by Deb Cupples | Using government power to hash-out family disputes is so bush-league (no pun intended, though one seems appropriate). According to a report by an Alaska legislative investigator, that's what Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband did, when trying to get their former brother-in-law fired from the Alaska State Troopers.
If the report is accurate, wouldn't it have been better for Alaska's taxpayers had the Palin clan scheduled a family-counseling session on The Jerry Springer Show? The Washington Post reports:
"An Alaska state legislative investigator found yesterday that Gov. Sarah Palin abused executive power when she and her husband engaged in a campaign to oust her former brother-in-law from the state police force.
"The 263-page report released in Anchorage also found that while Palin was well within her right to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, his dismissal came in part because he refused to remove her sister's ex-husband from the Alaska State Troopers.
"Investigator Stephen Branchflower found evidence that Palin actively joined her husband, Todd, in pursuing a personal vendetta against the trooper and that she used state employees to try to settle a score in a bitter family feud....
"The legislative committee unanimously began the investigation in July. Palin had promised to cooperate, but after becoming McCain's running mate, she changed course, saying the inquiry was politically tainted. She declined to answer Branchflower's questions, and she started a parallel investigation before the state personnel board, which she appoints. Republican lawmakers sued to stop the probe, but state courts rejected the request." (WaPo)
Throughout this great land (and Alaska, too), thousands of people just headed for their garages to cut out big Styrofoam flip-flops and print Gov. Palin's name on them.
Some Republicans are claiming that the so-called "Troopergate" is nothing but partisan "circus" -- some Palin supporters even showed up to a hearing wearing red clown noses and carrying balloons. No, I'm not making this up.
Such stunts and knee-jerk denials are the typical response of some GOP-ers when one of their own does something naughty. So frequent are such responses that they no longer get the public reactions they're intended to get.
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