Fired 'Troopergate' figure accuses Palin of lying Nick Juliano

Published: Monday September 15, 2008





Print This Email This Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is lying when she says she did not try to get her brother-in-law fired from the state's police force then sacked the public safety commissioner who would not go along with her planned vendetta, the official at the center of the scandal says.



ABC News, which secured the first televised interview with the Republican vice presidential nominee, reports the accusations Monday: "She's not telling the truth when she told ABC neither she nor her husband pressured me to fire Trooper Wooten," said Walt Monegan, the Alaskan official whose dismissal by Sarah Palin is the focus of a state investigation known as "Troopergate". "And she's not telling the truth to the media about her reasons for firing me."



In an exclusive interview with ABC News.com, former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan said he resisted pressure by the First Couple to re-open an old case against a state trooper, who was in a hotly contested divorce and custody battle with the Governor's sister Molly.



Alaskan lawmakers are investigating whether Palin and her husband used the power of the Governor's office to conduct a personal vendetta against their former brother-in-law, whose behavior during the 2005 divorce was described by the Palin family as " threatening." Monegan recently spent several hours of sworn testimony to a legislative body investigating whether Palin abused her power. The results of the investigation are expected in October, although Palin has been trying to delay the proceedings until after the election.



Palin, who came to the GOP ticket touted as an honest, reform-minded candidate, has dodged inquiries about her and her husband's involvement in Monegan's firing. Among 1,100 e-mails the governor's office has refused to release in response to a public records request are dozens of exchanges among her husband and government aides regarding the public safety union that represents the state troopers.



Monegan said he thought it would be a misuse of his position to re-open an old case on Palin's brother-in-law as he was in the middle of a messy divorce. Monegan said he tried to persuade the first couple to drop the matter. "As a cop for 35 years I'm pretty familiar with issues that come up in divorce cases," and said his argument to both Todd and Sarah was, "if this was so egregious, why didn't you bring it up sooner? Why did you wait until several years later?" While it will be some time before the full story of Sarah and Todd Palin's involvement in Monegan's firing becomes clear -- Todd Palin was served with a subpoena last week -- it certainly fits a pattern for the governor outlined in a separate New York Times article Monday. Sarah Palin prized loyalty and punished dissent, the paper reported. But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics  she sometimes calls local opponents haters  contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.



Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials. Whether voters want that governing style in the White House will remain to be seen.



