Hardball, you betcha!
In all, the commissioner and his aides were contacted about Mr. Wooten three dozen times over 19 months by the governor, her husband and seven administration officials, interviews and documents show.‘To all of us, it was a campaign to get rid of him as a trooper and, at the very least, to smear the guy and give him a desk job somewhere,’ said Kim Peterson, Mr. Monegan’s special assistant, who like several other aides spoke publicly about the matter for the first time.
Ms. Peterson, a 31-year veteran of state government who retired 10 days before Mr. Monegan’s firing, said she received about a dozen calls herself. ‘It was very clear that someone from the governor’s office wanted him watched,’ she said.
Macbeth – Act I Scene V
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief!
PLUS
Don’t forget that the woman who headed up the Alaskan WCB (in Alaska it’s run by a private contractor) has testified (and presented written collaborative evidence) that she was told to STOP Trooper Wooten’s WCB claim or she would not have her contract renewed. She ended his claim and had her contract renewed. A firm that made a lower bid for the WCB contract is now appealing their application being turned down.
TO ME – this is the impeachable smoking gun.
My question for Mrs Palin – “Do you expect to go to jail or just be impeached?”
You know Talk Like A Pirate day? Here’s my idea, October 24th is now Talk Like A Palin Day. Where any time anyone asks you a question you start talking about your love of Israel or being Mavriky.
white trash unitary executive theorists on the march
When I say these people are of the Tim McVeigh caliber, it’s for real. Personally, I ain’t mad at’em. They doing what they gotta do. And, more importantly, we haffi do what we gotta do! Nuff said!
Hmm… this is indeed troubling. Why on earth would this family carry out such a vendetta against this one guy?
Could it be because they felt threatened by the guy (possibly because he threatened them) and took all legal measures to protect themselves?
Nah. If that was the case, then Oliver — being the fair-minded and honest and reputable person he is — would discuss those allegations. He’d say what the trooper in question is accused of doing, perhaps even mention that the State Police found that the officer in question had repeatedly violated the law while on duty.
Violations like driving around in a cruiser while drinking, tasering a 10-year-old child, and threatening to kill the governor’s father and sister.
Nah. That’s just crazy talk. I mean, what are the odds that a state trooper would do such things? What are the odds that that trooper’s superiors, who are also charged with protecting the physical safety of the governor and her immediate family, would give the guy a slap on the wrist and keep him on the job?
This guy appears to be the epitome of a bad cop. It would be incomprehensible for Palin’s family to NOT try to protect themselves and others by getting him off the force. Just because she’s the governor does NOT mean that they have forfeited the same rights any other citizen has to report police misconduct and pursue juetice.
But that doesn’t really matter around here, does it? This is the land of IOKIYAR — It’s OK If You’re Attacking Republicans. Republicans are incapable of NOT being at fault in any situation.
J.
If this trooper is such a bad guy, seems like the Palins would want all the facts to come out for God and everybody to see. But instead they stonewall, refuse to testify, and issue preemptive “reports” exonerating themselves. Fishy.
Did you think O.J. was innocent too? Mark Fuhrman was a bad cop, after all.
Nice try Jay. If all the Palin’s had done was do a lot of complaining about Wooten nobody would care. All citizens have a right to complain to their government, but not all citizens have the ability to fire competent officials who refuse to go beyond established procedure for their own personal benefit. May or may not be illegal, but it certainly is abuse of power, and as we’re learning more and more, that’s the Palin way.
Of course Jay, we know from your support of the Bush administration that abuse of power is fine by you as long as the abuser has an (R) after his/her name.
Abuse of power, brazen lies about her record, the creepy unelected influence and power of Mr. Sarah – - Palin in the whitehouse would be like Bush W. on steroids. The American people can see that which is why Palin is going over like a lead balloon except among the red-meat extemists of the Republican base.
Palin had plenty of reasons to get rid of the guy she fired that were utterly unrelated to Trooper Wooten — such as the guy going to the state legislature and negotiating his own budget request without Palin’s knowledge and approval. He was also a political appointment, meaning he could be fired at any time for any reason. Finally, Palin offered him another position that he refused.
Further, the investigation is being headed up by a couple of guys who are quite involved in the Obama Alaska campaign. Nope, no conflict of interest there. I thought there might be, but then I asked Gwen Ifill and she assured me that there wasn’t even an appearance of impropriety.
Here are the indisputable facts:
1) Trooper Wooten was found responsible by the Alaska State Police of drinking while on duty and operating a cruiser; hunting without a license while charged with enforcing those laws; tasering an 11-year-old boy; and threatening to kill his father-in-law (Palin’s father).
2) As a penalty for these offenses, Wooten was given a ten-day suspension. No criminal charges for filed for these events.
3) Wooten’s union thought the penalty for these offenses (which would put most people in jail) was too harsh, and appealed it down to five days.
4) The same officials who thought that that was an adequate penalty for Wooten are also charged with providing physical security for Palin and her immediate family.
Let me spell that out for you: PALIN WAS BEING PROTECTED BY AN AGENCY THAT THOUGHT SOMEONE WHO THREATENED TO KILL HER FATHER SHOULD NOT ONLY BE NOT LOCKED UP, BUT SHOULD REMAIN A PART OF THE AGENCY CHARGED WITH PROTECTING THE LIVES OF HERSELF AND HER IMMEDIATE FAMILY.
Just based on Wooten’s records released thus far, the guy should be behind bars, not given a badge and a state-issued firearm and state-issued vehicle and charged with keeping the peace.
But he had the great good fortune to commit his offenses against the family of a prominent Republican, so he gets a pass.
You people are disgusting.
Wooten should be behind bars, not out on patrol.
And Monegan should never have tried to negotiate his own budget directly with the legislature, in direct defiance of Palin’s authority as governor.
J.
You people are disgusting.
Why? Because we don’t mutely accept the ever-evolving, self-serving explanations from Ms. Palin?
Are you capable of skepticism only when a Democrat is doing the talking, Mr. Tea?
October 24th is now Talk Like A Palin Day.
Well doggone it, Michael, that’s just a peachy idea, youbetcha! Yah! *wink*
Are you capable of skepticism only when a Democrat is doing the talking, Mr. Tea?
Considerably more capable than you are of questioning any smear against a Republican, Mr. Basement. For example, I thought the Republican party got off way too lightly over the 2002 phone jamming scandal here in New Hampshire, and said so repeatedly.
Could you cite a single example of a time when you actually did NOT believe the absolute worst about a Republican? When you entertained the possibility that they might, just MIGHT, be innocent?
I thought not.
J.
Could you cite a single example of a time when you actually did NOT believe the absolute worst about a Republican?
Sure! October 2, 2:30 p.m.
Now may I assume the answer to my previous question is “no”?
And then there’s the topic under discussion, Mr. Tea. I’m not assuming anything negative about Ms. Palin in the firing of Mr. Monegan. I can observe, however, that her explanation of the matter and her willingness to cooperate change regularly.
Mr. Basement, would you consider it a mere coincidence that Palin’s cooperation was exemplary — right up until two of the leading lawmakers on the panel came out as strong Obama supporters, and hired a longtime Monegan colleague as investigator? And then announce that the investigation timeline was being adjusted to nearly coincide with the election?
j.
Ms. Palin’s cooperation was exemplary until she was selected as Mr. McCain’s running mate. Those two “leading lawmakers” you refer to are members of the Alaska Democratic Party. Their influence on the panel is balanced by a majority of Republicans. Are you suggesting that only Republicans should be allowed to investigate Republicans?
The timeline? It was adjusted to move the report release farther from the election. Originally, the investigation report was scheduled to come out immediately before election day.
Bottom line, Mr. Tea, Ms. Palin’s story has changed again and again. Yet you say anyone who doesn’t believe the latest story is “disgusting.” What has to happen before you’ll express even an atom of skepticism? Does Ms. Palin have to implicate Bigfoot or little green aliens before you’ll doubt her story even a little?
October 24th is now Talk Like A Palin Day.
Well doggone it, Michael, that’s just a peachy idea, youbetcha! Yah! *wink*
Also, too, I think it should be every day, gosh darn it! Joe Six Pe-Ack i’m sure would agree, dontchaknow. That would be mavricky.
Jay Tea,
This blog is obviously not for your type of people so why are you even here trying to ruffle everyone’s feathers? Why don’t you find somewhere to visit where you can talk about your party and their gleaming, wonderful track record from the past 8 frickin long years?
I like having the Jay Tea types commenting on liberal blogs. It gives me insight to Republicans who aren’t as smart as the Republicans in my family. I find it much more difficult to argue down Republicans who point out deficiencies in, say, Democratic economic policies, than I do to argue down the Jay Teas who are set on a broken record of “media bias!”
As for political bias being a reason to dismiss an investigation, my God, do I wish Clinton had known that was a viable way to get rid of investigations.
Jay Tea,
Maybe trooper Wooten was reading a Harry Potter book as well? Did that child celebrate a birthday whilst being tasered (you said 10 then 11 yrs old)? If so, that’s a crap present!
Oh, aren’t you clever, bryan! You’re alluding to the list of books Palin allegedly sought to have banned from the city library after she became mayor.
Unfortunately for you, the Harry Potter books were yet to be published in the US when she became mayor, so that little myth is busted.
Sorry for you, champ. Try again…
J.
What bryan said is still funny, Jay Tea, because if Harry Potter books HAD been out back then, YouBetcha she would have wanted them banned.
Come on. Everybody knows some nut in their office or their neighborhood who claims “Harry Potter is a plot!” or won’t let their kids go Trick or Treat because it’s “occult.” Palin, having been blessed by her very own Witch Doctor/Exorcist in her very own church, surely fits the profile. (I hate when you have to explain a joke to a conservative.)
Don’t get me wrong. These people have the right to their own opinions and their own faith. But the rest of us still have the right to mock them.
Unfortunately for you, the Harry Potter books were yet to be published in the US when she became mayor, so that little myth is busted.
I’m sure libraries carry foreign books.
Sorry for my anachronism Jay Tea. The fact that she had a list of books is ok, but getting the books wrong is not. Amazing. I always remember seeing the word “anachronism” in the margin of King Lear at school when it says “Lear enters with his train”.
Did toddler Obama assist Ayers? surely another anachronism?
No Harry Potter books were published in the U.S. before 2002 (since she was mayor from 1996 until 2002)? Really? Could have fooled me, Jay. Of course you stated none were published in the U.S. “when she became mayor”, right? Certainly what you meant is that none had been published before she left the office, also, correct? Certainly a minor (but critical) oversight, right? Well, I guess not so minor, since it gives added credence to your purported “myth”.