Monday, September 01, 2008

Palin's Trouble with the Police

By Robert Parry
September 1, 2008

You have to admire the Republican chutzpah. Still confronting a national scandal about packing the Justice Department with “loyal Bushies,” they pick a vice presidential candidate who – in her two executive jobs in Alaska – ousted top law-enforcement officials because they were insufficiently loyal or not malleable enough.

Read on.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

To me the question is why was the trooper not fired on the spot. This is another example of government corruption, the existance of a blue line, a wall of silence, a reticence of police departments to police and prosecute their own. This trooper not only tasered a 10 year old child, made death threats to members of her family, but has been seen getting on his patrol car while drunk. This has to stop! being a trooper is not mean being above the law.

Why was he protected? why was he not fired on the spot? I find the questions raised by Mrs. Palin staff perfectly appropriate and my only regret is that the trooper is not in jail.

Mon Sep 01, 12:59:00 PM 2008
Unknown said...

Trooper Wooten was investigated and punished to the extent of the law. That is the reason that Monegan told Palin to drop it. The 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, "...nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy..." Unfortunately, Republicans don't believe in the U.S. Constitution and are quite willing to dismantle it and this country to do their will.

Consortium, you should look up an interview that Sarah Palin did I think with National Public Radio just before the Republican primary in 2006 where she stated that the only mistake she made as mayor of Wasilla was when she didn't immediately fire a cabinet member who disagreed with her on something. She said she should have gotten rid of him right away. Sarah Palin may be pretty but she stinks like Bush.

Mon Sep 01, 03:51:00 PM 2008
BlogNews said...

We'll actually BOTH Republicans and Democrats deemed it necessary to launch an investigation into possible " ABUSE of Power " of PALIN , so anonymous you don't have your facts straight . No she had no right to put pressure the commissioner to fire Wooten . Her story is inconsistent, first saying she nor anybody contacted the commissioner, but now tapes have surfaced and the commissioner claims she did , try to intimidate him . But i can see why you are confused because of the hype about her pregnant daughter and the censoring of Trooper Gate that CBS, CNN are either not reporting or downplaying .

Mon Sep 01, 08:23:00 PM 2008
Anonymous said...

Mr. Parry, you conveniently left out a few salient points relating to the firing of Police Chief Irl Stambaugh -- from the Anchorage Daily News archives:

Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin says she didn't fire Police Chief Irl Stambaugh three years ago because he supported her election opponent John Stein.

But even if it was the reason, she was within her rights to give the police chief the boot, a federal judge ruled. The police chief serves at the discretion of the mayor, and can be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one, U.S. District Court Judge James K. Singleton ruled in dismissing most of Stambaugh's claims.

Mon Sep 01, 11:10:00 PM 2008
Anonymous said...

Also, Mr. Parry, regarding Trooper Wooten (who was married to Sarah Palin's sister), you should have pointed out, in the interest of more complete, more professional reporting, that Wooten had allegedly threatened to shoot their (Governor Palin and her sister's) father.

The family had alleged the threat in 2005, before Palin became governor. They said Wooten had told Palin's sister he would shoot their father if he got the sister a lawyer.

Wooten denied saying anything like that. But a trooper investigation concluded he did, although it wasn't a crime because he didn't threaten the father directly. Wooten's actions did violate trooper policy, the investigator found.

The facts will come out, so it would be prudent if you, in the interest of fair and unbiased reporting, ceased your vendetta against the Palin family in general, and the governor and John McCain in particular.

Mon Sep 01, 11:35:00 PM 2008

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