News-Miner Editorial
Palin’s silence
Public Safety commissioner’s ouster needs explaining
Published Sunday, July 20, 2008
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Stumble It!The best thing Gov. Sarah Palin can do for herself right now is to explain exactly why she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11. A nasty account of why she supposedly fired the commissioner was posted last week on the Web site of a Republican political rival, and the governor has strongly denied the accusation.
But with the Internet what it is, the denial simply won’t trump the tawdriness of the allegation that the governor used her position of authority to seek the firing of an Alaska State Trooper who is embroiled in a contentious divorce with the governor’s sister. The story — and it has become one of intense public interest — threatens to become a major distraction for the governor. There’s is little chance the media and the governor’s political opponents will let this go without further inquiry.
The governor’s denial simply won’t be good enough until she explains why she fired Commissioner Monegan, who by several accounts was well-regarded within the law enforcement community. The commissioner, who hasn’t said much publicly since his firing, said his removal came as a shock. He apparently thought he was being summoned to the office of the governor’s chief of staff to discuss security arrangements for the governor’s trip to Fairbanks this weekend, but instead left that meeting without a job.
The governor has said little about Commissioner Monegan’s departure, but she did issue a statement Thursday to refute the Web site allegations — but that’s all the statement did.
“To allege that I, or any member of my family, requested, received or released confidential personnel information on an Alaska State Trooper, or directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous. ... Former Commissioner Monegan was not released due to any actions or inaction related to personnel issues in his department.”
OK, so why was the state’s top cop fired?
Alaskans still don’t know.
Now, there are those who say the governor doesn’t have to offer an explanation. She’s the chief executive, she can do what she wants. That’s correct, of course. But the abrupt dismissal of a cabinet member who is apparently liked by the people he oversees begs for an explanation. Without one, the image the governor has built — that of the outsider on the white horse, in town to clean up a mess — could very soon find itself dirtied up by her devouring of a person she had appointed to her team with high praise.
Back on Nov. 28, 2006, after the election but before taking office, then-Gov. elect Palin issued a news release announcing the three latest appointments to her nascent cabinet. Among the names was that of Walt Monegan, who was to become the new commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. The Gov.-elect said she counted the three appointees “among my most trusted advisors.”
And she had this specific acclaim for her Public Safety appointee, who is a former chief of the Anchorage Police Department: “Chief Monegan will bring to the Department of Public Safety the perspective of a career professional peace officer and administrator with a proven record of using resources effectively to address the changing public safety needs of Alaskans ... We are fortunate to have such an experienced and well-rounded police professional heading the Department of Public Safety.”
Those high words about Commissioner Monegan at the outset of his service to the governor necessitate an explanation now, from the governor, for why they no longer hold true.
Community Discussion
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Hmmm, maybe we need an editorial asking why current senate candidate Begich fired the same person. Did he have to explain why he fired the top Anchorage cop from an at-will position several years ago?
Another question: A certain State Trooper- (lets call him Woo Woo) who was married to Sarah's sister, has had some very troubling incidents. He allegedly drove a Trooper vehicle after drinking alcohol. He tased a child with a State owned Taser, because the kid wanted to know what it felt like. (Forget that hundreds have been killed after being Tased.) And the same Trooper shot a moose without a license.
What would the News-Miner write if the governor had not taken concerns she had about the conduct of this trooper to the proper people?
Would she be accused of covering up the dishonorable actions of a relative?
But what if Trooper "Woo-Woo" pulled over you, or your wife, or your kid? Would you trust this guy with a loved one?
I sure as hell don't. Especially after it has been alleged that Trooper "Woo Woo" threatened to kill a member of the Palin family.
No one I know around here takes kindly to death threats.
The Troopers I know are far better than Trooper "Woo Woo".
But lets face it, historically troopers have had a problem policing their own. Anyone remember the trooper that made headlines here because of complaints 5 years ago? I forget his name, but he tased a parapalegic in a wheelchair, put a japanese tourist in a headlock, and pepper sprayed someone inside their car. He's still a trooper. Just elsewhere in the state.
Last years big headline was the trooper in nome that KILLED a girl.
Think about this, does anyone believe this is normal? It's not. It's pathetic.
SamBam, you aren't as informed as you seem to believe you are. 1.) All the "charges", each and every one of them brought by the Palin family mind you, were each investigated. 2.) Out of the nearly 20, yes 20 charges brought by the Palin family, only two were substantiated. Those were the tasing of the son, which was done with a training cartridge, and the taking of a moose using his wife's tag, with her standing right next to him when he shot the moose. Sarah's daddy butchered the moose in his garage. He also took a 1/3 cut of the meat, as did Sarah and Todd. Funny no one saw fit to report this horrible crime until things went bad with poor Molly's marriage to the offending trooper nearly 3 years later.
You also need some basic taser education. Virtually every taser death has been linked to the "victim" being high on stimulants such as cocaine, or methamphetamine. Tasers have been vindicated in court and are still widely used in law enforcement. Less than 1/4 of 1 percent of the hundreds of thousands of people tased have died from being so. We'll have to disagree over the appropriateness of a father teaching his son about the tools of the family trade, and in any case the tasing in question wasn't even a tasing because the training cartridge the trooper zapped his son with doesn't zap. Yes, that's right. Non-conductive wires mean NO ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE. (Can't blame you for not knowing this, since "trooper tases child" is a much more sensationalized, copy-selling turn of a phrase for the newspapers, instead of the boring old truth). Taser training cartidges are used for role-playing exercises.
But since you're so worried about the kid, maybe trooper Wooten should be fired for putting his son in the family car. In the United States, an average of 6 children 0-14 years old are killed and 694
are injured every single day in car crashes. Sounds like child endangerment to me. Or maybe he should be jailed for letting his son ride a bicycle. There have been 270 some-odd taser deaths in the U.S. since 2001. From 2001 through 2007, 852 people were killed in bicycle crashes. So there you go, bicycles are a deadly menace.
What you're really blind to is that none of this matters. There is a clear and demonstrable pattern of harassment and abuse that leads straight to Sarah Palin. When confronted about it, she lied to our faces. Trooper Wooten has been repeatedly and thoroughly investigated. He has served this state honorably, and continues to serve despite the Palins' relentless malicious attempts to ruin him. Sarah Palin is a liar. I know it hurts when the ones we love let us down, but you need to accept the truth and stop deluding yourself. She's a liar, and we can no longer accept her at her word. EVERY TIME SHE SPEAKS NOW, we must wonder if she's lying again.
I'd further ask that someone demonstrate where ANYONE not belonging to, or affiliated with the Palin family EVER filed a single charge against trooper Wooten. Does anyone think it's normal for so reckless and terrible an officer as the Palin family alleges he is that all the 20 or so charges made against him came from THEM, and only began when he dared to flee Sarah's sister? It's no wonder he split. The Palin family is the menace. Maybe they can get some free tickets to Chicago and take this thing to the Jerry Springer show where it belongs. Todd can come out swinging at trooper Wooten. Maybe the baby-daddy can come too. It'll go great with Sarah's pregnant 16-year-old daughter...
i think she's a canadian in disguise...
allhaileris,
The taser catridge used did in fact conduct electricity and did tase the boy. At least that is what Trooper Wooten said in his statement, and the boy said in his statement, as well as Palin's daughter. The three people that were there said that the boy was tased.
Thomas, I think you're wrong about the Nome issue. Have some respect for the bereaved, get your facts straight before you throw out your statements- if you had, you'd not have raised the issue. There are still people hurting from that terrible issue.
First, I don't think Monegan could have fired him for those incidents if he wanted to. By the time Monegan came on board, those incidents had occurred, been investigated, and punishment had been handed down. For Monegan to come in, reinvestigate and hand down a new punishment would have been a form of double jeopardy. I'm not saying I agree with the punishment Wooten got, but from a legal and HR point of view, I think Monegan's hands were pretty much tied. Whether he liked the rules or not, Mongegan still had to follow them.
Second, Thomas, you are flat wrong on many accounts. First, it was a Nome PD officer that was tried and convicted for killing a girl, NOT a trooper! And I don't recall any stories of a trooper ever tasing someone in a wheelchair. There was a trooper that shot someone that uses a wheelchair (as the person was trying to run over the trooper's partner in a car), but that person is no longer a trooper. I know because I checked.
I only see this op-ed piece as another reason to continue to support our governor. The NM's continued attacks on her while never holding former governor Murkowski to the same standards of openess is disengenous, at best.
Kelly, are you trying to get a few more digs in before your depart for Tulsa?
The governor is smart to keep quiet. Anybody who has ever run a business knows that when you fire someone you should not give a reason. Wake up, News Miner. Get with the program. She's doing fine. And the press needs to learn that they cannot create a scandal just because they disagree with her policies. People are smarter than that, and too busy to care about things which do not affect them.
The press would do better to illustrate and explain how the oil market affects us. The market does not serve individual Alaskans. It benefits the producers and the state at the expense of the people. Alaska should sell royalty oil and refined products to residents at below-market prices. The market is no longer tied to the cost of production, so the only cost is a reduction of the excessive profits. It would have a ripple effect through the whole economy by reducing the cost of groceries and building materials and everything else that must be transported.
There are good uses for ink and electrons. Trying to stir up the mud in a clear lake is not one of them.
This whole thing was caused by G W Bush.
Looks like the honeymoon with Palin is over and reality is setting in.
P3T
I listened to Wooten's union lawyer explain that the taser in question utilized the taser training cartridge. The taser training cartridge is just that. Look it up. It's incapable of conducting electricity, due to the nature of the electrodes. It's for training purposes.
I think we should be asking why this trooper is still a trooper! He should be gone! The public should demand better conduct of them. The supervision that allows this kind of conduct in their department should be fired as well!
allhaileris
If you looked it up you would understand what they are talking about.
A taser training cartridge simply is one that has leads that can be taped to the body (as opposed to being fired at and embedding into someone). It still conducts electricity and delievers the same central nervous system electrical overload that makes the taser effective. They are used on everyone that becomes taser certified so that they know the effects of the taser.
If you watch this video you will see a training cartridge. Notice the probes are taped to the person. Do you think that it conducted electricty?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7srU_lTqF...
If I was able to look past all the drama of the firing of Monegan and only focus on the "new direction" for DPS, I would have even more questions than even before. Example:
1. Focusing more on drug and alcohol problems in the bush. Great idea! In fact, that was one of Commissioner Monegans main ideas. Hence the huge (22%) pay raise for the VPSO's and the Strategic plan that he developed and has posted on-line.
2. Recruitment and retention of Troopers. Another great idea! However the state and DOA failed this year to adequately address that point in the recent contract. And by doing so, that will not be solved for at least another 3 years and by then the 56 vacant positions will surely grow.
3. Recruit more returning guard/military vets. Already being done. I myself spent 20 years serving my country and decided to devote the next 20 years serving the residents of Alaska as a DPS employee.
Just what "new" direction are we going in?
Hey Thomas, If you are going to give out advice get it correct. It was a cop from Nome PD who murder that girl from Nome and is now serving a life sentence.
So when I read you blog about what a Tropper did five years ago. I just have to ASSUME you are not correct.
We need the AST and they need adequate funds to do their job. MatSu Borough residents are too tight fisted to pay for a borough sheriff requiring the AST to serve as the local police force. They are stretched thin and even thinner when using their limited resources responding to 36+ complaints from the Governor and her family. Wonder why it took AST several hours to respond to that burglary in Big Lake? The troopers were busy investigating complaints from the Governor and friends.
The Governor shouldn't be asking this important Dept to cut over a million dollars from its bare bones budget. The new plan is a joke as it's the same as the old plan. This whole mess is self generated and a sad mess over a trivial issue but she won't let it go and just admit her mistake. The DNM has this one correct, the old saying about a broken clock comes to mind.
este : ...Well Said !! and 100 % Right on the Spot!
Reporting like this is why I call this Newpaper a "Sinking-Ship"
NO hckywtchr. I know what I'm talking about. Read this factual information from the Taser corporation:
http://www.taser.com/research/technology...
"The TASER Cartridge is one of the features that separate TASER products from the competition. With ranges from 15 to 35 feet (4.5 to 10.6 meters), and accuracy that can't be matched, they are the choice for law enforcement everywhere.
Unique variations for warm and cold climates, training scenarios, and tactical situations are available. The standard cartridge has been field proven with over 10 years of use. The XP cartridge, ideal for colder climates, has a longer probe to penetrate thicker clothing. The 35' cartridge has been used with success in tactical situations where the extra distance is needed.
And finally, the training cartridge uses non-conductive wires that prohibit role players from feeling the effects of TASER devices (to be used in conjunction with the TASER Sim Suit)"
This is the cartidge the trooper "used" on his son. If he had actually tased the boy, he would have been fired, and probably prosecuted. Palin and her family have filed nearly twenty separate charges against Wooten over a 3 year period. There was no drunk driving. There were no threats. If trooper Wooten were a bad apple, surely someone somewhere unrelated to the Palin family would have complained. They haven't. The Palin family are ugly bitter people trying to destroy this man in a vindictive fit of anger. That aside, Sarah lied to us about it.
Sounds like palin is the one determined to bring Trooper Wooten down. Not the other way around. They tried pretty hard to get him fired and despite their devotion to that cause, he came out on top. Sounds like maybe she is the one that needs to find a new job.
Was Wooten employed in his former capacity prior to Palin taking office, or did he get his job after? Was HE a political appointee? Doesn't look like it. So, it LOOKS like executive retribution on a personal level. Going after a former brother in law. Maybe that's why Monegan resisted.
So, this executive "perk" of being able to fire anyone you want to, is going to cost the State plenty, if the lawyers are any good at all. Possible reinstatement, back pay, damages, all for some specious claims, and excessive use of the executive.
This mess has already diminished Palin in some people's eyes.
This mess has already diminished Palin in some people's eyes.
No it hasn't. It has only opened our eyes to the stupidity of the common cattle mind set that the people can portray. This is exactly why the gov doesn't tell the "people" everything, we cannot be trusted beyond the immeadiate moment, to be faithful or level headed.
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