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The report ALSO said that Palin is guilty of violationg ethics through the misuse of the powers of the Governor of Alaska. It 'may' end up being enough to remove her from office via impeachment. Time will tell.

One can make the argument, as Palin and her allies have tried to do, that this investigation -- launched by a bipartisan Republican-controlled legislative body -- was somehow a partisan Democratic witch hunt, but one cannot honestly make the argument that the report concluded that Palin was "cleared of any legal wrongdoing" or "any hint of unethical activity."

The investigator did conclude that Palin's firing of Monegan was within her power, that "although Walt Monegan's refusal to fire Trooper Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin's firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads."

But it finds that Palin "knowingly, as that term is defined in ... 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..."

The report went so far as to state, her violation of ethics was knowingly carried out by Sarah Palin herself, in an effort to force the firing of her ex-brother-in-law.

Yes it will Chief, of that there is no doubt.

Since there's a lot of Palin bashing I'll see the other side of the argument a bit.
It really seems as though Monegan simply landed on Palin's sh*t list. As far as I know, in any line of work, if you land on the sh*t list of someone who out ranks you, the odds are that if you're not stellar at your job, you're going to get canned.
Before we also go jumping to conclusions about the conduct we also have to take into account how this works with Alaskan culture.
For example, let's say you're a department head for an American company in Indonesia. One of your employees has been found bribing certain Indonesian individuals. You chose to fire him. In that case even though the employee did violate rules, regulation and even the law, you'd be the idiot because without a certain level of bribery, your company would get nothing processed through local channels.
Now, in Alaska, could what Palin did not really constitute as out of the ordinary?

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Since there's a lot of Palin bashing I'll see the other side of the argument a bit.
It really seems as though Monegan simply landed on Palin's sh*t list. As far as I know, in any line of work, if you land on the sh*t list of someone who out ranks you, the odds are that if you're not stellar at your job, you're going to get canned.
Before we also go jumping to conclusions about the conduct we also have to take into account how this works with Alaskan culture.
For example, let's say you're a department head for an American company in Indonesia. One of your employees has been found bribing certain Indonesian individuals. You chose to fire him. In that case even though the employee did violate rules, regulation and even the law, you'd be the idiot because without a certain level of bribery, your company would get nothing processed through local channels.
Now, in Alaska, could what Palin did not really constitute as out of the ordinary?

Redneck ...
Did you read the Troopergate Report??? There was nothing wrong with the firing of Monegan ... Palin appointed him and can fire him for ANY reason.

What you didn't mention, was the report that Palin violated the ethics of her office, in that she misused her powers when she used her position as Governor of Alaska to try to force the firing of her ex-brother-in-law {that was the finding of the report}.

No I haven't read the thing, been a little busy lately.
Just saying, there could be a different angle.
So it wasn't illegal but they thought it was unethical?
Happens all the time.
Hell, I got fired from work for being too effective and difficult to lie to. Unethical? Yes. Do they have the right to? I guess so, it's their company.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

No I haven't read the thing, been a little busy lately.
Just saying, there could be a different angle.
So it wasn't illegal but they thought it was unethical?
Happens all the time.
Hell, I got fired from work for being too effective and difficult to lie to. Unethical? Yes. Do they have the right to? I guess so, it's their company.

Redneck ....
Tain't the same thing ...
Violation of ethics, can get a President OR a Governor removed from office via impeachment. Palin is accused of misuse of gubernatorial powers ... a very very serious charge (even in Alaska). The Troopergate Report, is damning ... it's findings are that Palin (along wirh her husband), used the power of the Governor's position and office, to try and get her ex-brother-in-law fired ... which is a major misuse of power.

Just to continue the Chiefs excellent point.

Assuming that what happened was neither unethical nor illegal or likewise anything 'wrong', doesn't it speak rather badly about her personality in general? I mean do we really want such a vindictive and mean-spirited person in the White House? I once had a boss who was like this (picked favorites, made nasty remarks, fired people he didn't like on merely personal not professional grounds, etc) and he really poisoned the work atmosphere. He was both feared and hated, and other people went to long lengths to get him fired, embarrassed or thwarted. He was just toxic.

Also some of the remarks she has said about Obama ("pals around with terrorists") have just been beyond the pale of decency, not only untrue but simply libelous. That's not even dirty politics thats just being a totally rotten individual. Not even McCain has sunk that low, Behind Palin's smile and the charm resides a mean spirited person. And personally I think THAT more than partisanship is why people in Alaskan politics don't like her; for someone in office for such a brief amount of time she has made plenty of enemies.

Alright, thanks. Just needed to know.
Because often people do take things out of perspective. But I guess that is not the case this time around.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin violated no ethics laws when she fired her public safety commissioner, the state personnel board concluded in a report released Monday. "There is no probable cause to believe that the governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters," the report says.
"Gov. Palin is pleased that the independent investigator for the Personnel Board has concluded that she acted properly in the reassignment of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan," her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said in a statement.
An earlier, separate investigation by the Legislature found that Palin had abused her office.
Monegan said he felt pressure from Palin, her husband and her staff to fire a state trooper who had gone through a nasty divorce from Palin's sister. Palin denied the claim, and said Monegan was fired last July because she wanted the department to head in a new direction.
Monegan told The Associated Press on Monday that he was "perplexed and disappointed" by the report. It was prepared by Timothy Petumenos, an independent investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board.
"It conflicts with the first investigation and then casts doubts on both of them. So, it doesn't really resolve anything," he said. "If it did, then I could walk away. It does seem to fly in the face if circumstantial evidence."
A separate legislative investigation recently concluded that Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, abused her office by allowing her husband and staffers to pressure Monegan to fire the trooper. However, it upheld the firing because Monegan was an at-will employee.
Alaska Personnel Board investigations are normally secret, but the three-member board decided to release this report, citing public interest in the matter given Palin's status as a candidate for national office. Election Day is Tuesday.
Palin had earlier waived her privacy rights, but others in her administration did not and Petumenos sought to keep the matter from playing out in the media.
Documents released Monday did not include transcripts of separate depositions given by Palin and her husband, Todd.
That deposition was the only one given by Sarah Palin. She was not subpoenaed to answer questions in the Legislature's investigation, though her husband, Todd, gave an affidavit in that probe.
Petumenos said that during her deposition given under oath, Sarah Palin denied Monegan's claim — also given under oath — that she had two conversations with him about the trooper.
"Both of those conversations were denied in their entirety by the governor," Petumenos said.
Palin initially said she would cooperate with the Legislature's probe. But after she became John McCain's running mate, she said the investigation had become too partisan and filed an ethics grievance against herself with the personnel board.
Telephone messages left with state Sens. Hollis French, who led the legislative investigation, and Sen. Kim Elton, chairman of the Legislative Council, were not immediately returned.


SOURCE


The saddest thing is that this vindication over the mud slingers has come a little too late.