Probe Finds Palin Abused Power in Case of Trooper (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101003167.html?wpisrc=newsletter)

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.

Probe Finds Palin Abused Power in Case of Trooper (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101003167.html?wpisrc=newsletter)

The cop tasered his stepson, who happened to be Sarah Palins Nephew (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2079194/posts).

I don't see trying to have him fired as an abuse of power...I see it as a public service.

I don't see trying to have him fired as an abuse of power...I see it as a public service.

Hey, if we're willing to forgo our rules and laws we can perform all sorts of public services. Is that the kind of society you really want to live in? One where powerful public officials are free to use their position to pursue personal vendettas? Thankfully, the bipartisan legislative committee who conducted the investigation into Palin's conduct doesn't believe so.

Hey, if we're willing to forgo our rules and laws we can perform all sorts of public services. Is that the kind of society you really want to live in? One where powerful public officials are free to use their position to pursue personal vendettas? Thankfully, the bipartisan legislative committee who conducted the investigation into Palin's conduct doesn't believe so.

I prefer to live in a society where a law enforcement official who tasers a child is punished. I also prefer to live in a society where someone who pushes for that punishment is rewarded, not punished themselves.

I would prefer that public officials not dispense justice on matters that they have direct, personal involvement in. As the probe found, it's unethical.

WRT the Taser incident, from: Trooper in Palin probe tells his side (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/05/palin.trooper/index.html)
He said that he was a new Taser instructor, and his stepson was asking him about the equipment. "I didn't shoot him with live, you know, actual live cartridge," Wooten said.

Instead, he said, he hooked his stepson up to a training aid "with little clips. And, you know, the Taser was activated for less than a second, which would be less than what you would get if you touched an electric fence. ... It was as safe as I could possibly make it."

He said his stepson was on the living room floor surrounded by pillows, that he "was bragging about it," and that the family laughed about it.

Asked whether it was a dumb decision, Wooten told CNN, "absolutely."

I prefer to live in a society where a law enforcement official who tasers a child is punished. I also prefer to live in a society where someone who pushes for that punishment is rewarded, not punished themselves.
Right, I completely agree. But we usually use the judicial branch of government for that, not the executive branch. When you start using the executive branch for that you end up with people being punished willy nilly for all sorts of things, real or imagined, that'd probably remind of us less democratic societies most of us shudder at, except that certain far, far right Republicans sound a bit like fascists at times, they'd probably like it.

Why didn't the Palin's ever take this guy to court or press charges? Seems like something as severe as a tasing would at least get his custody pulled.

But then again, perhaps Klath's posting above mine explains the lack of judicial action.

Right, I completely agree. But we usually use the judicial branch of government for that, not the executive branch. When you start using the executive branch for that you end up with people being punished willy nilly for all sorts of things, real or imagined, that'd probably remind of us less democratic societies most of us shudder at, except that certain far, far right Republicans sound a bit like fascists at times, they'd probably like it.

Why didn't the Palin's ever take this guy to court or press charges? Seems like something as severe as a tasing would at least get his custody pulled.

But then again, perhaps Klath's posting above mine explains the lack of judicial action.

Actually, the trooper received a letter of reprimand and a 5 day suspension from the Alaska Public Safety Commisioner. If, as Governer, Ms. Palin felt that the commissioner was lax in exercising his authority, I would think it would be completely within her rights, as chief executive, to fire him. The trooper issue was only one of many issues that led to his dismissal.

There is a lot more to this than the media is giving us.

Well, the panel found she was within her right to fire the trooper's boss. What they found fault with was using her position to put pressure on people to fire the trooper. But she's trying to distort all that.

I'm sure you could probably get access to the full findings of the investigation if you really wanted to.


There is a lot more to this than the media is giving us.
"The truth has a well known liberal bias. ", Stephen Colbert

Well, the panel found she was within her right to fire the trooper's boss. What they found fault with was using her position to put pressure on people to fire the trooper. But she's trying to distort all that.

I'm sure you could probably get access to the full findings of the investigation if you really wanted to.

"The truth has a well known liberal bias. ", Stephen Colbert

I've actually read the full report and I agree that your second sentence is true. What I do not agree with is that this is a problem. If a troopers supervisor refuses to fire someone who tasers children (even in test mode), drinks beer in his patrol car, and sends death threats against his father in law, (all things he was found guilty of during the various inquiries), I would put pressure on him too.

Gov Palin ruffled a lot of feathers, both Democrat and Republican, in Alaska with a lot of her reforms and I don't believe that "bipartisan" is the same as "unbiased and neutral."

Had the troopers boss not been upset because he got fired for various other reasons, this never would have came up.

Had the troopers boss not been upset because he got fired for various other reasons, this never would have came up.
Yeah, you're more than likely right.

Had the troopers boss not been upset because he got fired for various other reasons, this never would have came up.
None of this would have come up if it weren't for the divorce either.

Bi-Partisan investigation my ass...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/03/AR2008110303043.html?hpid=topnews

Not to worry, she got off. Sen. Stevens, not so fortunate all those guys leaving goodies in his house against his will... poor guy.