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Release Of Trooper-Gate Report Hangs On GOP Cooperation
So today's the day for Steve Branchflower to release his report into Trooper-Gate to the Alaska legislative council.
But it's worth pointing out that, thanks to GOP resistance, Branchflower's findings may not be made public today.
The legislative council will meet in private at 1pm EST to receive a briefing from Branchflower on his findings. The council will then vote on whether to make the 253-page report public. The legislators, who have already picked up copies of the report, have signed confidentiality agreements promising not to show anyone, including their staff, unless authorized to do so by a vote of the council.
It's by no means clear which way that vote will go. The council comprises 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats. It had voted unanimously in July to launch the investigation, but since Governor Palin was named as John McCain's running mate, many Republican members of the legislature have fallen into line behind the McCain camp's effort to quash the probe. Last month, Rep. John Coghill, a Republican from North Pole who is on the council, charged that the investigation had been inappropriately politicized and called for the removal of Sen. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat running the probe. And shortly after, six GOP legislators filed suit to halt the investigation entirely. (The suit was dismissed yesterday by the state Supreme Court.)
The Anchorage Daily News also reports:
Branchflower also produced a separate volume, roughly twice as large as his report, that's expected to remain confidential because it contains exhibits with personnel information that cannot legally be released, according to legislative council staff.
Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, tried to preemptively discredit the report, telling the ADN that it won't be comprehensive because Branchflower didn't interview Palin or her chief of staff, Mike Tibbles.
"They didn't even try to interview the governor. You want to know why she reassigned Monegan, it would be nice to talk to her. They didn't even try," Van Flein said. "It's a report that's going to be half-done at best. And anything that's half-done will likely be half-baked."
In response, Hollis French told the paper that he wrote a letter to Van Flein last month asking to set up the interview.
In addition, the New York Times has new details on the pressure that was brought by Palin's office on Walt Monegan in regard to Mike Wooten, the trooper who was embroiled in a bitter family dispute with the Palins.
It reports:
In all, the commissioner and his aides were contacted about Trooper Wooten three dozen times over 19 months by the governor, her husband and seven administration officials, interviews and documents show.
In one of those instances, Monegan received a call from an aide to Palin, who was concerned that Wooten was assigned to work at a state fair the governor planned to attend. Wooten, says the paper, "had indeed volunteered for duty at the fairgrounds -- in full costume as "Safety Bear," the troopers' child-friendly mascot."
So what happens if they block the release? How could this _possibly_ be a good idea politically? One would think they'd only block the release if there was something pretty damaging in there. Even if it saves McPalin a little face now, as soon as it comes out the folks who blocked it's release look like co conspirators. Worse yet if McPalin wins and the report has stuff so odious as to be disqualifying for Palin, those who held it back look like treasonous manipulators of the democratic system right?
I need coffee and quaaludes... BRB
October 10, 2008 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
They'll just scream "We're only burying this Democrat-driven, partisan lie-fest of a hate-mongered report"
IOW, they'll claim to hide it by claiming it's unfair and untrue.
October 10, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
10 repugs vs. four democrats makes it a partisian witch hunt, eh? Is there anyway we can make Alaska a territory again?
October 10, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
if AIG had their way...
October 10, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
ha!
rather: if AIP had their way...
October 10, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I don't know about that, but I do hear there are a few folks up there who share your regret at Alaska having become as State. ;-)
October 10, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
To hell with that, let's just give Alaska the hell back to RUSSIA!!
Why not, Palin's husband hates america, anyway...he was part of that Alaska Independence Party....hey....go on Alaska...LEAVE...promise we won't miss ya...or your bitch of a governor, either!!
October 10, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, AIP hates America, Palin supports AIP, and Palin is trying to split and weaken America. Quite consistent, really.
October 10, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, no, no -- don't give it back, SELL it back. (Maybe not so easy to do right now, but...) Sell it back furnished, as is.
How much would a state go for these days?
October 10, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whatever happened to Open and Transparent government?
Why would they spend over $100,000 to do the investigation if they won't release what it contains? INSANITY!
October 10, 2008 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well obviously Wooten was hiding his Taser inside his safety bear costume. He was either threatening the Governor or looking for out of season moose.
October 10, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
How apropos of this crazy election season that we now have "Safety Bear" as a bit player in the campaign saga.
October 10, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I fully expect the repubs to block this. It's the way they always operate. No matter what evil one of their own does. They will ALWAYS circle the wagons around them. Example: the Bush years.
October 10, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Makes you wonder what the report really contains, though a sweeping exoneration (ala Palin's own team report) seems pretty unlikely. After months of being blasted with this story, it would seem we all know the contours pretty well. But the McCain campaign is awfully squirelly about its contents finding its way to a broader audience.
Stifling the report will look like what it is.
October 10, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a lose/lose scenario. If they don't release it, they will be called out on it and it will look worse for the Goppers. If they do release it McPaliban are toast.
Not that they aren't already.
October 10, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
boxed in - as usual
October 10, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
This does go to the issue of judgment, which Palin has been harping about in regards to Obama.
If Palin had simply APOLOGIZED for any PERCEIVED abuse of office back in June or July all of this goes away. She didn't have to admit to anything, merely say she was sorry that someone might have gotten the wrong idea. End of story.
But she didn't do that. And now this is a huge waste of taxpayer money and time better spent on doing other mavericky stuff. So she's as stubborn as Dubya. After the state paid big bucks to groom her for national prominence she can't issue a simple apology and spare everyone this?
October 10, 2008 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's got to be SOMETHING in the report that violates national security. Freedom of information doesn't stand a chance when 'national security' rears its ugly head.
Afterall, we can't have anything threaten the turn-over of the imperial presidency from Bush/Cheney to McCain/Palin.
October 10, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the report exonerates Palin, they would be screaming to make it public. If they keep it buried, I think everyone will know what to infer from it!
October 10, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't she, um, REFUSE TO TESTIFY?!?!
That one comment tells me that the contents of the report are EXTREMELY damaging.
October 10, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain/Palin are instigating supporters to yell "terrorist", "kill him" referring to Obama.
That's not a matter of national security.
But the release of this report on Palin? That's a matter of national security?
October 10, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, I think you're getting it. Think nutty and you're there.
October 10, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I understand the presumption of innocence, but if the report exonerates SarDickah ChePaliney, they will release it immediately.
That Palin's lawyer is now trying to play the "but but but they didn't even try to talk with Sarah..." card is an indication that the report doesn't paint the governor or the First Dud in the best light.
Time will tell! But I had my money on Palin being off the ticket by 9/28 so what do I know?
PEACE
October 10, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds like it may be time for someone on the legislative counsel to execute a leak in the public-interest.
October 10, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heh, I think as well that's the only way anyone is going to know what's in there.
As everyone's saying, unless there's something incriminating in there, there's no reason to keep it secret.
If they keep it secret, it only harms the US. We have to vote without the knowledge. We know the Republicans don't like information (reality has a well known liberal bias ;) but this is so blatant.
October 10, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Keep in mind, the McCain political machine is virtually running the governor's office. And with a bunch of backwater, rinky-dink legislators, it's quite easy to paint pictures of golden rainbows in their future with choice assignments to Washington in a Palin-McCain administration if they toe the line and sit on the report until after the election is over. Personal gain trumps public service - the republican motto.
October 10, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seeing as the polls indicate there will not be a McCain/Palin administration, maybe that bribe won't be so effective.
October 10, 2008 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can you say: "PENTAGON PAPERS"?
Suitcases full of cash must be dispatched immediately to out-of-state reporters in AK, for the purpose of dangling in front of corrupt and stupid Alaskan authorities (the preceding from The Department Of Redundancy Dept.).
I want to see that puppy printed in full, in next week's Newsweek!
Make no mistake: without such guerilla tactics, the R's in AK WILL stonewall this report! And "bad publicity" (finding out that they're stonewalling it) does not trump a "smoking gun" (the actual report)!
October 10, 2008 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Remember how fast they got Ken Starr's report out?
October 10, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, but remember: that report was always going to come out anyway. There were no "elves", working overtime on deep-sixing it. Any "elves" involved were the ones leaking it to the MSM, with the full blessing and help of its authors. And they were probably the same people.
October 10, 2008 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
What other options are there to get this out in public? Cant we file a freedom of information act? That would probably push it after the election which is probably what they are hoping for....
October 10, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
A Leak.
I don't think anyone has any doubt that the report, along with the "separate volume", will find their way into the hands of the press. Someone up there will have an axe to grind with Palin and start leaking all or some of it to the media (or even bloggers).
John
October 10, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
$$$ talks. And Ms. Palin has plenty of enemies up north. Regardless of the Council vote, I'm thinking we'll know what that report says by Monday.
October 10, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't care about this any more as regards Nov. 4- we're going to win in a landslide. The importance of this now is to prevent any future national career for Palin. Stonewalling will only make it worse for her in Alaska in the long run. And impeachment or even a failed re-election bid (and I suspect Alaskans are already starting to tire of her act- they don't like getting pushed around by folks from the lower 48) will terminate her political career. Thank goodness.
She can only choose fast-acting or slow-acting political poison at this point. Doesn't matter in the great scheme of things.
October 10, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe the Senate needs to haul McCain's ass in front of an Ethics Committee and question his campaign's role in interfering in state government of Alaska and the hatred he encouraged at his political rallies. There's no place in America for such actions, especially from a standing US Senator!McCain needs to be held accountable!
October 10, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Only positive exit strategy for this is if the report is considered to exonerate Palin. If its extremely negative, I expect that the members of the Paliban on the committee will declare that it is inappropriate to release prior to the election.
http://palincounter.blogspot.com/
October 10, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
To see real videos of real women discussing their reactions to Sarah Palin & the misuse of gender issues in this year's presidential race, please take a look at the following blog (& forward to all your friends, family & open-minded folk at large):
www.speakoutonpalin.blogspot.com
October 10, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's no need for this report. The McCain-Palin campaign already investigated this and found her completely innocent of any wrongdoing. Boy, was she relieved!
October 10, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
This might be a blessing, if the 10 Republicans block this report, then people are going to ask what are they hideing, just like George Bush, is this what you want for another 4 yrs. Now that we have found out that the Bush White House has been spying on our own people and the military. The McCain camp lose any way this come down,and it's their own fault, they don't know what to do,so they are just all over the place, is this what the country need, someone who is in the dark, or someone(Sen. Obama) who take problems head on.
October 10, 2008 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
If they don't release the report, she's guilty as hell. Believe me, if she were exonerated, it would be headline news, PALIN EXXON ERATED, PALIN INNOCENT, PALIN HARDLY DID ANYTHING WRONG. PALIN GIVES HER EXXON BROTHER IN LAW A BIG HUG....
It's only a damaging report that would be kept hidden to protect the guilty....palin...and her thug husband mr. palin.
October 10, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not conversant with Alaska's open-records laws, but I hope that if the committee decides not to release the report someone will sue to have it released. (For those who don't know, which is probably no one who reads this site regularly, the federal Freedom of Information Act doesn't apply to state records.)
Quasi-relatedly, someone sued last week for copies of Palin's e-mails. Not sure what the status of the suit is.
October 10, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
re: Anchorage Daily News today:
Lawsuit over Palin's e-mails gets under way today
A lawsuit aimed at forcing Gov. Sarah Palin to preserve any private e-mails she wrote involving state business hits the courtroom today.
October 10, 2008 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
she could still do SNL, as Tina says she cant wait to stop doing her!
October 10, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
as I understand the meeting is taking place right now as we chat. We shall soon know the truth. Which includes being denied of it by the committee.
October 10, 2008 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
They even drew the blinds so no one on the outside could see any reactions from the legislators in the meeting.
October 10, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think some of you might be missing something here. McCain/Palin already know the report is likely damaging and doesn't exonerate her, because otherwise there's no reason to release the results of their "internal investigation". Think about it - why bother to muddy the waters by releasing their "internal investigation" if they think the report will exonerate them anyway? Obviously there's something there that could be damaging and they wanted to beat it into the news cycle with their own report.
However, I think they might have hung themselves with it now. All the news generated by the release of the "internal investigation" has sparked more interest in the actual report, so if it's suppressed now it will raise more red flags with people.
October 10, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah nice, optimism.
It seems John McCain is in a bog these days. Each way he turns, he sinks deeper, deeper. Why, it's almost as if Mother Earth or your creator god or whatever is soundly rejecting him.
October 10, 2008 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
That and her attorney stating the legislative report is incomplete because Palin herself was not interviewed. It sounds like they're getting ready to start an avalanche of deceptive, counter arguments based on their knowledge of how their operatives answered questions. Which tells me they are aware of the direction the investigation was heading. To be expected when government employees are hired strictly for their loyalty to the governor and not the state.
October 10, 2008 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Savannah Guthrie reporting on MSNBC that the AK Legislative Committe has the 8 votes required to release the Troopergate report." Mudflats blog
October 10, 2008 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can you provide the url?
October 10, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
It must be in a comment at mudflats. But AKmuckraker has not reported it.
Here's the url: http://mudflats.wordpress.com/
October 10, 2008 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is just silliness. What a terrible scenario for Sarah. She loses the Vice Presidency, this scandal breaks, she goes back to Alaska and doesn't get reelected. Career ended.
If the silly Repubs had just nominated Ron Paul none of this would have happened: http://tinyurl.com/66o79q
October 10, 2008 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republican from North Pole who is on the council, charged that the investigation had been inappropriately politicized and called for the removal of Sen. Hollis French...
...and added that sen. french had clearly been more naughty than nice and would receive no presents at the end of q4...
October 10, 2008 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain and Palin are equally hosed because this is pushing their campaign off message (if they actually have one) and they have to talk about this. Their only silver lining is that it hits on a Friday, so this news won't be big headlines on Monday. (Maybe the deal will be that it will be released on Saturday in an effort to bury it)
October 10, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I find a striking Orwellian quality to this level of censor....
All this reminds me of a frightening book I've recently read, a sequel to 1984 that takes place just six years from now, called America 2014: An Orwellianesque story, I swear! My favorite are the altered Bill of Rights. Seriously check em out at Bush1984.com. It so close to reality It makes me fear our "democracy" is turning into this book.....
October 10, 2008 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gov Vendetta, Inc.
October 10, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't worry. If they vote to block the release, someone will leak the contents anyway.
October 10, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
If they block it, they look like the political hacks that they are, and it will be leaked in a week anyway.
October 10, 2008 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Won't this thing just leak out anyway??
October 10, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
THIS JUST IN:
According to David Corn, speaking on MSNBC, McCain "volunteers" have descended on the AK legislature, wearing KANGAROO COSTUMES and creating a ruckus that the lege is holding a "kangaroo" court (get it?) Trying to shut down the procedings.
And yes, he did reference the Brooks Brothers Riot of 2000.
Lovely. We need the report.
October 10, 2008 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I heard that Ma Palin shot Buddy the Safety Bear !
October 10, 2008 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look, it is as simple as this: The taxpayers of Alaskans are paying the salaries of the people doing the investigation, it is