As a child, I was chastized that sometimes it takes big lies to cover up the little ones.  The point of the advice was to not tell lies.  I think Sarah Palin’s Troopergate scenario is EXACTLY what my mother was talking about.

Here are the events:

  1. Mike Wooten marries Sarah Palin’s little sister.  After 3 – 4 years, they call it quits, and have a bitter child custody dispute.
  2. Sarah Palin and her husband Todd hire an investigator, and contact Walt Monegan (Mike Wooten’s Boss) more than 20 times saying that he wasn’t an asset.
  3. Sarah Palin fires Walt Monegan because he refuses to break the law and fire Wooten (who had already been disciplined).  This takes place in early July of 2008.
  4. The Alaska State legislature begins investigating the firing of Walt Monegan.  Sarah Palin denies knowing anything about it.
  5. The Audio tape of her aide making a phone call surfaces.  Sarah Palin says, I didn’t know about it.  My staffer did it without my knowledge.  I am going to put him on PAID leave until this is resolved.  The aide indicates that they got into Wooten’s personnel and workman’s compensation files while they were conducting other business at the same location.
  6. Sarah Palin becomes Vice Presidential nominee with Senator John McCain.
  7. Sarah Palin’s personal attorney (hired to defend her in the investigation because Alaska State Attorney General made phone calls to pressure Monegan) on behalf of the Governor filed an ethics complaint from the Governor against herself to move the case to a review by the Personnel Board and out of the hands of the investigation taking place with the Alaska State Legislature.  The judge denies this request.
  8. We find out yesterday that the ethics adviser for the Governor warned her that firing Monegan raised “grave” concerns in a letter on July 24, 2008–only 9 days after Monegan was fired.

So what does all this mean?

Everyone has been saying all along that divorces are personal and emotional topics.  We can understand how they can affect someone so deeply–especially in custody cases.  But, abuses of power, are not acceptable.  When you are elected, it is your responsibility to NOT abuse your power.  And, the evidence is mounting that the claims may be credible that Sarah Palin abused her power in the firing of Walt Monegan BECAUSE he would not fire Trooper Wooten.  Ironically, she had praised him for his hard work a mere three weeks prior, saying she wanted to honor him publicly.

According to Time’s article, Palin and Troopergate: A Primer, in 2005 the judge was concerned with the fervor of the Palin family pursuing Mike Wooten:

Court records from 2005 show that the judge in the divorce case was concerned at the aggressiveness even then with which the family was trying to get Wooten fired, saying from the bench that “the bitterness of whatever who did what to whom has overridden good judgment.”

The most recent events involve 8 of her senior staffers refusing to testify, the Alaska State Legislature being forced to subpeona witnesses for their refusal to cooperate with the investigation, and attacks the this is a partisan witch-hunt: 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats are on the Investigation committee.

All in all, this is just ugly.  Lies told to cover up more lies.  And, now our potential Vice President using Bush/Cheney tactics to avoid accountability.  What makes this stink all the more is that Palin has lauded herself as the champion of reform.

From what I can see, there is not one shred of transparency left in Sarah Palin’s Office of Governor.

Read the entire article at CNN here >>