Palin Report: No There There
CNN reports that the finding of an investigation by the Alaska State Legislature into the firing of the state's Police Commissioner by Governor Sarah Palin represented an "abuse of power" but that Palin broke no laws.
Huh? According to the report issued by a bi-partisan panel "Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's refusal to fire Palin's ex-brother-in-law from the state police force was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor to dismiss him, the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower states."
Likely? Either it is or it isn't. There's no maybe here. But the truth is the commission, made up primarily of Democrats and disgruntled Republicans, found no smoking gun. An abuse of power is concerning, but if no laws were broken, how can power be abused?
One thing to note the report is solely the findings of Special Prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, who has been aligned with political opponents of Palin's in Alaska. It reminds me a lot of the overzealous Ken Starr who really wasted a lot of time and taxpayer money investigating Bill Clinton's sexual habits.
It would be like having Senator Lindsay Graham investigating Barack Obama.
The report basically exhonerates Palin but gives some red meat to Democrats.
Huh? According to the report issued by a bi-partisan panel "Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's refusal to fire Palin's ex-brother-in-law from the state police force was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor to dismiss him, the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower states."
Likely? Either it is or it isn't. There's no maybe here. But the truth is the commission, made up primarily of Democrats and disgruntled Republicans, found no smoking gun. An abuse of power is concerning, but if no laws were broken, how can power be abused?
One thing to note the report is solely the findings of Special Prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, who has been aligned with political opponents of Palin's in Alaska. It reminds me a lot of the overzealous Ken Starr who really wasted a lot of time and taxpayer money investigating Bill Clinton's sexual habits.
It would be like having Senator Lindsay Graham investigating Barack Obama.
The report basically exhonerates Palin but gives some red meat to Democrats.
Labels: sarah palin, troopergate
Posted by Michael Higby @ 10/10/2008 06:53:00 PM
32 Comments:
The there is there!
Isn't it amazing that Joe B has Sarah Palin headed to jail and Higby sees her as innocent as Blacks saw OJ?
The truth is somewhere in the murky middle.
Stupid extremists like Joe B and Higby need to get a clue.
Someone will win for President but the two party system is seeing it's last election.
Higby and JoeB sound like Blackman and Sanchez.
"the two party system is seeing it's last election."
That's the CHANGE we should all HOPE for...
I'm just reporting the story folks,
straight from the AP.
Even my good friend Mayor Sam has provided a link to the CNN story
where it says she violated a state ethics law. I don't know about Alaska, but in most places that's what is called a criminal act.
Big Deal. Dubya had a DUI and became a two-term president.
And this isn't a court of law.
If you've been following the story, the guy should never have been a state trooper in the first place, and was a no-goodnik.
So she used her influence to get rid of him. Abuse of power or not. She got out a bad seed. Deal with it.
Too bad she's proud of the hunting and being anti-Choice. That moose photo is very unbecoming. But the woman gets things done. This will be a passing nothing by Monday.
You will soon see video of McCain having to defend Obama from republican ass-wipes like Mike Higby and Haikula. hahahaha
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/politics&id=6435507&rss=rss-wabc-article-6435507
McCain was booed by his own supporters Friday when, in an abrupt switch from raising questions about Barack Obama's character, he described the Democrat as a "decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States."
A sense of grievance spilling into rage has gripped some GOP events this week as McCain supporters see his presidential campaign lag against Obama. Some in the audience are making it personal, against the Democrat. Shouts of "traitor," "terrorist," "treason," "liar," and even "off with his head" have rung from the crowd at McCain and Sarah Palin rallies, and gone unchallenged by them.
Haikula,
Dubya was not governor when he got a D.U.I., and conservatives will continue to become ever more irrelevant with the sort of hypocritical rationalization that you
just offered.
Luv Yah!
The end of the two-party system? The Republicans have won 7 of the last 10 presidential elections. Can't the Democrats win one once in a while?
The Archorage Daily News reports that the commission voted 12-0 to accept 4 findings:
1. Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act.
2. Monegan's refusal to fire Trooper Wooten was not the sole reason for his dismissal, and Palin's firing of Monegan was proper and lawful.
3. Wooten's workers comp claim was handled inappropriately.
4. Atty General's office failed to comply with the commission's request for information about the case.
Any further action of discipinary measures would be up to Palin's executive branch, the AG, or the state Personnel Board.
State Rep. John Coghill (R-North Pole) said "Who is going to blame Todd Palin for protecting his family?"
http://www.adn.com/palin/story/552393.html?newsflash
Who is the FOO' who thinks I'm a Republican?
Did you read my earlier post? I voted for Clinton 2x, Gore and Kerry.
Unlike most of y'all, I vote on a case by case, person by person basis, not on a party line. And, judging by my voting past, I have to say that I'm pretty impressive to be able to find the great qualities of McCain/Palin.
Dumbass.
(Uh oh, I called you a name again! Better run to teacher and cry!)
Ah, cut it out you guys-
This is American politics, ya do whatcha gotta do-
Anyone who thinks that either of these guys doesn't want to help is deluded.
When you go for jury duty and you express your views and they dismiss you, you get a letter saying "Thanks for serving..."
We're supposed to have "separate" opinions- duh- that's called patriotism. Thanks to McCain tonight for taking the mic from that viriolic SOB and defending his opponent. This is NOT rocket science (or science at all)- but rather, a social endeavor- to pursuade to lead. Either of these guys cares about us.
How about an investigation into Obama's birth certificate, academic records, and association with Bill Ayers? Nope, can't do that.
Higby,
The there that is there is actually a their - as in their actions (Todd & Sarah) were unethical. You can say there is a they're there also - as in they're guilty.
Plenty of thər's there.
9:16 already been done. Do you think McBush would have left that area untouched? Birth certificate is OK. Academic grades are outstanding. Relationship with Bill Ayers was that of an acquaintance. Each day that you spend distracted with this minor stuff is a day lost to McCain who needs something impactful to win.
Haikula:
Or is the truth more along the lines of you're acting childish because Hillary didn't get the nomination and wasn't picked to run for VP?
It could be fake, but here is what could be Sarah Palin's 12th grade report card (2.2 GPA) and her SAT scores.
http://wonkette.com/tag/pt-no-child-left-behind
Conservative son of famous conservative William F. Buckley decides to vote Democratic for the first time and support Obama.
http://wonkette.com/tag/pt-but-obamas-black
No, I respond in-kind to smart comments, and in-kind to stupid comments.
Hillary's story has long since ended.
Time for the Higby the FatLady to sing --- the game is over for his fantasy girl Palin and McCane.
This is the best McCain YouTube yet, hahahaha
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/223572.php
This afternoon on the campaign trail, John McCain began dialing back (or began trying to appear to be dialing back) the rising tide of hatred and verbal violence he and his running mate have been whipping up over recent weeks. After all we've seen over recent months, I think it would naive to conclude that McCain did this for any other reason but that the attacks appeared to be backfiring. Perhaps that's ungenerous. But to think so requires a leap of faith, a judgment not grounded in any evidence from the last year of the man's behavior. The aim of such a bludgeoning assault is to force the subject of Obama's relationship to Ayers back to the center of the campaign dialogue. But that's not what happened. By week's end that campaign narrative was all about the ferocity and recklessness of McCain's attacks.
There's something else to note too. Over the last 48 hours several name brand Republicans have come out and either chided or denounced McCain's borderline incitement. And given how taboo it is to level such criticism of your own nominee at this stage of the election you have to assume these criticisms were only the tip of the iceberg, with a far more intense and angry barrage of criticism voiced privately.
Haikula:
Would you expect your president or vice president or any person you respect in the public light to lower themselves to the level of their critics.
My suggestion is that you remain true to your principles and values and don't let others control your life.
You have a lot to offer, but not if you become that which surrounds you.
The woman is a joke. I can only hope ane pray this is some game the Republican party is playing. She'll step down at the last minute to be replaced by someone who might actually not embarrass the country...and then McCain will take the election. Otherwise I'm afraid we have zero choice here. Can't vote for an idiot that would choose Palin for VP and can't vote for a socialist that wants to take all my money. What is there to do? Write Higby in?
Today's headlines (not quite the way Palin and Higby tried to spin them:
Los Angeles Times:
"Big business, lobbyists had Sarah Palin's ear"
"Sarah Palin investigation cites unlawful abuse of power"
Daily News:
"Panel finds Palin abused power in firing commissioner"
ABC News:
"Alaska Panel Finds Palin Abused Power in Firing"
WTOL-TV (Toledo)
"Panel finds Palin abused power"
WHTM-TV (Harrisburg)
"Palin found guilty in Trooper Investigation"
Should I go on? The important point here is that because most people don't get past the headlines, this is the impression they are getting.
Right-wingers are PROUD of their angry, smug, ignorant, and racist ways. Did I mention mentally unstable? From LA Observed today:
Obama threat, white powder sent to LAT
10:54 PM Friday
I'm told the Los Angeles Times mailroom opened a hand-scrawled letter today that read "death to Obama" and contained a white powder that triggered a call to the FBI and a city hazardous materials team. No one was injured and the powder proved to be harmless. My sources say the letter was addressed to staff writers Richard Serrano and Ralph Vartabedian and included a demand for a retraction to their story this week that detailed flying mishaps early in John McCain's Navy flying career. The nut mail was said to carry an upside-down stamp and language about saving babies in addition to the Barack Obama threat.
Someone can't count...
The commission found that Palin DID violate ethics laws, LIED about what her ex brother-in-law did to justify her actions.
And the "mostly democratic panel"?? 10 REPUBLICANS and 4 Democrat voted to release this report.
The political rhetoric against Barack Obama is desperate, and shameful.
Nitwits on all sides will sling unsubstantiated mud and play down their faults. But when someone like Palin talks of "not knowing" who Obama is, it smacks of irony given we don't know HER.
The Republicans love her because she is a bomb-thrower who says the right things (no pun intended). But they know darn well she isn't qualified. Her refusal to cooperate with this investigation 24 hours after she told Charlie Gibson she would is all the proof anyone needs. If she isn't called on that then the person defending these actions can be dismissed slight of hand.
As for the charges against Obama by the moonbats - I go back to this. The FBI, NSA and OPR to EXTENSIVE background checks on Presidential nominees as do the individual parties in the primary phase. (Heck the Democrats did one on ME during my Assembly race) THERE IS NO WAY that if what these Republican lunatics had any merit (not born in US, Terrorists ties etc) that Obama would have made it. PERIOD.
The sad part is that the Right wing doesn't seem to care. Their rallies are getting out of control with people shouting "terrorist", "kill him" etc that McCain (after a sit down with the Secret Service I've been told) had no choice but to push back against the mob he created.
The last time our countries temperature was pushed this high accusing someone of Obamas level of off the wall high crimes was November 22 1963 when political opponents of John Kennedy circulated handbills and took out an ad in the Dallas Morning News saying Kennedy was wanted for treason, and this nation suffered for years because of the nuts that crap drew out of hiding.
ENOUGH. Can we just agree that both these men are patriotic Americans who love their country but disagree on policy and debate that policy? Or is an honest debate on issues not even possible in today's world?
Joe B.
The "there is there if you like being taser.....
This report changes absolutely nothing, except that it will be manipulated politically by Obama supporters and Palin haters in an attempt to drive more potential voters into taking sides with Trooper Mike Wooten — a proven child abuser (Tasered his own 10-year-old stepson on a lark) who's been conclusively determined by his own department to have also engaged in drinking and driving in his squad car, and to have used a deadly firearm to violate the very fish-and-game laws he himself was specifically assigned to enforce. "It is nearly certain," wrote Col. Julia Grimes, then then Director of the Alaska State Troopers Division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety, "that a civilian investigated under similar circumstances would have received criminal sanctions." The only real question in Tasergate remains why Trooper Mike Wooten is still not only uncharged for his confessed crimes, but carrying a badge and gun — to the continuing shame of the good and decent people of Alaska.
-----------------------------
UPDATE (Fri Oct 10 @ 11:25 p.m. CST): Gov. Palin's office and the McCain-Palin campaign have each put out press releases making some of the same points I've made in this post. And Gov. Palin's lawyer has issued a five-page response to the Branchflower report which notes, among other things, that "[e]very prior reported Ethics Act violation involved financial motives and financial 'potential gain, or the avoidance of a potential loss.' ... Here, there is no accusation, no finding and no facts that money or financial gain to the governor was involved in the decision to replace Monegan."
Even the Anchorage Daily News is misrepresenting the meaning of this report: I just received an email update from it in which it claims that "Today Alaska legislators found Palin did abuse her power in the 'Troopergate' controversy." That's absolutely false — the Alaska Legislature is not in session, and all that happened today was that the 12-member Legislative Council that received the Branchflower Report voted unanimously to release its first volume (the 263-page .pdf file linked above) to the public. Several more volumes and hundreds more pages prepared by Branchflower still remain confidential — suggesting that Branchflower's selective quotations in the report may well have been "cherry-picked" or taken out of context — but the governor's office has itself posted quite a few more documents pertaining to the investigation on the internet, confirming Gov. Palin's repeated statements that she has nothing to hide in this entire matter.
Have no fear Republicans... Palin will be back in Alaska in 3 weeks and this national embarrassment will finally be over.
LOL at Red Spot 11:49 cut and paste trying to pass it off as HIS comment on the situation.
Actually,
this was taken from Hugh Hewitt's site.
But still's counters the premise of this supposed "Troopergate".
Right Side News reports:
The video that could cost Obama the election.
Link: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/5411
The video shows how Obama used his elected office-and-taxpayers’ dollars-to support a man like Kenya’s Raila Odinga, self touted as “Your Agent for Change”.
Obama spporters in Carson City chanted “No USA!” Odinga supporters in Kenya, brandished machetes and chanted “No Peace!”
Human Rights Watch states that Odinga’s Socialist Orange Democratic Movement “actively fomented post-election violence” when Raila lost by 231,728 votes.
In Kenya, allegations of vote rigging came before a single ballot was ever cast.
(Leftists and Obama supporters are already saying that SNOPES denies the veracity of the Odinga/Obama video. But as Hollenbeck points out, “it wouldn’t be the first time that SNOPES said something was untrue that I KNEW was true!”)
Like the Artful Dodger of contemporary politics, Obama has wormed his way past the media and the American electorate at almost every opportunity.
With the liberal media running Obama’s campaign for him, the reporting of Obama’s real history and past has been rewritten with more lies that even Hillary’s bio.
Read everything you can about Obama. He’s worse than just a phony – he’s been carefully crafted and molded by some of the world’s most dangers Socialists.
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