Troopergate: Alaska Says Palin Lacks Ethics

[Cambridge]

It’s Oct. 10th and the long awaited report on Troopergate in Alaska is made public. You remember that Sarah and Todd Palin wanted to punish a state policeman for divorcing her sister, and demanded his firing. When the Chief wouldn't go along, they fired him.

The report of the Alaska legislature came down today and it says she violated Alaska’s Ethics in Public Office Act.

Great, Sarah hon…let’s us hear one more time about Obama’s middle name.

[Topic Of Gossip]

Interesting story...

BBC News - "Palin abused power, probe finds"...

Of course Republicans will dismiss the decision as a hatchet job by spiteful Democrats. Whilst if Obama so much as drops a bubble gum wrapper on the pavement without picking it up, then he will have been deemed to have committed the most heinous crime in American history!

Such is life.

[DanMc]

It's been sorted out. She investigated the situation and found herself innocent.

[Lena]

She really is a arrogant egocentric bitch ................

Hope the guy she canned gets millions from the state of Alaska

[LankyYankee]

It's been sorted out. She investigated the situation and found herself innocent.

hahahahahah

[Cambridge]

It’s really an interesting lawsuit, if it came to that. The finding was that the termination of the Commissioner of Public Safety was within the purview of the governor, but that the reasons in this case, one of mixed motives, were in part a violation of the Alaska Ethics Act

Wrongful termination is predicated not only on the legality of the right to terminate, but it must be free of illegality. If even a part of the decision was predicated on a violation of the Alaska Ethics Act, the guy has a colorable case.

[Ivan Diederhoff]

I read an article about the findings last night. To paraphrase, they said Palin abused her authority and breached ethics, but didn't actually break the law. They see the writing on the wall with the election and realize she will be returning to the "Walaskan" red light district (Bristol's bedroom), and they'll need that out.

[Cambridge]

I read an article about the findings last night. To paraphrase, they said Palin abused her authority and breached ethics, but didn't actually break the law. They see the writing on the wall with the election and realize she will be returning to the "Walaskan" red light district (Bristol's bedroom), and they'll need that out.

The principle of wrongful termination is, you can fire an at-will employee for no cause, good cause, but not for bad cause. This focuses attention on what is the motive for the termination. Bad cause is when you terminate someone for supporting a constitutional, statutory or regulatory law or principle.

The motive may also be mixed, meaning a variety of reasons motivated the termination, some legitimate, some wrongful…the “mixed motive” case.

The question of whether you have the authority to terminate is different from the question of whether you exercised that authority according to lawful principles. What the Alaskan investigative findings are saying is that Governor Palin had the authority to fire Monegan, but she did so for bad cause.

Palin had also argued that she fired Monegan for a variety of reasons, but the Alaska investigation said that merely means it is a mixed motive case. If any one of the motives in the mix is for bad cause, then the termination is wrongful.

What the Alaska investigation concluded was that Governor Palin had used her office and power for personal gain, to wit: she had vindictively pursued the termination of a State Trooper who was her ex-brother-in-law. That in itself is a violation of the Ethics in Public Office Act.

However, when it comes to Monegan, while she had the power and authority to fire him, she did so in violation of the Ethics Act and because Monegan was trying to uphold a constitutional, statutory or regulatory law or principle (which, as you point out, is an abuse of that authority). Trooper Wooten had already been investigated and disciplined for the actions on which Governor Palin based her pressures on Monegan to terminate him. To try to inflict more punishment would be double jeopardy and a violation of due process under the Alaska Civil Service Act, which requires that once findings and punishment have been rendered upon a civil servant, the matter is closed. Hence, Monegan stood in the way, effectively enforcing the law.

To terminate a peace officer for trying to enforce constitutional, statutory or regulatory laws or principles is a wrongful termination.

In sum, Palin did not do anything “illegal” in firing Monegan, but she did violate the Alaska Ethics in Office Act and she wrongfully terminated Monegan, thereby creating liability for the State of Alaska in a civil lawsuit. Watch to see if that lawsuit is forthcoming.

[Ivan Diederhoff]

Damn, I really thought the red light/Bristol joke would have gotten 1

[Lena]

Good to see she's been outted , you can count on most doctrinaire, so-called religious right wingers to be hypocrites

[Ivan Diederhoff]

Good to see she's been outted , you can count on most doctrinaire, so-called religious right wingers to be hypocrites

I think Karl Rove has been put in charge of the Bristol Levi thing. Levi, all of a sudden has come forward to tell "his" side of the story. Which is, of course, more of the same old beaten to death lies already told by the GOP ticket. This time, there is an aggressiveness to it.

Levi, has DROPPED OUT of high school, and taken a job at a mining company TO SUPPORT the soon to be wife and child, which was going to receive HELP FROM THE PALIN'S while the kids finished school!

GOP lies and hypocrisy all the way. They are cutting the kids loose for torpedoing the campaign from the gate.

[Cambridge]

Good to see she's been outted , you can count on most doctrinaire, so-called religious right wingers to be hypocrites

I think Karl Rove has been put in charge of the Bristol Levi thing. Levi, all of a sudden has come forward to tell "his" side of the story. Which is, of course, more of the same old beaten to death lies already told by the GOP ticket. This time, there is an aggressiveness to it.

Levi, has DROPPED OUT of high school, and taken a job at a mining company TO SUPPORT the soon to be wife and child, which was going to receive HELP FROM THE PALIN'S while the kids finished school!

GOP lies and hypocrisy all the way. They are cutting the kids loose for torpedoing the campaign from the gate.

Not to worry. They'll be on welfare within four months.

[Ivan Diederhoff]

Good to see she's been outted , you can count on most doctrinaire, so-called religious right wingers to be hypocrites

I think Karl Rove has been put in charge of the Bristol Levi thing. Levi, all of a sudden has come forward to tell "his" side of the story. Which is, of course, more of the same old beaten to death lies already told by the GOP ticket. This time, there is an aggressiveness to it.

Levi, has DROPPED OUT of high school, and taken a job at a mining company TO SUPPORT the soon to be wife and child, which was going to receive HELP FROM THE PALIN'S while the kids finished school!

GOP lies and hypocrisy all the way. They are cutting the kids loose for torpedoing the campaign from the gate.

Not to worry. They'll be on welfare within four months.

I don't want my tax dollars supporting these do nothing slackers. All they do is take, take, take. The are chronic social parasites, and I should not have to pay for them to live. I shouldn't have bothered getting an education, and working my way up in my company. I could just hang around for the bottom to fall out of everything, and go on welfare, that the neocons have historically attempted to eradicate as it might help a fellow human down on their luck, and sponge off the system and squeeze out b***** children.

Did I sound like Fred on that? I was really going for that "melting down, and going through life with blinders on my eyes, concrete for brains, and S*** stuffed in my ears.

[Cambridge]

Nah, you’re within your rights. See, rednecks are trailer-park types, who, because of their religion or their social values (racism), will vote for the socialist republicans. They are the dumbed down voters that the socialist republicans always manipulate and then laugh at (recall the story about a year ago about how the Bush administration was manipulating the evangelical religious right, while giving nothing back).

Sarah Palin is a billboard that McCain is putting up to attract these people. She’s being used, although she cannot personally lose in this situation. She will replace Senator Stevens just as soon as he is sent to prison. But honestly…she really is a redneck. Husband with DUI’s, hiding her own pregnancy, a daughter bringing in an unwanted child. This is everything you would see in rural Alabama. These are people who will be at the nipple of the social welfare breast quick as a blink.

As an aside, you will recall that the McCain campaign accused the Alaska legislature of bias in the investigation of the Troopergate affair, despite the fact that the committee in charge was 10 republicans and 4 democrats…and they argued that the investigation should be in the hands of the Alaska Personnel Board…where, incidentally, Governor Palin has absolute power. Well, the Personnel Board has just voted to give the investigation to an outside investigator, who has said he will subpoena Sarah and her husband, the drunken Todd. Stay tuned.

[Ivan Diederhoff]

Ahh, S***. I'll have to work on a good Fred75 styled rant, that is actually funny, but as far off the mark as his reality!