From the Washington Post’s Investigation Unit:
Exclusive: Chief Fired by Palin Speaks Out
The July firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan by Gov. Sarah Palin, who was announced as John McCain’s running mate on Friday, has unearthed a stream of soap-opera-like details about Palin, her husband, her family and top state appointees. The controversy has also cut against Palin’s reputation for holding an ethical line and standing up to colleagues in the Republican Party over matters of principle.
So who is this guy? Monegan is a 57-year-old former Chief of the Anchorage Police with a superb reputation.
Monegan stated on Friday that
the governor repeatedly brought up the topic of her ex-brother-in-law, Michael Wooten, after Monegan became the state’s commissioner of public safety in December 2006.
In addition, Todd Palin, the Governor’s husband, presented Monegan with information on Wooten. who is involved in a bitter custody battle with Molly Palin, the Governor’s Sister-In-Law.
Monegan also said Sarah Palin sent him e-mails on the subject, but Monegan declined to disclose them, saying he planned to give them to a legislative investigator looking into the matter.
It was the Governor’s initial denial tht she had put any pressure on Monegan in the case that originally raised the issue, and she has now admitted that she has had him contacted on the subject more than 6 times (including one phone call from a Palin administration official to a state police lieutenant which was recorded at the time and has now been released by Palin’s office.)
The Post also stated that:
Todd Palin told a television reporter in Alaska that he did meet with Monegan, but said he was just “informing” Monegan about the issue, not exerting pressure.“She never directly asked me to fire him,” Monegan said.
But he said Todd Palin told him Wooten “shouldn’t be a trooper. I’ve tried to explain to him, you can’t head hunt like this. What you need to do is back off, because if the trooper does make a mistake, and it is a terminable offense, it can look like political interference.
“I think he’s emotionally committed in trying to see that his former brother-in-law is punished.”
Democratic State Senator Hollis French also weighed in to the Post saying that this “undercuts one of the points they are making that she is an ethical reformer.” It is French who is managing the State investigation into Palin’s ethics.
My guess is that McCain, whose preliminary review of Palin’s status, only one previous meeting with her, and overall poor judgment in the selection, given how many really qualified Republican women were available, lives up to the major weakness he has shown all along: He just, as Obama says, doesn’t get it.