Court Greenlights Troopergate Investigation; Slaps Down McCain Campaign
photo by EarthPro flickr cc
Since nominating Sarah Palin for the Republican VP slot, John McCain and his campaign have put on a full court press in Alaska to shut down the Troopergate investigation. The main effort centered on the McCain Campaign strongarming several Republican Legislators in Alaska into filing a lawsuit seeking to halt the investigation into Palin’s alleged wrongful firing of her Director of Public Safety and abuse of the power of her office as Governor.
Yesterday, lost in the commotion of the debate, the Superior Court of Alaska slapped down the McCain Campaign’s attempt at obstruction:
An Anchorage judge today refused to halt the Legislature’s investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin and denied the state attorney general’s attempt to throw out legislative subpoenas.
…
Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski heard arguments from both sides Thursday morning and ruled just before 5 p.m. Alaska time."I think it’s great. It’s a big day for the state of Alaska," said Peter Maassen, the lawyer representing the Legislative Council, which ordered the investigation.
It is indeed a big day for Alaska. Their Constitutional separation of powers has been affirmed, and despite the brazen malevolent attempt by John McCain to thwart it, the will of the Alaskan people through the unanimous bi-partisan voice of their Legislative Council, has been honored.
But not just will the investigation and report by Investigator Steve Branchflower proceed with a due date of October 10, the court took woefully unqualified and incompetent Alaska Attorney General Tavis Colberg, a cipher in office only because he is Palin’s childhood friend, to the woodshed over his obstruction of enforcement of the subpoenas duly issued by the Alaska Legislature.
Judge Peter Michalski said the Alaska Legislative Council can move ahead with its investigation, including having the state Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena Palin aides to testify.
“It is legitimately within the scope of the Legislature’s investigatory power to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the termination of a public officer,” Michalski wrote in his ruling.
Barring the extremely unlikely intervention of the Alaska Supreme Court, the investigation is on and the subpoenas are active again. Branchflower may demand that the state employees, and First Dude Todd Palin, submit immediately to their depositions, and if they continue to refuse, it is quite clear that they will be subject to criminal prosecution, and potential incarceration, if convicted pursuant to Sec. 24.25.080 of the Alaska Statutory Code.
Well, this pretty much puts the lie to McCain’s disingenuous blathering about the illegitimacy of the Troopergate Investigation. I wonder what smoke the McCain Campaign will blow up our southside next?
Game on!
Separation of powers, now there’s an idea.
And how about a judiciary which not only proposes to use its power, but uses it?
Please, let us see something lawful happen if Todd Palin or anyone else decides to imitate Karl and Harriet.
Go ahead Alaska, set the example of using necessary judicial power to uphold the law; exhausted Americans will be grateful.
fifth line – Alaske
I had the chance in the one spot to say:
Branchflower!
Okay, off to work.
Ethics violations: the baneful highlights of Sarah Palin’s sociopathic and egomaniacal government disservice. I’m feeling it. Will Sarah’s tone-deaf disconnect be set right when she is in the dock? Will it dawn on her that she is insufficient in handcuffs?
Palin is entitled to privacy, but she is not entitled to hypocrisy. Lies and “sniper fire” are so post-partisan, don’t you think?
Thanks Bmaz for putting this on the front burner…
Is it too risky for Obama to say … just like Bushie, McCain is
trying to obstruct justice, then quote from the decision?
So what next? Does she just give Monegan his job back and claim it was all just a misunderstanding about his vacation time?
Boy what a day for Palin yesterday…She has to apologize to a British Ambassador for lying…the courts rule against her and move Troopergate forward..Independent voters hate a winking parrot doncha know, and she admits to wanting to serve in the same fashion as Dick Cheney as VP?
Wow…
Had I known and if I was a gambler, I would have placed some bets yesterday or played the slots.
They will got to AK Supreme Court (or SCOTUS if they have to) in order to stop report and may very well win, but the spectacle of a “reform” ticket fighting an ethics investigation 4 weeks from election is too tempting for tradMed to stay off the circus.
It is going to be fun.
Now to boot, uncle Ted’s trial will go forward too!
http://www.adn.com/news/politi…..43579.html
There is no Federal question, this is completely an Alaskan matter, so SCOTUS is not a possibility. I find it highly unlikely that the Alaska Supreme Court has anything for them either. They got clearly slapped down solidly and the pernicious nature of their effort made clear yesterday. They aren’t going to stop this thing.
What do you see at the timeline on this thing, Bmaz? Won’t we at the very least have them all in for depositions before election day?
Far as I know, the due date for Branchflower’s report is still October 10.
bmaz, ever seen Gore v. Bush?
Between this news and the Michigan surrender, yesterday was a very bad, no good day for McCain-Palin even if she did survive the debate.
How could I have forgotten the BIG news about MI in my list?
It was a WOW day…
Just for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I…..RRIBLE.jpg
The ‘right’ thing for Todd and the Fugitives to do is to Voluntarily Submit to their Depositions, instead of waiting for Branchflower to Demand their appearance.
In any case, she’ll have to withdraw once Branchflower’s Report shows:
– Both Todd and Sarah (may have) directly Extorted Murlene Wilkes on the Worker’s Comp issue
– The 1,100 withheld e-mails show a Pattern of Extra-Legal activity
– Todd and Sarah made Photo-copies of Wooten’s Personnel File (would someone please comment on the potential for a Wooten Civil Suit against the Palins?)
– Frank Bailey is a Palin Goon who has Lied about his Activities under Sarah and Todd’s direction
– Probably a Whole Lot More
It’s very possible that Branchflower’s Report will contain a Criminal Referral against Sarah, Todd and Bailey, at the least.
So, it’s Hard to See the benefit of Keeping the Palin’s Around once Probable Cause has been established for Abuse of Power.
The repugs are fortunate they are half controllers of the Debate Commission.
Palin is the pinup poster for No Child Left Behind, exemplary of rote rehash to fool some into thinking you nailed it. But answer even a softball follow-up question, as Gibson and Couric demonstrated and prove you got your head up your ass.
Heh heh, she is indeed a prime example of educating to the test only, isn’t she? Good one.
Sarah Palin is going to be left swinging in the wind by John McCain on November 5, 2008. She is going to be thrown out, run over and left for dead by the driver of the straight talk express. A part of me feels sorry for her because she believed in John McCain. Another part of me feels she will be getting what she deserves because she believed in John McCain.
No part of me feels sorry for her because she believed in herself. Palin is a great case study of self-delusional confidence.
I have an close friend in Alaska, a ethical and dedicated lawyer, a deeply liberal thinker in the highest sense of the term, a passionate Obama supporter, who shocked me when he said
Why would someone like him support Stevens?
I think Alaska induces an us-versus-them perspective. People are used to getting their $2,000 per person annual stipend (counting kids, folks). They’re used to Stevens bringing the dough back for projects, jobs, and pork.
I think this induces a narcotized passivity to the law, even in righteous people like my friend. That’s dangerous.
Enter Palin.
You don’t have to support him to admit that he has benefitted the state in many ways.
palin makes the whole state seem like a small town.
I hadn’t heard this new development. Well that is good news that the investigation can go forward.
some good news. Bmaz you should watch Chris Matthews tonight he really cuts through Palins latest performance
yes, finally someone brings up the fact that reciting talking points is not enough to qualify for the second highest position in the government, fgs. even michelle bernard agreed and pointed it back to mccain’s judgment.
tweety: what did she do that a college grad student couldn’t do?
wow.
Chris Matthews Palin “recited answers off the shelf” “where’s the intelligence, the thinking”
I swear he took this from EW “this is not a quiz show, not a game show, not the dating game”
Palin “more style than substance”
Ouch the Matthews sting
sounds like Palin has a rule-of-law problem back home. She should suspend her campaign to deal with it ;P. It’ll hardly be becoming if hubby’s sitting in a cell on a contempt citation come election-time.
Hey Bmaz I guess a subpoena can mean something after all. I guess the Palins are not on the in crowd yet.
Something seems so uncanny that she may be the first to get nailed out of the whole lawless bunch. Maybe she will start a trend. Let’s hope: Gonzo, W, et al….
They will be judged harshly by History, but the Decider’s pardon powers will prevent much else from happening to them.
The demise of VP candidate Palin was predicted in these pages soon after her nomination, but she has survived because without her, the ForkBall Express is out of gas. It has not escaped notice on these pages that McCain’s campaign schedule seems to be going nowhere, because he seems to lose votes after every appearance without Palin, and draws pathetically small audiences (I hesitate to use the word “crowds”) without her. The outlook seems to be a string of canned speeches for Palin, while McLame campaigns in states that they know they won’t win anyway.
With reports like that from the campaign trail, what is keeping McCain’s polling numbers from sliding below 40%?
Bob in HI
I as very relieved to see the snap polls showed that other viewers saw what I saw, and further relieved that those polls formed the basis for the talking heads narrative.
Mavericks quash investigations.
-G
You got that right, damnit.
” Addie Polk, 90, of Akron, Ohio, became a symbol of the nation’s home mortgage crisis when she was hospitalized after shooting herself at least twice in the upper body Wednesday afternoon.
On Friday, Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said the mortgage association had decided to halt action against Polk and sign the property “outright” to her.
“We’re going to forgive whatever outstanding balance she had on the loan and give her the house,” Faith said. “Given the circumstances, we think it’s appropriate.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/…..index.html
I’m not a fan of making this public, it’s as if they are asking people to make an attempt at suicide
she is too dumb to feel ashamed or insulted
I am wondering how much it cost the mccain campaign to quash the investigation and if it crippled his budget
let’s be hyper-theocratical here;
suppose mccain didn’t have to spend resources trying to get this investigation eliminated
would he have had the resources to remain in michagan?
I remember I was having a discussion about how much sarah energized the base and ground game, I made the point that any vp would have given the ticket a boost and we had no idea what the actual delta was between palin and say romney,
I do not believe she has for one day been an asset, even though she gave the campaign a momentary boost, that momentary boost is probably lower then if mccain picked a respectable vp to run with him
McCain is all about the gimmicks. She is but one in his bag of tricks. There will be more.
It’s October. Are you surprised yet?
not yet, hopefully I have been wrong
Just watched her interview with Karl “In the tank for Bush” Cameron. She’s a petty little person.
She has all the bad qualities of Bush and McShitheel.
I hope the S.S. McAngry crashes onto the shoals and floods the Palin paddle rescue boat in the process.
-G
this was the investigation she “welcomed”, right? Kinda like today she said she “looks forward” to meeting with the media more?
Always keep your Republic-English translation dictionary handy when reviewing statemens from McCain or McPalin.
ok. wait. i said “this was the investigation….. .” my bad. this is the investigation…. . yes!
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/…..authority/
“PALIN: Well, again, as I tried to explain last night, our executive branch will know what our job is. We have the three very distinct branches of government. You know, we might be bleeding our authority over to the Legislative or Judicial branch to do our job in the Executive branch as administers.”
What does that mean?
It means she wants Cheney-like powers.
bmaz, Palin’s approval ratings are changing in Alaska as we “speak”. Do you think there’s any chance Obama could take the state??
Nah. She went from 82% to 63%. And Ted Stevens is running for another term – even though he’s been indicted. Mark Begich is having a hard time against him even though he is a popular mayor (of Anchorage).
The Rethugs would run all the “Obama’s going to take your guns” and “Obama’s going to raise your taxes” ads and he will not have time to overcome it.
it means that once she realizes she isn’t saying anything she can’t stop talking
Just had a thought. In my early years of teaching (I now have 40 under my belt) I occasionally got into deep water — Sarah Palin territory. And I noticed I was starting to babble. When that happened, I told myself (STFU), and then stopped the lecture, told the class, this isn’t going right. I’ll see you tomorrow. Must have done that three or four times in the first half dozen years, and I would do it again if I got myself into that situation. She babbles. Unfortunately, she can’t tell the class to cme back tomorrow.
What this means is that she thinks what Cheney has done for the Office of VP is just fine and this does explain what she means by ‘expanding the duties’ of the VP. Apparently she is going to take over the ‘administer’ functions of the Chief Justice and run SCOTUS now.
I forgot to add that I think there are always grains of truth in the garbled up nonsense that passes for intelligent conversation on Palin’s part. Instead of spending all our time laughing at her we should just spend a teensy bit dissecting and discovering the real agenda/meaning behind what she says. This VP ‘nonsense’ actually is not nonsense – and provides a (really really scary) peek into a Palin VP.
We’ve got all the ingredients for a successful future.
It’s just that the athlete’s on the floor.
I don’t look at charts.
I just have to look at the business.
I can understand…
and he goes on to name chewing gum and other American stuff.
I don’t know Warren Buffet, but I am sincerely thankful that he was the Person of the Week.
LS, the story of Addie Polk will go world-wide. Says it all.
hey, you know what would be good?
one of those java scripts that would take a real sentence and turn it into whatever language or dialect we choose
so if I pasted in;
“our state produces 3 percent of the nations oil”
it would return;
“given the ever so important and evolving need for oil and energy and the things that are affected by those oil and energy concerns, we are very proud, almost supremely proud and very maverickish about the facts of data that tell us with no doubt and with absolute certainty that alaska refines, processes and refines 80 percent of the entire energy requirements and needs for the american people and the security of the nation which is very very important”
I don’t know what it is, but I have a really hard time seeing the Palins living in Washington D.C. Todd Palin will go nuts without the snow”machining”…they’ll never tolerate the heat and humidity…they’ll hate the weanie circuit…and…it’s too flat.
I just don’t see it.
here’s something you should watch for and we should track
lately, when I’ve heard her say she’s going to go somewere and do something she tries to get her husband’s name involved
he is going to be a cabinate advisor if mccain gets in, I think someone should ask her about that possibility
I think she would never say no and she couldn’t say yes, her behive will collapse
Todd will be named head of the EPA.
right. i noticed that today. she found out they had given up on MI and said she and todd would love to go to all the auto plants in MI. didn’t mention anything about going with that old guy… what’s his name again? jeez. she doesn’t drool on herself in a debate and the next day she starts telling the campaign what to do. mccain may be sorry he picked her for reasons other than her being dumb as dogshit. she’s probably as ambitious as he is if not more so and doesn’t give a shit who she steps on.
well, she held up in FL, so she won’t melt. but i think they just dig the attention.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is just like Sarah Palin. Why you ask? Well, her campaign is running an ad right now stating that she’s done so much for everyone (*rolling eyes*) and then at the end of the ad it’s asked, “And how did Tom Allen respond? By putting out an attack ad against her. This is not leadership”. WTF. She’s doing an attack ad against Tom Allen and then says it’s Allen who is attacking and it’s not nice.
Sarah said last night that Joe is stuck in the past, but all night Sarah kept bringing up the past to make her points against Joe.
Disgusting. The Bobsie Twins need to go far away from rational thinking Americans!
OT –
I tried to write an Oxdown on this:
She’s Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.
Boils Ellen’s rabbit.
Puts her on a horrible roller coaster.
Michael Douglas can’t stop her.
Anne Archer takes her out.
lol
Today she and Todd were sent to Dallas for a fundraiser. I have not heard any details, but Dallas Repubs are rich and “classy.” O well, they like big hair. They are also big on people who work very hard….not sure what they will make of Todd.
Quite a few years ago I met a guy here in Maine who was working in Alaska on the pipeline and he told me he works less than eight months a year. Guess how much he would make working in that time? $60-80,000 (in that range).
An Alaskan gives us some insight as to what was going on backstage of the debate last night:
http://newsminer.com/news/2008…..ard-trail/
Seems Sarah could have worn a bikini and it woulndn’t have made a difference, because Obama/Biden was much more popular.
Great. Does this mean that they can toss the bitch into the slammer? That’s all I care about. I want to see her do hard time in the REAL prison.
Associated Press
Five Republican lawmakers have filed an emergency appeal to Alaska’s Supreme Court in an attempt to halt an investigation into abuse of power allegations by Gov. Sarah Palin before the findings are released next week.
An independent investigator is conducting the probe into whether Palin acted improperly in firing former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The investigator, Steven Branchflower, plans to turn over his findings to the Legislative Council by next Friday.
An Anchorage judge on Thursday dismissed the lawsuit by the five Republican lawmakers. They claim the investigation is being manipulated to damage Palin before Election Day.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..roopergate
Holy Crap!!
The McLames are landing all sorts of last minutes crap-mines…
Just out on ADN–the AK Supreme Court will hear the emergency appeal.
http://www.adn.com/palin/story/545140.html
Great…