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Todd Palin Waged Campaign To Get Trooper Fired
Todd Palin spoke to over a dozen state officials, both before and after his wife became governor, in his effort to get state trooper Mike Wooten fired. But he says he never pressured Walt Monegan to remove Wooten.
That's what Todd Palin told independent investigator Steve Branchflower, according to a sworn affidavit released to reporters by the McCain campaign and Palins' lawyer.
In his statement, Todd Palin made clear that he carried a grudge against Wooten, a state trooper who was embroiled in a family dispute with the Palins, during and after a messy divorce from Sarah Palin's sister.
"I had hundreds of conversations and communications about Trooper Wooten over the last several years with my family, with friends, with colleagues, and with just about everyone I could -- including government officials," Palin said.
"I talked about Wooten so much over the years that my wife told me to stop talking about it with her."
But he also said: "My concerns ... were not why Monegan was reassigned," adding that to the best of his knowledge, Monegan, the state's former public safety commissioner, incurred the governor's displeasure because of "budget issues and failure to fill trooper vacancies."
The move by the Palin camp to release the affidavit, in advance of the legislative hearing tomorrow at which Branchflower is scheduled to unveil his finished report, appears to have raised some eyebrows.
State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican but frequent Palin critic, told ABCNews.com: "The McCain campaign should not be releasing these documents."
The state's Supreme Court is scheduled to rule today on a GOP suit to quash the investigation, after a lower court threw out the effort last week.
Josh
Zachary
So let me get this straight. He had "hundreds" of communications trying to get Wooten fired with "just about everyone [he] could -- including government officials". Everyone, that is, with the single exception of Walt Monegan? Sure. That's believable.
October 9, 2008 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Criminal conspiracies always attempt to SNAFU legal proceedings. The second-to-last dude that the polar bear killer slept with is just another dumb ass criminal with a little access to power. Why he is willing to take one in the shorts for the gAHl that hung the horns on him is simple . . . He thinks that the lack of offical governmental paycheck makes him immune.
October 9, 2008 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Personally, I read McCain's campaign release of Todd Palin's testimony as a sign that they are trying to control the media narrative prior to the official release by the assigned investigator Mr. Branchflower. I am unsure whether they are worried about the conlclusion of his findings or rather they already know the result and wnat to get ahead on the story. whatever the case may be, I tend to lean towards the former because it has been fairly obvious that Mrs Palin is really unsure why Monegan was let go. She has changed her story numerous times, she has changed her attitude toward the inquiry and now the stall tactics have not been totally successful at supressing the entire investigation.
We can all thank the good citizens of Alaska who have been vocally mystified as their Governors about face in regards to this issue and her pledge of "transparency" prior to taking her oath of office.
Obama 08'
October 9, 2008 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
A couple of high ranking republican Legislators in Alaska are saying the facts in the investigation were to be confidential and not released to the public before the committee had the chance to review the work Branchflower presents them. McCain personally made it political by releasing Toddy-boy's statements without getting approval.
IMO, McCain's action gives his campaign no moral grounds to complain the decision by the committee is biased in any way, shape, or form.
October 9, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aha, what do you want to bet the real crux of the dispute between Wooten and the Palins has something to do with the rumors of the older Palin kids' drug use:
"....."We had a lot of conversations about a guy who threatened my family and verbally assaulted my daughter. We talked about my concerns. We talked about Wooten possibly pulling over one of my kids to frame them, like throwing a bag of dope in the back seat just to frame a Palin," he said of his conversations with one Palin aide...."
October 9, 2008 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, it may be that ALL Palin misdeeds can be directly attributed to Wooten. Before it's all over, he might be identified as the father of the baby.
October 9, 2008 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
A local TV station and our cable company are at war and my favoite soaps are off the air so I am following this closely. I only hope the lady on CNN finds that missing Tot quick so she can cover this case when it gets to court.
To update all of you, the Alaska press has yet to uncover documents showing one of Wooten's ex wives or mistresses may have been a witch and pout a hex on the Palins.
October 9, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why do I get the impression Todd and Sara are red-necked hicks that are gaming the system for their personal pleasure and profit?
October 9, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
>>"....."We had a lot of conversations about a guy who threatened my family and verbally assaulted my daughter. We talked about my concerns. We talked about Wooten possibly pulling over one of my kids to frame them, like throwing a bag of dope in the back seat just to frame a Palin," he said of his conversations with one Palin aide...."
It will be OK if that ever happened. As I understand it, the Palin children have an UNCLE that's a state trooper in Alaska. I'm sure their uncle will take care of his FAMILY.
>>We had a lot of conversations about a guy who threatened my family.
October 9, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
So let me get this right. There's this guy who's been a longtime member of an Alaska secessionist organization. He holds no clearances of any kind, and he has neither any position with the state government nor any responsibility of trust to it. Yet he is apparently privy to confidential state personnel records and pre-decisional deliberations to the extent that he can speak authoritatively under oath about the reasons (or non-reasons) that someone was fired, resigned or otherwise disappeared from his job. In a case where he has a personal and possibly financial interest in the outcome.
Gosh.
October 9, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
This story reminds me more and more of those ignorant, in-bred "hillbillies", the Hatfields and McCoys fued......
First dude is a first-class asshole.....
October 9, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cindy McCain calls Obama's the "dirtiest campain in history".
Obama may have bought a $3 million projector.
But John McCain is married to a $100 million projector.
Now...
Let us reflect on the gift that Sarah Palin has given us all:
http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/maybe-i-aint-no-genius-but-is-sure-is-smartern-her/
October 9, 2008 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
One of the real lows in Todd's affadavit is bitching about Wooten dropping his kids off at school while on the state's payroll. What a piece of work Todd Palin is.
October 10, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink