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Palin Family Values: No Relationship of Trust with Her Family?!?!?

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Yeah, I know. Someone on McCain’s team called Sarah Palin a diva. But I’m much more intrigued that that McCain adviser said Sarah "does not have any relationships of trust with … her family." 

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

Is this person honestly suggesting that Palin doesn’t have a relationship of trust with Todd Wormtongue? That he stalked Mike Wooten for two years–purportedly out of concern for her safety and the safety of her sister–but she doesn’t trust him? That she allows him to sit in on all of her cabinet meetings, not to mention her debate prep sessions? That she’s lugged her family around to so many campaign meetings it has made McCain’s people squirmy? That Todd submitted a potentially false deposition to Stephen Branchflower to downplay the degree to which he, Todd Palin, was orchestrating the pressure on Walt Monegan?  That Todd and she gave the personnel board investigator a sworn deposition yesterday, together? But she doesn’t trust him?!?!?!?!

Man. Circular firing squad is fun and all, but that’s just creepy.

Todd Wormtongue

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The Branchflower report was clear: Sarah Palin abused her power, in violation of Alaska’s ethics law.

But the Branchflower report was equally clear: since Todd Palin is not a state executive branch employee, Stephen Branchflower had no jurisdiction to consider the appropriateness of Todd’s role in the firing of Walt Monegan. 

The terms of my contract with the Legislative Council establish the framework within which I have been required to conduct my investigation and make my findings. Specifically, the "Statement of Work" provision required me to " …investigate the circumstances and events surrounding the termination of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan and potential abuses of power and/or improper actions by members of the executive branch." Todd Palin is not an employee of the executive branch, so his conduct is not a violation of AS 39.52.010 – 39.52.965. Given the terms of the contract, I make no finding as to Mr. Palin’s conduct. [my emphasis]

Nevertheless, Branchflower provides evidence of several aspects of Todd Palin’s wrongdoing, without necessarily pursuing that evidence to a conclusion. Branchflower provides at least some evidence in his report that Todd Palin:

  • Lied in the sworn affidavit he submitted to Branchflower
  • Got access to Mike Wooten’s personnel file and/or the results of the Grimes investigation
  • Attended confidential cabinet meetings
  • Stalked Mike Wooten
  • Made the final decision to fire Walt Monegan

Did Todd Palin lie in his affidavit?

Most obviously, Branchflower provides evidence that makes it clear that the claim Todd made in his sworn affidavit–that he didn’t know the outcome of the investigation into Wooten’s behavior–is a lie. In the meeting between Todd and Walt Monegan in early January 2007, for example, Todd made it clear he knew the results of the investigation.

MR. BRANCHFLOWER: And did he tell you what the outcome of that investigation was, and specifically whether or not he was satisfied with it?

MR. MONEGAN: He told me that he just got a few days off, and he didn’t think that was enough. And this guy shouldn’t be a trooper.

[snip]

MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Did he characterize the discipline that had been imposed on Trooper Wooten?

MR. MONEGAN: He didn’t think it was enough. It was more of a slap on the hand or slap on the wrist.

There are abundant examples–citing multiple witnesses–that show that Todd knew the results of the Grimes investigation; but he claims he didn’t know the results. 

Did Todd get access to Mike Wooten’s personnel file?

Read more →

Either Todd Palin or Walt Monegan Didn’t Tell the Truth

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Two details of this detailed NYT article on TrooperGate stick out to me (h/t lemondloulou). In this post I’ll look at how Walt Monegan’s testimony contradicts the First Dude’s. Here’s what First Dude had to say in his affidavit.

I was not aware of the Grimes report until July 2008, after Monegan left the government. The DPS never informed me or my wife that Wooten had been disciplined. 

[snip]

Monegan never informed me about the substance of any investigation that had been done.  I was told no details could be released. I assumed nothing had been done or that whatever was done internally must have been a slap on the wrist. Col. Grimes never told me and Monegan never told  me.

[snip]

Not until Wooten released, and then the ADN posted, his personnel records in July 2008 did I learn that there was a completed internal review by Col. Grimes and what was done. (3, 23)

Here’s what Monegan told the NYT (which I assume matches his testimony to Branchflower).

On Jan. 4, 2007, a month into the Palin administration and his tenure as public safety commissioner, Mr. Monegan was called to the governor’s Anchorage office to meet Todd Palin. Mr. Palin was seated at a conference table with three stacks of personnel files. That, Mr. Monegan recalled, was the first time he heard the name Mike Wooten.

“He conveyed to me that he and Sarah did not think the investigation into Wooten had been done well enough and that they were not happy with the punishment,” Mr. Monegan said. “Todd was clearly frustrated.”

That is, not only did Monegan tell Todd the investigation was completed–but he told Todd what the punishment was. (See Halcro for his point on this earlier today.)

There’s a reason Todd repeats the claim that he didn’t learn of the results of the Grimes investigation until after Monegan was fired. Because so long as he can claim he didn’t know the results of the investigation, then he can (sort of) claim to have had a reason to nag Monegan so much–because he still believed it was an outstanding issue.

The question, of course, is whether or not Branchflower has proof that Monegan had already told Todd the results of the investigation. Read more →

Todd’s 52-Page Affidavit

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Looks like someone liberated the 52-page affidavit Todd Palin submitted in TrooperGate today. Unfortunately, it was liberated to the AP, which tends not to be forthcoming with details of liberated documents.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s husband defended his role as a close adviser to his wife Wednesday but was adamant that he didn’t meddle in her administration to try to settle a family dispute.

[snip]

"I have heard criticism that I am too involved in my wife’s administration," Todd Palin wrote in an affidavit Wednesday that was provided to The Associated Press. "My wife and I are very close. We are each other’s best friend. I have helped her in her career the best I can, and she has helped me."

[snip]

He answered the questions and provided his first detailed views on how the Monegan case was handled. He also expanded on his complaints about his former brother-in-law.

It’d be nice, don’t you think, if the AP had identified whether or not the information in said affidavit was in contradiction with any known facts? Or, at the very least, if the article made it a little more clear why the document got liberated today, when–most observers believe–we’ll have a report in our grubby little hands on Friday?

As it is, all this tells us is that Todd Palin still believes this is a battle over whether or not Mike Wooten is a creep or not–and not whether he, Todd Palin, is a creep for having Monegan fired for following the rules.

The Problem Isn’t So Much that She’s a Tax Cheat…

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The problem is that Sarah Palin improperly billed the state of Alaska so she could cart her children around to events.

Both the NYT and the WSJ confirm what tax bloggers have already concluded. The Palins did not declare the $43,490 the state reimbursed them for travel costs for Todd and the kids to accompany Sarah on official trips. And they should have–certainly for the funds reimbursing travel for the kids. Here’s the WSJ:

While several tax experts have raised serious questions about whether the payments to Gov. Palin are taxable income, they said the case was clearer cut for treating the reimbursements for the children’s expenses as taxable income. "The kids are a slam dunk problem," said Robert Spierer, a partner with the accounting firm Perelson Weiner LLP in New York City. "The husband you could make an argument that he had to be there because it was required for spouses to be there."

But not the children, he said. "I don’t think I would ever claim that on my clients’ returns. I can’t think of a real strong argument for it."

[snip]

Bryan Camp, a tax professor at Texas Tech University School of Law and a former Internal Revenue Service lawyer in Washington, said the IRS would ask several questions to determine whether the travel reimbursements were reported properly.

Those questions include whether Mr. Palin and the children were employees of the state of Alaska, whether they traveling for bona fide business purposes, and whether they would have been able to deduct those travel expenses on their own tax returns for business purposes.

Because the answer to at least one and possibly more of those questions is no, "The Palins should have reported the $43,000 in family travel allowances received in 2007 as income," Mr. Camp wrote in an analysis.

See, the Palins almost certainly owe taxes on these funds (the NYT says they owe $6000). Asssuming they pay their back taxes, they can just say, "aw shucks, we didn’ know." They do that, and we’ll stop calling them tax cheats.

(Though, given that the Palins filed their taxes on September 3 this year, after Sarah was already the GOP VP nominee, I think it fair to ask how the Palins managed to make this mistake while under the watchful eye of all those GOP handlers.)

So, fine, the Palins pay their back taxes and I’ll stop calling them tax cheats.

But that doesn’t address the underlying scam here: Sarah Palin is carting her kids (and her husband) around to official events. Read more →

Who Told the TrooperGate Witnesses to Ignore the Subpoenas?

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Here’s an interesting question. Who told the Palin-friendly TrooperGate witnesses not to show up? It’s relevant, you see, because two Democrats are thinking of asking the police to investigate whether there was any witness tampering in the case. It seems they’re not focusing on the more incendiary possibility that Murlene Wilkes’ financial incentive persuaded her to lie to Stephen Branchflower about being pressured to deny a Wooten workers comp claim. Rather, these lawmakers are considering whether the mere act of instructing witnesses to ignore a subpoena constitutes witness tampering.

Separately, two Alaska Democrats said they are considering asking state police to investigate why subpoenaed witnesses, including Palin’s husband, did not testify before the legislative committee last week. The lawmakers, Rep. Les Gara and Sen. Bill Wielechowski, said state law bars witness tampering, but that they did not have enough information to file a formal complaint in the case.

In other words, the people who told Todd Palin and about seven state employees to blow off a valid subpoena may be on the dock for witness tampering.

I don’t know whether that argument withstands legal scrutiny (bmaz?). But the McCain team is taking no chances. They say they didn’t tell witnesses not to show.

Griffin said the campaign has not advised any witnesses on how to respond to subpoenas.

Which makes me wonder whether this is one of the reasons why Palin’s lawyer, Tom Van Flein, is lying about having terminated his contract with the state.

Last week, Governor Palin’s lawyer Tom Van Flein was quoted in the Anchorage Daily News as saying that his "firm last Friday terminated its state contract, worth up to $95,000, to represent the governor’s office."

Not true. The contract wasn’t canceled.

Van Flein has a written contract with the State of Alaska. Like all such contracts with the State, it has provisions governing termination. Termination requires notice to the State, typically in writing.

According to my sources, Van Flein did not provide notice of termination to the state, either in writing or orally.

See, back when I was trying to count all the conflicts of interest among Palin’s legal teams in Alaska, I speculated that maybe Van Flein had terminated his contract because it made it possible for him to represent both Sarah and Todd Palin, getting around the fact that 1) the state shouldn’t pay legal fees for a non-state employee, and Read more →

The Meddling Husband May Get A Subpoena

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One of the, um, creepiest things about Sarah Palin is that her husband lurks around the Governor’s business, sticking his nose in where private citizens should have no involvement. This includes oil and gas negotiations, her emails, and hiring and firing decisions–including that of Walt Monegan. In fact, when I was reading Wevley Shea’s warnings to Palin, I kept thinking: "Wevley, Dude, she can’t get out of this because she can’t fire one of the "aides" most intimately involved in pressuring Monegan: her husband."

Well, now she might wish she had, because in addition to the seven Palin aides who are cooperating in the McCain cover-up (and therefore NOT cooperating in the TrooperGate investigation), the investigator has asked to subpoena Todd Palin.

The committee investigating this has to vote on who will get a subpoena–so Todd Palin does not yet have to bone up on his "spousal privilege" (no, not that kind of privilege–with Republicans it’s about the cover-up, you know). 

But at the very least, this ought to focus some attention on whether it is appropriate for Todd Palin to be making the hiring and firing decisions of Alaska’s public servents.

Update: In a bipartisan 3-2 vote, the committee has approved the subpoenas.

The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 today to subpoena 13 people — including the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin — in an investigation of whether Palin abused her power in trying to get her former brother-in-law fired.

The legislative probe has taken on new significance since Republican presidential candidate John McCain picked Palin as his running mate.

Retired prosecutor Stephen Branchflower asked the state House and Senate judiciary committees for power to subpoena the 13 witnesses, including Todd Palin, the governor’s husband.

"He’s such a central figure. … I think one should be issued for him," Branchflower said.

The Senate committees granted the request. Voting for were Sens. Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla, and two Anchorage Democrats, Hollis French and Bill Wielechowski.