Alaska Lawmakers Vote to Subpoena Todd Palin

Alaska Lawmakers Vote to Subpoena Todd Palin
By SERGE F. KOVALESKI NY Times Online
Published: September 12, 2008

ANCHORAGE — Alaska lawmakers voted Friday to issue a subpoena to Todd Palin, the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin, in an escalation of the inquiry into whether Ms. Palin improperly tried to have her former brother-in-law dismissed from his job as a state trooper.

The subpoena was one of 14 approved by the Judiciary Committee of the State Senate in a vote of 3 to 2 in a joint hearing with the House Judiciary Committee, which served in an advisory role during the proceeding. The subpoenas were requested by the legislative investigator conducting the inquiry, Stephen E. Branchflower, a former Anchorage prosecutor who now lives in South Carolina.

The vote set the stage for a possible legal clash between the Legislature and the Palin administration, which threatened this week to go to court to quash any subpoenas. Ms. Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, has hired a lawyer, who did not return calls seeking comment.

“It seems that we are heading for a branch-against-branch smack-down,” said Senator Gene Therriault, a Republican who voted against approving the subpoenas and instead advocated that the investigation be handled by the state Personnel Board. “This is a nuclear route that should be avoided at all costs.”

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Alaska Lawmakers Vote to Subpoena Todd Palin