As usual, there are always two sides to every story and here's the other side to this one:


Palin pre-empts state report, clears self in probe

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 10, 3:08 AM ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing.
Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law.
Lawmakers are expected to release their own findings Friday. Campaign officials have yet to see that report — the result of an investigation that began before she was tapped as McCain's running mate — but said the investigation has falsely portrayed a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner as something inappropriate.
"The following document will prove Walt Monegan's dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administration," campaign officials wrote. "Trooper Wooten is a separate issue."
Monegan said Thursday that he doesn't know what to expect from the legislative panel's own report.
"I just hope that the truth is figured out," Monegan told The Associated Press on Thursday. "That the governor did want me to fire him, and I chose to not. You just can't walk up to someone and say, 'I fire you.' He didn't do anything under my watch to result in termination."
Palin's critics say that shows she used her office to settle family affairs.
"When you're the governor, you leave your household hat at home and you become governor," said state Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican who has frequently clashed with Palin.
McCain spokesman Taylor Griffin, who distributed the campaign's report, said it was written by the McCain-Palin campaign staff and based on public filings and Todd Palin's affidavit.
The report blames former campaign opponent, Andrew Halcro, who has a blog, of conspiring with Wooten to pin Monegan's dismissal on the family's dispute with Wooten. Three days after Monegan was fired, they say, Wooten told his ex-wife, Palin's sister, that: "You guys are going down. Get ready for the show."
Two days after that confrontation, they say, Halcro and Wooten met at a hotel bar in Anchorage for more than three hours — and that evening, Halcro posted the first accusations on his blog that Monegan had been fired because of a vendetta against Wooten by the Palin family.
"It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger after drinks with Trooper Wooten led the legislature to allocate over $100,000 of public money to be spent in what has become a politically driven investigation," the 21-page report concludes.
Although the report describes Wooten as a separate issue, the McCain campaign goes into great detail about the "rogue" trooper and his "long history of unstable and erratic behavior." The campaign describes allegations of violence, including threatening Palin's family and shooting his stepson with a stun gun.
The report also includes allegations that Wooten cheated the workers' compensation system. Todd Palin has said he had numerous conversations with government officials about why Wooten was allowed to stay on the job.
"The Palins make no apologies for wanting to protect their family and wanting to bring attention to the injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge and abusing the workers' compensation system."
But Todd Palin said he never pressured anyone, including his wife.
The McCain campaign says the investigation has become "muddied with innuendo, rumor and partisan politics."
Link

So wait? Her campaign did a check to see if she was unethical? That has to be the LEAST unbiased group who could issue such a report.

Im going to go ahead and believe the bipartisan council, started before she was chosen as the Republican VP.

As an aside, to everyone who says it was a "Liberal plot", remember the council is made up of 4 Democrats and 10 Republicans. Not much hope of some kind of "liberal plot" there.

First, it's a panel not a council and I'd hardly call Halcro unbiased by any definition of the word.
I'll wait for all this to settle out before I decide who I think is right.

Originally Posted by DTop

First, it's a panel not a council and I'd hardly call Halcro unbiased by any definition of the word.
I'll wait for all this to settle out before I decide who I think is right.

Are you sure? Because im fairly certain it was the Alaska Legislative Council who compiled the report.

Edit - And why did Palin at first promise her full support to the investigation, then all of a sudden backed off it the second she was chosen as VP?

Originally Posted by WNxRogue

Are you sure? Because im fairly certain it was the Alaska Legislative Council who compiled the report.

As I understand it the probe was authorised by the Alaskan Legislative Council carried out by an independant investigator and then the Alaskan Legislative Council vote 12-0 to release the report.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...2YOxwD93JJ9I80

Well, the article says:

Monegan said Thursday that he doesn't know what to expect from the legislative panel's own report.

I suppose it doesn't make a hill of beans difference what they call themselves.

Originally Posted by MontyB

As I understand it the probe was authorised by the Alaskan Legislative Council carried out by an independant investigator and then the Alaska Legislative Council vote 12-0 to release the report.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...2YOxwD93JJ9I80

Thanks for the correction.

To me it still seems to be slightly more unbiased then a report by her own campaign.

Edit -

I suppose it doesn't make a hill of beans difference what they call themselves.

Haha, true enough.

Originally Posted by DTop

Well, the article says:
I suppose it doesn't make a hill of beans difference what they call themselves.

Well they seem to think they exist...

http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/g...SLEC&session=2

Well, so what?

McCain spokesman Taylor Griffin, who distributed the campaign's report, said it was written by the McCain-Palin campaign staff

My question is, how can something written by the McCain-Palin campaign staff possibly be unbiased, especially considering that it a month before the election?