A break for Palin & GOP: Gov. Sarah Palin did not violate ethics law

Alaska Personnel Board to Release Second 'Troopergate' Report Today

Monday, November 03, 2008

On the eve of Tuesday's historic presidential election, the Alaska Personnel Board will release a report by an independent investigator it hired to determine whether Gov. Sarah Palin broke state ethics law when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in July.

At a personnel board meeting Monday, independent investigator Timothy Petumenos, an Anchorage attorney, told the board he wrapped up his investigation and had prepared a report for the panel. Petumenos has been meeting with the personnel board behind closed since late Monday morning. The personnel board said Petumenos's report will be released at 7:30 p.m. EDT at a news conference in Alaska.

The personnel board investigation was launched after Palin filed an ethics complaint against herself in September that was meant to fend off a legislative inquiry into Monegan's dismissal.

Monegan has said his dismissal came as a result of his refusal to fire Palin's ex brother-in-law, a state trooper who was entangled in a messy divorce and child custody dispute with Palin's sister.

The McCain-Palin campaign apparently was betting that the personnel board, two of whose members were appointed by former Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, another Republican, would clear Palin of wrongdoing.

But Alaska Rep. Les Gara, a Democrat, said Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, faces an uphill fight in her hope to be exonerated by the state personnel board investigation that she requested in hopes of heading off a legislative inquiry.

â??I think in the end the McCain campaign brought Gov. Palin a little more trouble than she bargained for by convincing her to have the personnel board investigate this,â? Gara said in an interview with The Public Record. â??Probably in retrospect, wasnâ??t a smart move.â?

Petumenos deposed Palin and her husband, Todd Palin, two weeks ago in a St. Louis Hotel.

Petumenos's investigation is said to include at least two other ethics complaints filed against Palin, one of which is believed to be a complaint filed by The Public Employees Safety Union alleging Palin and her aides illegally accessed her ex brother-in-law's personnel files and improperly and illegally tried to get him fired from his job as a state trooper. Watchdog Andree McLeod filed the only other publicly known ethics complaint against Palin. McLeod alleges the governor secured a state job for one of her fundraisers.

John Cyr, the executive director of the Public Employees Safety Union, was present at Monday's personnel board meeting.

Two weeks ago, the Alaskan Legislative Council voted unanimously to share with Petumenos more than 1,000 pages of documents collected by its independent counsel, Steve Branchflower.

Rep. Gara, who spoke with Petumenos about a separate complaint that Gara filed accusing the McCain campaign of trying to obstruct the legislative inquiry, told me that he believes the personnel boardâ??s report will parallel the findings of the legislative inquiry.

Gara said Petumenos â??is well respected and will conduct a thorough investigation based on the facts,â? adding: â??I think the findings will be similar.â?

â??There's a strong chance his report will look much like the Legislature's given how comprehensively both the Legislative and Board's investigators do their work," Gara said. "But I can't predict what it will say. â??It is ironic that the McCain Campaign filed the second action to stop the first one. Now there's a risk they'll get two unfavorable findings."

The Oct. 19 report released by the Alaska Legislative Council found that Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which says "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."

The â??Troopergateâ? scandal erupted in July when Palin fired Alaskaâ??s Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan, who then blamed his dismissal on his refusal to succumb to pressure from Palin, her husband and her associates to fire her ex-brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Initially, Palin welcomed an investigation by the Republican-dominated Legislative Council. However, after her selection as John McCainâ??s running mate in late August, she and the McCain campaign attacked that inquiry as a Democratic witch hunt led by Barack Obamaâ??s supporters.

On Sept. 2, just a day before she accepted the GOP nomination, Palin took the unusual step of filing an ethics complaint with the state personnel board against herself regarading her firing of Monegan.

However, the board hired Petumenos, a Democrat, to probe the matter. Palinâ??s maneuver also failed to head off the legislative inquiry, which concluded on Oct. 10 that the governor had abused her power and violated state ethics law in her vendetta against her ex-brother-in-law.

Sarah and Todd Palin, and their handlers, have defended their actions and denied Monegan, the public safety commissioner, was pressured to fire trooper Wooten.

Alaska Personnel Board to Release Second 'Troopergate' Report Today
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Above article is for a few hours ago, AP's breaking news just released indicates that she is found not guilty of violating ethics law