Legislative Panel: Palin Abused Authority:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state’s public safety commissioner.
The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn’t the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely was a contributing factor.
The Republican vice presidential nominee has been accused of firing a commissioner to settle a family dispute. Palin supporters have called the investigation politically motivated.
Monegan says he was dismissed as retribution for resisting pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor’s sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.
The panel found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. ”I feel vindicated,” Monegan said. ”It sounds like they’ve validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I’m not totally out in left field.”
Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
Not a big surprise…
Well…so much for McCain “thinking on his feet”! His vetting process was obviously flawed. His decision was made for ALL the wrong reasons…Palin is female (Hillary?), unknown (not much history to badger her, or so he thought), ultra conservative appeasement/pacification, fairly good looking, and easy to mold into a puppet. No MAVERICK! If this is representative of his decision-making ability in a crises, then he has shown to have little ability to choose Cabinet Members, Jurists,or anything near a quick thinking mind.