Troopergate Report Says Palin “Abused Power”

MataHarely and Ed Morrissey have complete analysis’s of Troopergate Investigator Stephen Branchflower’s report.

The bottom line on the report is that Gov. Palin had the constitutional and statutory authority fire Commissioner Monegan. Branchflower, however, believes that Sarah Palin abused her power by not stopping her husband, Todd, from talking to state officials about her former brother in law Trooper Mike Wooten.

She knowingly, as that term is defined in the above cited statutes, permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor’s office and the resources of the Governor’s office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired. Her conduct violated AS 39.52.110(a) of the Ethics Act. That statute provides that:

“the legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust”.

Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired. She had the authority and power to require Mr. Palin to cease contacting subordinates, but she failed to act.

I don’t know about you but I can’t fault Todd Palin for his actions… I would have moved heaven and earth to protect my family from some who had tasered his 10-year-old stepson, and threatened to murder his estranged wife’s father.