularly galling is that the finding says that Todd Palin should be forbidden from contacting government officials about Wooten.  Um, Todd is not the governor and has every right in the world to speak to his government. 

Second, the Palins obviously feel that Wooten is unfit to be a State Trooper based on their personal experience with him.  Imagine that you are the Mayor and you know that one of the police officers on the force is an unstable nut bag.  Wouldn’t you be morally obligated to do everything you legally can to get the guy off the force?  Yeah, you would.  Governor Palin thinks that Wooten is unfit.  You may disagree with her assessment, but I would argue that she’s in a better position to know Wooten than I am. 

Third, the findings show that Palin never asked or told anyone to act illegally, break procedures, or act unethically.  All Sarah and Todd Palin did was followup on Wooten’s status and voice their own opinions on the matter.  What the heck is wrong with that? 

Look, if the finding had proven that Palin fired Monegan in retaliation for his not firing Wooten, then I think that would be a legitimate abuse of power.  It would have been legal, because Monegan serves at the pleasure of the Governor, but certainly abusive.  But the finding didn’t show that.  If the finding had shown that Palin ordered someone to fire Wooten and bypass the normal process, that would have been an abuse of power.  But the finding didn’t show that either.

It shows a pattern of Sarah and Todd Palin contacting people about Wooten’s case before and after she became governor to find out what’s going on with Wooten and to voice their opinion.  Sorry, but this was neither unethical or an abuse of power.

Posted by Owen at 1612 hrs
Politics + Politics - General