'Witch Hunt' finds 'abuse of power'

Guess who just got caught with her tits in the ringer. Now I must apologize for unladylike language, but Sarah Palin - now officially a power abuser - has never claimed to be a lady. In fact she's presented herself to the American public as the routinest, tootinest, most caribou shootinest candidate to ever emerge from America's last frontier state. It is Alaska that is the scene of the crime, so to speak.

Now the fuss started back when Palin had no thoughts beyond Alaska, and her sister's messy divorce. The other principal in that proceeding was her brother in law at the time, state trooper Mike Wooten. Palin and her husband Todd have described Wooten as a 'rogue officer' who has even gone so far as to threaten their family. Now this is conduct unbecoming an officer.

Well Palin and her hubby went off to Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Having a dangerous rogue officer, some one fool hardy enough to divorce the governor's sister, was obvious a public safety hazard. Cluing in the Commissioner seemed the responsible and civic minded thing to do. That's just the kind of thing you'd expect from a public servant, governor, and future potential vice president of America. Walt didn't see it that way, and that's where things went horribly wrong.

Now Palin insists that she never said anything so crude as "fire his ass". No one can prove that she did. She and Todd did strongly urge Monegan to reconsider Wooten's employment status. Monegan felt this was petty, personal, and beyond the purview of the Commissioner's office. So Palin sacked Monegan. this is where the shit really hit the fan. You just can't go firing state officials without some one thinking that it's an abuse of power. That's where official the legislative investigations come in.

When the investigation up in Alaska got rolling, Palin promised to go right along with them. She had nothing to hide. However, exercising a lady's prerogative, she soon changed her mind. She decided that the investigation was 'partisan' and a 'kangaroo court'. Fortunately she retained enough presence of mind to refrain from calling the proceeding a 'witch hunt'. By the time she got around to running for VP, she decided that the the Legislature's investigative committee was packed full of Obamites! This despite the fact that most of the committee members were Republicans. Maybe they were dangerous rogues, too. You see what can happen when you don't stamp dangerous rogues out!

Well now the committee, whether full of Obamaites, disgruntled Republicans, rogue civil servants, witch hunters, or other unsavoury types, has reached a verdict. They have decided, and I quote, that "Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda." They have also decided that Commissioner Monegan's uncooperative attitude was a "likely a contributing factor" to his dismissal. Committee head Stephen Branchflower goes on to say, regarding the dangerous rogue state trooper whose divorce started this ball rolling - "I conclude that such claims of fear were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins' real motivation: to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family reasons." Returning to the first statement, this is where Todd Palin comes in. He was the one busy petitioning for Wooten's removal. The committee has decided that Sarah knew what her husband was up to, and did nothing to stop him.

Now Todd Palin was the active party in this 'abuse of power'. Since he's not a state official, his hands are clean. Since Sarah P wasn't directly involved, her situation is not as bad as it might have been. Her 'abuse' was one of omission. She knew what her husband was up to and did nothing. That's might be enough of a grey zone to make the findings a 'judgement call', and keep Caribou Sally in the game. Incidentally, she's still insisting that Wooten was a psycho, that Monegan was incompetent, and that the Alaska Legislature is a hot bed of Obamites. Whether she abused her power or not, these wild stories don't do much for her credibility.