Sarah Palin

Trooper-Gate: Everything You Need To Know

Zachary Roth | September 11, 2008, 12:14PM

The Sarah Palin Trooper-Gate saga has taken so many twists and turns lately that we decided it was worth taking a step back, to consider what we've learned to date, and what it might all amount to.

As regular readers of TPMmuckraker know, Trooper-Gate centers on allegations that Sarah Palin fired the former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner for his refusal to axe a state trooper who had undergone an ugly divorce from Palin's sister, and who was embroiled in a bitter feud with the Palin family. But as is so often the case when powerful figures are accused of wrongdoing, the effort to conceal what happened by Palin and Alaska Republicans, apparently with the aid of the McCain campaign, may be just as revealing as the original event.

The whole sordid tale started on July 13th, when the Anchorage Daily News -- which has been all over Trooper-Gate since the start -- reported that Walt Monegan, the state's respected public safety commissioner, had been fired without a clear explanation.

Read more »

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (27) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (27)
Topics: John McCain, Mike Wooten, Sarah Palin, Trooper-Gate

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.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (65) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (27)
Topics: John McCain, Palin's Press, Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Wooten Says He Hasn't Been Contacted By Trooper-Gate Probers

Zachary Roth | September 10, 2008, 11:35AM

The Associated Press reports that Mike Wooten, the trooper at the center of Trooper-Gate, says he has not been contacted by investigators.

The independent investigator on the case, Steve Branchflower, has been on the job since around August 1st, and his contract runs through October 31st, though legislators overseeing the probe recently announced their intention to move up the final report's release date by three weeks.

Wooten told the AP he'd cooperate with the investigation if contacted. The AP also reported that former state public safety commissioner Walt Monegan will meet with investigators today.

The case centers on claims by Monegan that he was fired by Sarah Palin for refusing to fire Wooten -- a trooper who had undergone a messy divorce from Palin's sister and had become embroiled in a bitter dispute with Palin's family.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (3) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)
Topics: Mike Wooten, Sarah Palin

Jack Abramoff

Rep. Wilson: DOJ Hasn't Contacted Me On Abramoff

Zachary Roth | September 10, 2008, 10:22AM

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) put out a statement last night in response to our report that, according to a federal indictment, her office played a role in the corruption scheme headed by now-jailed ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

TPMmuckraker reported yesterday that excerpts from emails included in the indictment of Kevin Ring, a former Abramoff crony, identify a Wilson staffer as being actively involved in helping Abramoff's lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, retain its contract with the Sandia Pueblo Indian tribe. We also noted that a member of Ring's lobbying team -- likely Abramoff himself -- believed he had the power to influence Rep. Wilson's decisions with regard to a land deal the tribe was seeking, according to the email excerpts, and that the Wilson staffer received tickets to an LA Clippers basketball game from Ring.

In response, Rep. Wilson says in her statement:

I was completely unaware until today of any former staffer's e-mails ... I have not been contacted by the Department of Justice about this matter at any time.

Regarding the March 2003 e-mails between two rogue lobbyists concerning whether they would continue to be retained by the Pueblo, I am not sure whether to be amused or offended that they were operating under the delusion that I would help them retain their contract, or that losing their contract would hurt the Pueblo's longstanding relationship with me. As my constituents, I represent the Pueblo regardless of who they hire to represent them. At no time did I take any action on behalf of Greenberg Traurig with Sandia Pueblo

.
In reference to the Clippers tickets, the statement adds: "We have very strict rules in our office on gifts -- including tickets to events. We train our staff about House ethics rules and we enforce those rules up to and including dismissal."

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (4) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)
Topics: Jack Abramoff, Kevin Ring

Sarah Palin

Judge: Bad-Mouthing of Wooten By Palin's Family Was "Form of Child Abuse"

Zachary Roth | September 10, 2008, 9:22AM

Newsweek reports that in 2005, a judge warned Sarah Palin and her family to stop disparaging Mike Wooten, the state trooper who at the time was undergoing a bitter divorce from Palin's sister and is at the heart of the ongoing Trooper-Gate investigation.

According to court records of the divorce proceedings obtained by the magazine, Judge John Suddock called the attacks on Wooten by the family "a form of child abuse." And an official with the troopers' union told the judge that he had received up to a dozen family complaints against Wooten. The official said he believed the complaints were "not job-related" and that Wooten was being "harassed" by his estranged wife's family.

And in his January 2006 order granting a final divorce decree to Wooten and Palin's sister, now known as Molly Hackett, Judge Suddock threatened to curb Hackett's child custody rights if her family continued to criticize Wooten. It appears that the judge did not ultimately limit those rights.

The Palins' alleged animosity toward Wooten is central to Trooper-Gate. The former state public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, alleged in July that he was fired by Sarah Palin, who was elected governor in November 2006, because he refused to fire Wooten from his job as a trooper. The state legislature has appointed an independent investigator to look into the matter.

Gov. Palin had at first pledged full cooperation with the probe, but since she was announced as John McCain's running-mate, that cooperation has ground to a halt.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (42) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (19)
Topics: Mike Wooten, Sarah Palin

Todd Palin

Palin Fired Aide Who Dated Wife of Todd's Friend

Zachary Roth | September 9, 2008, 3:10PM

The Politico reported Friday that a longtime associate and former gubernatorial aide to Sarah Palin says he was asked to leave the governor's office after the Palins discovered that he was dating the soon-to-be-ex wife of a close friend of Todd Palin.

John Bitney, who grew up in Wasilla with Palin, told the paper cum website:

I wanted to stay with the governor and support the governor -- we're talking about someone who's been a friend for 30 years -- but I understood it, and I have no ax to grind over the whole thing."

Today, the Wall Street Journal added more to the story, reporting that seven weeks after publicly praising Bitney, Palin fired him for what her spokeswoman now describes as "poor job performance."

During that time, Palin had found out from Scott Richter, a friend of Todd Palin's, that Richter's wife, Debbie, was having a relationship with Bitney.

The Journal notes that Palin's office seems to have had trouble keeping its story straight on the reason for Bitney's departure.

At the time, the governor's office cited "personal reasons" for Mr. Bitney's "amicable" departure, according to contemporaneous news reports. Last week, Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman for the governor's office, said "John Bitney was dismissed because of his poor job performance." She declined to provide further details.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (23) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (19)
Topics: Palin's Hiring, Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, Trooper-Gate

Jack Abramoff

Indictment: Heather Wilson's Office Tied to Abramoff

Zachary Roth | September 9, 2008, 1:15PM

The Abramoff corruption probe has already snared one GOP Congressman, Bob Ney, and implicated a few more, most prominently Rep. John Doolittle of California. But could there be another to add to the list: Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico?

An examination by TPMmuckraker of the indictment of former Jack Abramoff associate Kevin Ring, filed yesterday, suggests that Wilson's office was tied in to Abramoff's corruption network at a level not previously known. And John McCain's 2005 investigation into Abramoff's fleecing of Indian tribes, which McCain conducted as chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, made no mention of that fact.

The Ring indictment contains the following statements from prosecutors:

On or about January 30, 2003, a lobbyist at Firm B emailed a staffer for the New Mexico tribe's U.S. Representative, "Sorry I couldn't hangout last night. I greatly appreciate your taking the time to han[g]out with the [New Mexico tribe]. It meant a lot to [K]evin and I [sic]. BTW, you should be all set for the [Los Angeles] Clippers [basketball] game."

And:

On or about February 14, 2003, a lobbyist at Firm B forwarded an email from the staffer for the New Mexico tribe's U.S. Representative to defendant RING in which the staffer had written, "How did Kevin' s meetings with the [New Mexico tribe] go? If you guys lose that contract I would be disappointed."

And:

On or about March 4, 2003, a lobbyist at Firm B emailed defendant RING, "I'm going to kill [the New Mexico tribe] with [its U.S. Representative] if we don't get hired."

And:

On or about March 7, 2003, a lobbyist at Firm B emailed defendant RING, "[ The staffer for the New Mexico tribe' s U.S. Representative] is going to be in the meeting with [the New Mexico tribe] when they come to town. He's going to give the 'are you guys staying with [Firm B] this cycle? They did a great job on . . . legislation . . . and really cleared the path for you guys . . . . . yadda yadda.' He's gonna gather as much intel as possible for us."

It's clear from identifying details in the indictment -- which refers to a New Mexico Indian tribe that hired Abramoff's firm, Greenberg Traurig around March 2002 -- that the tribe is the Sandia Pueblo Indians, who are represented in Congress by Wilson. So in other words, a staffer for Wilson was actively involved in helping Ring and Greenberg Traurig (Firm B, where Ring worked at the time), retain their contract to represent the Sandia Indians. And Ring's Greenberg partner -- most likely Abramoff himself, but certainly a member of Abramoff's team at Greenberg -- believed he had the power to affect decisions made by Rep. Wilson concerning the tribe's interests.

A spokesman for Rep. Wilson declined to comment on the information in the indictment.

We already knew that Wilson had accepted political contributions from both Abramoff himself and David Safavian, a former Abramoff crony and Bush administration official convicted for obstruction of justice as part of the Abramoff probe. But the information in the indictment suggests that her office worked with Abramoff more closely that has yet been reported.

Wilson has been a stalwart supporter and prominent surrogate for John McCain, painting him as a crusader against Washington corruption. Just last night, she appeared on MSNBC's Hardball to make the case for him, and last week she told NPR: "John McCain has chosen a reformer ... to be his running mate and I think that's a perfect complement to who he is and what he's done in his life."

Wilson may have good reason to hold the GOP nominee in high regard. In his 2005 Senate investigation, McCain had access to the Greenberg Traurig email trove, presumably including the ones cited by prosecutors in the Ring indictment highlighted above. But his final report generally avoided focusing on members of Congress, and omitted any mention of Wilson.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (21) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (22)
Topics: David Safavian, Jack Abramoff, Kevin Ring

Ted Stevens

Stevens Defense Could Drag Out Trial

Zachary Roth | September 9, 2008, 10:55AM

Indicted Alaska senator Ted Stevens has said he wants his trial to be completed before he stands for reelection in November. But his lawyers are seeking materials that, according to legal experts, are likely to drag out the case.

The Politico lists some of the materials requested by the Stevens team:

• Secret grand jury transcripts, including testimony from a Stevens aide called before the panel, to find out whether the Justice Department used information that may be privileged under the Constitution's "speech or debate" clause.

• Reports from FBI agents who listened in on 105 of the senator's telephone calls -- a fraction of the more than 2,800 calls agents monitored as part of their Alaska corruption probe.

• Medical records to show whether former VECO Chairman Bill Allen, whose company allegedly provided more than $250,000 in "things of value to Stevens," has suffered from a head injury or any other "cognitive impairments" that might affect his testimony.

• Detailed information on all potential government witnesses: their criminal histories, plea deals and immunity agreements, as well as any information the Justice Department may have about their abuse of drugs or alcohol.

• The photographs of Stevens' Girdwood, Alaska, home taken by FBI agents during a search in July 2007. Stevens' lawyers are suggesting that photos the government wants to introduce into evidence were taken with "wide angle lenses or other optics that distorted the perspective in the photos" to make some of the rooms in the house look larger than they really are.

Politico notes the contradiction at the heart of Stevens' defesne: "While Stevens has put a priority on getting the case done quickly, his lawyers seem determined to present the most aggressive defense possible. Those two interests may collide as the trial date draws near."

Stevens is charged with failing to report gifts from supporters worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on financial disclosure forms.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (6)
Topics: Ted Stevens

Sarah Palin

Palin, Aide, Have Same Lawyer

Zachary Roth | September 8, 2008, 5:29PM

We learned on Friday that seven witnesses last week cancelled their scheduled depositions in the Sarah Palin Trooper-Gate investigation. This came after Palin's lawyer asserted in a court filing last week that the governor would not herself testify unless the probe were taken out of the hands of the legislature.

But there's additional evidence of a centralized effort to protect Palin. Another possible witness in the case, Palin aide Ivy Frye, has hired Thomas Van Flein, the lawyer representing Palin herself. Asked by TPMmuckraker this afternoon about her role in the inquiry, Frye, described in news reports as a "special assistant" to Palin, responded: "You can call my attorney if you'd like," and named Van Flein.

Palin's office has claimed executive privilege on a group of emails sent this spring between Palin aides, including Frye. Van Flein did not immediately return a request for comment.

As for the seven witnesses who cancelled their depositions last week, we already knew that one of those seven was Frank Bailey, the Palin aide who was heard in a recorded phone conversation telling a trooper official that Palin was wondering why Trooper Mike Wooten -- the figure at the center of the case -- still had a job.

And on Saturday, the Anchorage Daily News reported the names of the other six:

• Annette Kreitzer, Palin's administration commissioner.

• Kris Perry, a Palin confidant who managed her gubernatorial campaign and now manages her Anchorage office.

• Nicki Neal, state personnel and labor relations director.

• Karen Rehfeld, the governor's budget director.

• Brad Thompson, state risk management director.

• Dianne Kiesel, a state human resources manager.

Update: When asked about the cancellation of his deposition, Thompson told TPMmuckraker, "no comment." The rest did not immediately return calls.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (29) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (16)
Topics: Palin's Hiring, Sarah Palin, Trooper-Gate

Sarah Palin

AP: French to Remain As Probe Chief

Zachary Roth | September 8, 2008, 4:35PM

The Associated Press reports that Sen. Kim Elton, the head of the legislative council overseeing the Trooper-Gate investigation of Sarah Palin, has denied Republican efforts to have Sen. Hollis French, a Democrat from Anchorage, removed from his role overseeing the probe.

On Friday, Rep. John Coghill, a Republican, released a letter charging that French had politicized the investigation, and calling for his removal. And today, Rep. John Harris, the House GOP leader, told TPMmuckraker he supported Coghill's move, saying French had "overstepped his bounds," in talking about the possibility of impeachment for the govenor, and had created "more of a partisan situation." Harris also named Elton, a Democrat, as a possible replacement for French.

According to an associate of French, the Anchorage Democrat expressed concern over the weekend about his ability to effectively run the ongoing investigation, in the face of efforts by Republicans on the committee to challenge his control. Today's declaration of confidence in French by Elton could give French more room to maneuver.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (12) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (22)
Topics: Sarah Palin, Trooper-Gate

Ted Stevens

In Stevens Case, the Medium is the Massage

Zachary Roth | September 8, 2008, 3:06PM

Here's a little more dish on the case against indicted GOP senator Ted Stevens. The Justice Department released a new filing today, adding a few items to the list of gifts that Stevens allegedly received from "personal friends" and failed to report on financial disclosure forms. Among those items, according to the filing:

- "a $2,695 massage chair."
- "a $3,200 hand-designed, hand-constructed stained glass window, built to specifications provided by the defendant and his spouse."
and:
- "a sled dog, valued at approximately $1,000."

Stevens' trial is scheduled to begin September 24th. He has denied the allegations of wrongdoing.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (4) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (8)
Topics: Ted Stevens