Palin and Troopergate: A Primer

Palin and Troopergate: A Primer
Thursday, Sep. 11, 2008 By NATHAN THORNBURGH
TIME Magazine

On July 11, 2008, Walt Monegan, the public safety commissioner (or top cop) for the state of Alaska, was fired. On the face of it, there was nothing wrong with that. He was a Palin appointee, and she had the right to fire him. But at first with prodding from his union, and then on his own, Monegan began telling people about the persistent pressure he claimed to have felt, in the months leading up to his dismissal, from the governor, her staff and her husband to get rid of a state trooper named Mike Wooten. Wooten happened to be Palin's former brother-in-law and had been involved in a bitter divorce and custody dispute with Sarah Palin's younger sister Molly McCann since 2005.

Monegan's refusal to remove Wooten was, he said, part of what led to his firing. If Monegan's accusations are true, it would be a serious abuse of the power of the governor — not to mention a major blow to her image as a good-government reformer — suggesting that she used her office and the office of many of the state's top functionaries to settle an old family score. On Friday, the retired Alaska prosecutor investigating whether Palin abused the power of her office in the matter asked state lawmakers for the power to subpoena 13 witnesses and the phone records of a key Palin aide. The request is expected to be granted...

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Palin and Troopergate: A Primer