Post by kelvin on Oct 12, 2008 21:33:21 GMT -5
ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081011/usa/us_vote_republicans_palin_probe_abuse
JUNEAU, Alaska (AFP) - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her position as Alaska's governor by pressuring officials to sack her former brother-in-law from the state police force, a long-awaited report said.
In a 263-page report released on Friday by Alaska's Legislative Council following a six-hour closed-door hearing, investigator Steve Branchflower said Palin violated state ethics rules regarding public officials.
Palin had allowed her husband Todd Palin to use the Alaska governor's office and its resources to pressure officials to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, her brother-in-law before his acrimonious divorce from her younger sister in 2005, Branchflower said.
"The evidence supports the conclusion that governor Palin, at the least, engaged in 'official action' by her inaction, if not her active participation or assistance to her husband, to get trooper Wooten fired," the report said.
"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."
Branchflower's investigation was launched in the wake of Palin's decision in July to sack Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan, who claimed he was fired because of his refusal to dismiss Wooten.
The inquiry found that although Palin was within her rights as Alaska governor to dismiss Monegan, the commissioner's failure to sack Wooten was not the only reason he was fired.
Palin initially vowed to cooperate with the investigation, but then refused to testify after she was picked as John McCain's running mate in late August, complaining the probe had become "tainted and politically motivated".
Americans go to the polls to elect their next president on November 4.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AFP) - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her position as Alaska's governor by pressuring officials to sack her former brother-in-law from the state police force, a long-awaited report said.
In a 263-page report released on Friday by Alaska's Legislative Council following a six-hour closed-door hearing, investigator Steve Branchflower said Palin violated state ethics rules regarding public officials.
Palin had allowed her husband Todd Palin to use the Alaska governor's office and its resources to pressure officials to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, her brother-in-law before his acrimonious divorce from her younger sister in 2005, Branchflower said.
"The evidence supports the conclusion that governor Palin, at the least, engaged in 'official action' by her inaction, if not her active participation or assistance to her husband, to get trooper Wooten fired," the report said.
"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."
Branchflower's investigation was launched in the wake of Palin's decision in July to sack Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan, who claimed he was fired because of his refusal to dismiss Wooten.
The inquiry found that although Palin was within her rights as Alaska governor to dismiss Monegan, the commissioner's failure to sack Wooten was not the only reason he was fired.
Palin initially vowed to cooperate with the investigation, but then refused to testify after she was picked as John McCain's running mate in late August, complaining the probe had become "tainted and politically motivated".
Americans go to the polls to elect their next president on November 4.