Yeah, she did it. AP:
Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday.I'm sure nothing will come of this other than allegations that the investigation was political, and somehow, her bad behavior was all someone else's fault.
On a less annoying note, remember to check out the poem of the week now and John's column here on Sunday. I got an early look at the column. It's a fun one.
Have a great weekend. Try not to violate any ethics laws.
5 comments:
Unlawfully?
Then way hasn't she been indicted?
Because The firing of the Commissioner was legal and within her power.
The attempt to get the in-law trooper fired can be viewed as "abuse of power", if one so decides. However, let's look at the statute that was cited as the justification for the verdict of "abuse of office"--that the attempt to get the trooper fired was an attempt to achieve "personal or financial" gain.
Clearly, there was no financial gain here. That then leaves "personal". Now, here, I admit there was probably indeed a personal and family motivation going on.
However, to maintain that the motivation was *only* personal is to then say that it is beyond the pale for a reasonable person--any citizen of the state, really--to question why an officer who has threatened to kill another citizen is still on the force. Seems to me that if that is unethical, then there are a lot of unethical people in this country. I must thus reject this as unethical.
Further, to maintain that the motivation *is* and only *can be* personal is to also maintain it is beyond the pale to invoke concerns about armed individuals with tempers when discussing domestic situations--a decision that will surely be greeted warmly by the tens of thousands of Americans who cannot currently possess arms due to various domestic violence laws. Seems to me that the left, which would usually automatically come down against a police officer involved in a domestic situation who has a history of both threatening violence and has acted inappropriately towards children, has once again sold its birthright for a pot of political porridge.
Basically, the reason why this won't be fatal to the Governor is that the trooper *did* threaten a citizen (it's documented in the police investigation. Just because one does not get fired for it does not mean it's good to go...it just means your union is powerful...); that such threats to citizens are not what we consider proper behavior for police; that across America in the past few years there have probably been dozens, if not hundreds, of similar efforts to have cops removed because various parts of the citizenry no longer considered them safe to hold the power of life and death decisions; that even if one decides not to remove such police, it does not automatically mean the attempt was wrong or unethical or purely personal in motivation; and that if the law then says that to seek such redress of grievances is wrong, then the law is wrong.
The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn't the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely (which means they can't prove it) was a contributing factor.
Seriously, the guy she was trying to have fired was (is?) a cop who threatened to kill her father.
I can't imagine defending a cop who would threaten someone with murder during a domestic dispute being allowed to stay, or even wanted, on the force.
please note (from CNN)
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her power as Alaska's governor in the firing of her former public safety commissioner, but violated no laws, a report for the state Legislature concluded Friday.
and frankly, I find almost a BILLION dollars in pork spending in 2 years and associations with bombers, racists and madmen to be far more appalling.
Hi Chuck and Soldier's Mom -
I'm glad you both weighed in.
Truth be told, I don't really care that much about this report. It is what it is. I'm guessing the cop was - in fact - a scumbag, but Monegan was trying to follow the rules, and Palin stepped over the line and then tried to fudge the details a little once she made it onto the VP ticket.
But, I have so many problems with her ... and the way that campaign is being run - that this is really minor in comparison. And I agree that it's probably not going to make much of a dent.
I'm not sure what you mean by bombers, racists, and madmen. I'm not sure I want to get into it here.
But I am happy to open up conversation and welcome differing points of view as long as the discussion stays rational and respectful.
Thanks Chuck for the elaborate defense of an abuse of power. I don't agree with much of it, but it's interesting to get your point of view.
But ssm, keep the hyperbolic terrorist sh*t out of a quality blog. Let's stick to real issues.
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