Probe Finds Palin Abused Power in Case of Trooper

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Troopergate Hounds Palin

The soon-to-be released report is expected to show Todd Palin's involvement in the dismissal of an Alaska official, reports John Blackstone. Bob Schieffer discusses the probe's likely effect.

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Branchflower also dismissed the Palins' assertions that they were afraid of Wooten because of threats they said he made. "Such claims of fear were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins' real motivation: to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family related reasons," he wrote. Palin said Wooten made death threats against her father.

Branchflower's report initially had been due at the end of the month, but state Sen. Hollis French (D), who managed the investigation, said its release was moved to yesterday so it would not come on the eve of the Nov. 4 election.

The McCain-Palin campaign had called Monegan's firing a "straightforward personnel decision" that has become "muddied with innuendo, rumor and partisan politics."

Monegan said yesterday that the report made him feel "relieved a little bit that my gut feeling of why I was fired was to some degree validated."

The legislative committee unanimously began the investigation in July. Palin had promised to cooperate, but after becoming McCain's running mate, she changed course, saying the inquiry was politically tainted. She declined to answer Branchflower's questions, and she started a parallel investigation before the state personnel board, which she appoints. Republican lawmakers sued to stop the probe, but state courts rejected the request.

The 14-member Joint Legislative Council began meeting behind closed doors around 9:20 a.m. yesterday, reviewing the document -- which included transcripts of interviews with Monegan and others -- to determine whether they would vote to release it to the public.

Branchflower had identified more than 200 pages that could be made public, but the investigative findings and supportive documents were said to exceed 1,000 pages. Many of the private documents were personnel records.

Several Palin supporters wore red clown noses and waved balloons at lawmakers, saying "Welcome to the circus" as they arrived for the meeting. And dozens of reporters and camera crews from across the nation camped outside the council meeting for more than five hours waiting for the report's release.

In a separate review, the attorney general, whom Palin appointed, found that half a dozen officials had made about 24 phone calls regarding Wooten. Interviews with figures involved in the dispute and a review of court documents and police internal affairs reports reveal that Palin has been deeply involved in alerting state officials to her family's domestic turmoil.

Todd Palin, in written answers to the investigator, acknowledged that he talked to numerous state officials about the trooper, saying: "Wooten was a threat to our family. He was dishonest. He was not a good man." Todd Palin said that his intense interest was too much for the governor. "At some point Sarah told me to 'drop it' and stop talking about the issue and I discussed it with her much less often," he said.

Sarah Palin wrote e-mails that harshly criticized Alaska state troopers for not firing Wooten and ridiculed an internal affairs investigation of his conduct.

Monegan showed copies of the e-mails to The Washington Post and turned them over to investigators to support his contention that he was dismissed for not firing Wooten.

"This trooper is still out on the street, in fact he's been promoted," said a Feb. 7, 2007, e-mail sent from Palin's personal Yahoo account and written to give Monegan permission to speak on a violent-crime bill before the state legislature.

"It was a joke, the whole year long 'investigation' of him," the e-mail said. "This is the same trooper who's out there today telling people the new administration is going to destroy the trooper organization, and that he'd 'never work for that b****, Palin.' "

The McCain campaign issued a 21-page analysis, along with dozens of e-mails, to support its argument that poor job performance justified Monegan's firing.

The Republican report said the Palins had "good reason" to raise concerns about Wooten because he has a "long history of unstable and erratic behavior, including drinking beer in his squad car, killing moose illegally, using a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson and threatening to kill a member of the Palin family," as well as "claims of being above the law due to his trooper status."

John Cyr, the head of the union that represents the state troopers, called the campaign's report about Wooten "patently ridiculous." He added: "I would say a violation of the public trust strikes me as a relatively serious offense for a sitting governor, especially one who ran on truth, trust and transparency."

Wooten, in an interview with The Post last month, contradicted Palin's assertion that he once threatened her father during an argument with Palin's sister.