John McCain

McCain Press Aide Calls Alaska Reporter At Home To Complain About Unfavorable Coverage

Zachary Roth | September 18, 2008, 6:03PM

Here's a little more evidence that the McCain-Palin campaign is playing the hardest of hardball on Trooper-Gate -- especially in regard to press relations.

Jason Moore, a reporter with Anchorage-based KTUU-TV, just confirmed to TPMmuckraker that Megan Stapleton, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign in Alaska, called his home to complain about one of Moore's news reports, and accused Moore of calling Stapleton and another McCain staffer liars.

Moore's report looked at the McCain-Palin campaign's "Truth Squad," an aggressive Alaska-based public relations campaign that's being led by Stapleton and former federal prosecutor Ed O'Callaghan and is designed to help thwart the Trooper-Gate investigation.

Moore reported that the Truth Squad was not always entirely truthful itself. He noted that Stapleton had said in a Friday press conference that it was Hollis French, the Democrat overseeing the investigation, who had pulled one name, that of former Palin chief of staff Mike Tibbles, off the list of witnesses to receive subpoenas. Stapleton had pointed to this as an inappropriate political maneuver by French.

But in fact, Moore reported, it was GOP Rep. Jay Ramras, a McCain supporter, who took Tibbles' name off the list. Moore quoted Ramras saying so.

Stapleton and O'Callaghan have another "Truth Squad" press conference scheduled for 7pm EST tonight.

Moore told TPMmuckraker that he and Stapleton -- who was a press aide to Palin before eventually moving over to the McCain campaign -- used to work together as co-anchors on KTUU. "We're friends," he said.

When Stapleton called his home, said Moore, she reached Moore's wife, and immediately told her: "Your husband just called two Hoyas liars." Stapleton, O'Callaghan, and Moore's wife all attended Georgetown University, whose mascot is the Hoyas.

Moore added that Stapleton had also called the news director of KTUU to complain.

Asked whether he and Stapleton really remained friends, Moore allowed: "It hasn't been too friendly this week."

Trooper-Gate

Official at Center of Trooper Gate: Sarah Palin Lied to ABC

Kate Klonick | September 15, 2008, 2:33PM

Former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, whose firing is at the center of Trooper-Gate, says the Sarah Palin lied in her interview with ABC when she told Charlie Gibson that she dismissed Monegan based on poor job performance and said she "never pressured him to hire or fire anybody."

"She's not telling the truth when she told ABC neither she nor her husband pressured me to fire Trooper Wooten," Monegan told ABCNews.com, "And she's not telling the truth to the media about her reasons for firing me."

According to Monegan, he met with Todd Palin in December of 2006, just two months after Palin had been elected to office.

From ABCNews.com:

"I was called to her Anchorage formal Governor's office to talk with Todd Palin about an issue that was a private family matter," recounted Monegan. Todd became "upset," Monegan recalled, when told the allegations had already been investigated and the case would not be re-opened.

"When Sarah later called to tell me the same thing, I thought to myself, 'I may not be long for this job.'" But, Monegan said, he stood by his position. "I held the public trust. As Chief, I was responsible."

Sarah Palin

McCain Ad Cites Discredited Claim That Dems Sent Team to Dig Up Palin Dirt

Zachary Roth | September 10, 2008, 12:37PM

Yesterday, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal reported that "Democrats have airdropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers into Anchorage, the state capital Juneau and Mrs. Palin's hometown of Wasilla to dig into her record and background."

The story was quickly seized on by Republicans eager to portray a Democratic vendetta against Palin. Sean Hannity repeated it on Fox last night. And now the McCain campaign has released an ad that cites Fund's report, and depicts the Democratic investigators as wolves on the prowl.

There's only one problem: It appears not to be true. Within hours, the DNC's research director, Mark Gehrke, had issued a blanket denial, to The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, who reported: "'Not a single person from DC or Chicago has traveled to Alaska to do research,' [Gehrke] writes. Not a single Obama staffer, not a DNC staffer, not a hired gun, he says." Gehrke repeated that denial to TPM's Election Central just now.

And today, a DNC spokesman sent the following statement to TPMmuckraker: "Like most of what the McCain has been based on lately - this is another lie. A dishonorable and dishonest campaign spreading another lie."

The Obama campaign referred TPMmuckraker to Gehrke's denial. In addition, the chair of the Alaska Democratic party, Mike Coumbe, who has been in close touch with the national party since Palin was named to the GOP ticket, told TPMmuckraker that he has received no information from the national party or the Obama campaign that would support Fund's claim. That was echoed by another top Alaska Democratic Party official, Kay Brown, as well as other leading Democrats in the state.

Fund did not immediately respond to a call and email from TPMmuckraker requesting comment.

Late update: Fund tells TPMmuckraker that he stands by his story -- though he could not be specific about which Democrats he was referring to -- and will have additional information later today.

Sarah Palin

Palin As Reformer? Not Quite...

Kate Klonick and Zachary Roth | September 3, 2008, 8:53PM

As we get ready for the big Sarah Palin speech tonight, it's worth taking a moment to step back from the charges of negligent vetting and media sexism, to focus on what really should be the heart of the issue.

The McCain campaign has presented Palin as a squeaky-clean reformer, who took on corruption in Alaska, and will help to bring a new brand of politics to Washington. But a flurry of reports over the last few days significantly undercut that image.

To be sure, Palin's claims to be a reformer aren't toally without merit. Before becoming governor, she went after the state GOP chair, Randy Ruedrich, for doing work for the party on public time and working closely with a company he was supposed to be regulating. She also filed a formal complaint against Attorney General Gregg Renkes for having investments in an energy company that stood to benefit from a state trade deal. Both Ruedrich and Renkes ultimately resigned their posts, and Ruedrich paid a $12,000 fine.

But let's look at the other side of the ledger. Both as mayor of Wasilla and as governor, Palin has aggressively sought federal earmarks, and has a friendlier relationship with indicted GOP senator Ted Stevens than one would expect for a good-government crusader. She has fired employees who she sees as disloyal. And, in a move reminiscent of the Bush-Cheney White House, she has stonewalled legitimate efforts by the legislature to uncover the truth in the Trooper-Gate affair.

Here's a sampling of reports that complicate Palin's reformist credentials:

• Last year, Palin requested more earmarks per person than any other state -- including some that were criticized by McCain himself.

• Even as mayor of Wasilla, Palin's pursuit of earmarks was aggressive. She oversaw the hiring of a Washington lobbyist -- who, as we reported yesterday, had ties to Jack Abramoff -- to go after federal pork.

• And though Palin touted her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" just last week in her debut speech, she initially supported the project during her run for governor. It was only after the bridge became notorious as an example of pork barrel spending that she changed her position.
• In her run for governor, Palin was endorsed by now-indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. Video of the endorsement has been removed from her government website, but the two appeared together just two months ago at a press conference on energy. The friendly relationship between the embattled senator, who is accused of lying about gifts he recieved from an oil contractor, and the supposedly maverick governor is at odds with Palin's claim to dismantling the "old boys club" of Alaska government.

• As Wasilla mayor, Palin reportedly fired the police chief and attempted to fire the librarian, because she did not feel that she had their "full support in [her] efforts to govern the city of Wasilla." Former city officials allege that the attempts to remove the librarian were a result of her her refusal to censor books at Palin's request.
• Palin has been at the center of the Trooper-Gate scandal that alleges misuse of her gubernatorial power. The affair erupted in July when Palin fired the Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan later claimed his firing was a result of his refusal to fire Palin's former brother-in-law and trooper Mike Wooten. Palin denied that she, her husband or her staff ever pressured Monegan, a statement she later had to retract when recorded phone calls revealed one of her aides, Frank Bailey, had called a troopers office pushing for Wooten's removal.
• Tonight, the Washington Post published emails from Palin to Monegan in which she appeared to complain that Wooten was still employed, apparently undercutting her claim that she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of the security of her family.
• As a result of the Trooper-Gate allegations, an independent investigator has been appointed by the state legislature. In recent days, Palin has appeared to stonewall the probe. Her lawyer argued in a complaint filed last night that she wold not be made available for her deposition unless the probe were handed over to the state personnel board, whose members are appointed by the governor. Bailey, who had been suspended by Palin with pay for his actions, today backed out of his deposition.
• In a separate civil suit related to Wooten, Palin has claimed executive privilege on over a thousand emails between her and her staff, including Bailey.
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Topics: Alaska, Bridge To Nowhere, John McCain, Palin's Hiring, Palin's Press, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Ted Stevens, Trooper-Gate