Round 2 Of McCain Troopergate Stall: Part Karl Rove, Part Laurel & Hardy
Since Monday the McCain camp has stepped up its personal attacks against Alaskans. They've continued their D.C.-style tactics against neighbors in this small state. The game plan is to find an excuse to stop our Legislature's Troopergate investigation, and hide evidence McCain's folks really don't want to surface before November's election. It's been a little Karl Rove, and parts Laurel and Hardy. How else can you explain the following?
Friday the Attorney General's office promised state witnesses would comply with subpoenas the Legislature issued last week. Tuesday the Governor's Attorney General flip flopped, and announced that state witnesses wouldn't comply because, well, and I'm paraphrasing here - - he's changed his mind. And in what has to be an idea hatched after a 4th Martini at Chilkoot Charlies, Governor Palin's attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss the ethics claim she filed against herself two weeks ago. Yup. She really filed a complaint against herself. Tuesday she said she's discovered, after a thorough investigation of herself, that she's done nothing wrong. Does anyone know how to get a hold of Jon Stewart and Tina Fey?
It's silly season up here in the far north, but this week's moves are aimed at one thing: John McCain's effort to find cover for being disingenuous. See, before Governor Palin's nomination for the Republican VP spot, she did the honest thing. She admitted the evidence -- of roughly 20 contacts between her staff and husband with Public Safety officials, seeking the firing of Governor Palin's former brother-in-law -- might lead a reasonable person to the conclusion that the she misused her office to fire a state employee. So when Alaska's Republican-led Legislature called for an investigation, she did the honorable thing and said she and her staff would comply. She denies any wrongdoing.
Things changed on August 29 when Governor Palin was added to the McCain ticket. Since then his handlers have told her she can't testify. They don't want the evidence in this case to come out. They don't want her to testify under oath. They don't want other witnesses to testify under oath. So they have engaged in daily maneuvers to attack, as disloyal to the McCain campaign, anyone who wants the investigation to move forward. They've now attacked two well respected prosecutors, and perhaps the state's most highly regarded law enforcement official -- the Public Safety Commissioner she hired, and then fired, Walt Monegan.
Every day this week McCain operatives have sung the same tune. Today a guy with an East Coast accent, who knows nothing about Alaska, stood in front of a McCain-Palin banner to lead the attacks against people he doesn't know. At press conferences on Monday and Tuesday campaign staffer Megan Stapleton spit vitriol to repeat her argument that this investigation is really a "Democratic" attack on Governor Palin. See, that's easier than just saying their VP has reneged on her promise to testify. It's easier than just saying they don't want anyone testifying before the November election. It's easier than admitting they are stonewalling a legislative investigation. Oh -- and I know they hate partisan stuff. Yesterday 5 Republican legislators -- all allies of Governor Palin, all supporters of the McCain campaign, filed a lawsuit against the Legislature to stop the investigation.
Here are a few things MCCain's operatives failed to say. There are a few small facts that make it hard to style this as a Democratic investigation. One is that Alaska is a Republican State. We have a Republican Governor and a Legislature of 34 Republicans and 26 Democrats. This summer the Legislature's Legislative Council voted 12-0 (8 Republicans and 4 Democrats) to hire an investigator, and appointed Democratic Senator Hollis French, a well-respected former prosecutor, to find an investigator.
Governor Palin stated she and her employees would comply with the investigation. French then hired Steve Branchflower, a former DA who most recently was hired by legislative Republicans to run the state's Office of Victims rights. And on Friday the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 (2 Democrats and 1 Republican in favor); and the House Judiciary Committee issued a 7 - 0 (5 Republicans, 2 Democrats) advisory vote, to issue subpoenas to witnesses the McCain camp had previously stopped from testifying.
Over the last two days McCain's outside operatives have vilified former prosecutor Hollis French -- as an Obama supporter who must have called this investigation to hurt the McCain ticket. But French was appointed to oversee the investigation by a 12 - 0 Legislative Council vote, and is probably the state's most respected legislator -- by Republicans and Democrats alike. He's so popular the Republican Party couldn't find anyone to run against him this year. They've called former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan -- a Native Alaskan who has served Republican and Democratic Administrations with honor, and put his life on the line in uniform- - "insubordinate." Odd, given that when Governor Palin fired him she offered him a different job. I guess being "insubordinate" was a job requirement for the new position. And they've challenged the independence of an investigator and former DA, who has no animus anyone can find.
Those Swift boat ads taught the McCain folks that if you say something untrue enough times, it can stick. My favorite moment of the week came when Governor Palin's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss Palin's ethics complaint against herself. Stay with me. Her attorneys have been buying the peyote, not me. See, on August 29 they needed to find a way to stop the Legislature's investigation. They tried asking the Republican leaders to call it off, and take one for the team. But the Senate President and others honorably said no. So they came up with an argument that the State Personnel Board -- 3 people appointed by Governor Palin and her Republican predecessor Frank Murkowski - had "exclusive jurisdiction" to investigate wrongdoing by the Governor.
The Legislature wasn't amused. So Governor Palin then filed a complaint against herself. That, they said, put "jurisdiction" in the hands of their friends at the Personnel Board. They argued that since the Personnel Board was now proceeding with an "investigation," the Legislature couldn't. To put icing on the cake, on Monday the Governor's attorneys moved to dismiss the Governor's case against herself. They said, and I loosely paraphrase again -- that they tried really hard and just couldn't find any evidence that the Governor did anything wrong. OK. I can't believe I just wrote that. And I wish it weren't true.
These are the things you have to do when your presidential candidate doesn't want his VP to honor a promise, and doesn't want evidence to come out before an election. These are the things you have to do if your folks aren't going to comply with a subpoena. That's because without spin the headline might read: "McCain Interferes With Investigation Palin Agreed To." How easy it is to re-write a headline. They learned that during the Swift boat campaign too.
All we can hope for is that members of the press will abide by what's taught in journalism school. Not to repeat the spin of political operatives without reporting the truth. Not to write "he said she said" stories, and pretend the truth is somewhere in the middle. But to report the facts. No matter how you spin it, Governor Palin promised to comply with this Legislative Investigation. McCain's folks got her to change her position. And the Legislature that voted for the investigation did so on a bi-partisan basis. End of story. End of headline.
Over the next few days McCain's folks will try to get local legislators to step in line, out of party loyalty, and reverse their vote to investigate Troopergate. But many local Republicans, like Senate President Lyda Green, have so far refused to play those politics. Stay for more from McCain's Campaign for "Change." They've tried to change the truth. They've succeeded at changing Governor Palin's promise to comply with this investigation. Let's see what they'll change next.
Rep. Les Gara, Anchorage, Alaska
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I share that sentiment. The media needs to more vigilantly scrutinize Palin as a candidate. The Rovian politicking is getting increasingly more egregious, Palin’s efforts to gain influence over an ongoing investigation is more than shameful (to say nothing of the alleged actions that led to the investigation). The public needs to know more about Palin and the only way that that will happen is if the media gives us a little less campaign gossip-mongering and lot more factual information about how Palin’s tenure as governor. Thanks for, you know, stating the facts
Finally a journalist with brains!!!!!
"All we can hope for is that members of the press will abide by what's taught in journalism school. Not to repeat the spin of political operatives without reporting the truth. Not to write "he said she said" stories, and pretend the truth is somewhere in the middle. But to report the facts."
The Alaska Attorney General, poor man, has hopped a plane and left for Kansas "on vacation!" He is yet another Palin Pick, which makes a person begin to almost pity the cronies Palin installs in offices they're unqualified to run. Their decisions, as uninformed, loyal cronies, can get them into all sorts of real legal trouble.
The AG advised state employees to ignore legislative subpoenas, which is improper conduct itself; Andrew Halcro points out one can move to quash subpoenas, but an officer of the court has no place telling people to ignore a subpoena, a crime punishable by up to $500 and six months in jail!
If he instructs them to break the law, isn't that criminal conspiracy? He should be prosecuted with the rest of the Palin crooks.
I HEARD SOMEONE SAY THAT McCAIN HEAD WAS SHAKING OR SOMETHING. GOT ME WONDERING WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE ELECTION IF HE HAD A STROKE OR SOMETHING? DOES ANYONE KNOW?
It would be over for the Republicans, whether Palin ran in McCain's place, or he ran while recovering, or they put someone else in his place like Romney. I think the voters will make the right choice and elect Obama/Biden whatever happens or doesn't happen to McCain anyway.
Karl Rove? How about Alberto Gozalez, Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Libby, Wolfstadt,Rice? They're all in the same corner when it comes to fessing up.
Gonzalez suffered from an early bout of Alzheimer's. Couldn't recall anything when asked about the firing of eight US attorneys. Rove was pardoned by Bush from testifying before a Senate Subcommittee, and even ignored a subpoena.
From lies that got us into two conflicts with losses of thousands of lives, and billions of dollars, to the shredding of the U.S. Constitution, all the GOP can do is stick out their tongues at the American people and sneer at our Constitution.
No wonder the Panda and the Barracuda feel safe. If the current GOP can get away with anything, why can't they?
If Mrs. Palin is as up front about everything that the Panda and his bosses claim, she wouldn't be dodging the issue. Fox and the rest of the neocons have already decreed the trooper to be guilty. In other words, he got what Mrs. Palin said he deserved for divorcing her sister. The commissioner? Ah, well, he just got in the way. Just like Valerie Plane, the CIA agent, our own government exposed because she was married to a man who exposed some of the lies of this administration and the war in Iraq.
The thin fabric of change advocated by this duo, is so thin, people are beginning to see through it.
Les, can't thank you enough. Your two articles have been well written and I admire your ability to write about something so crazy and confusing with a touch of humor. Its good to know that the forces of light have an ear and clear eye in Alaska. Please keep us informed and let us know when the good snowmobilers tar and feather the McCain Carpetbaggers and run them out of town to be lost in your great wilderness.
1996] WASHINGTON -- In 1996, White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama launched his first campaign for office doing things the Chicago way. He challenged the nominating petitions of state Sen. Alice Palmer, forcing her off the ballot, clearing the way for him to easily win her seat.
From Lynn Sweet: - suntimes.com
On sleazy campaigns:
Obama cheated his way into his first political office.
Some have argued: not cheating because 'technically' he just used a group of lawyers to find loop-holes in the law. 'Technically' it did not matter that Alice Palmer was a very popular incumbent that he would not have been able to beat if the voters had been able to choose their elected official - not his group of Chicago lawyers.
So 'technically' his historic sleazy campaign was not cheating... it was just morally bankrupt - not a great quality for the President of the United States. And for Alice Palmer, just another woman that got in his way. He got his first Illinois Senate seat by finding a way to run un-opposed. .. like how the DNC, Pelosi, and gang begged Hillary to drop out of the Democratic Primary for 3 out of the 5 months of that campaign so Barry could again be able to win unopposed. And Obama's Primary campaign set an historic bar for being sleazy in its own right: Bosnia – not only did they say Hillary lied about her trip… but camp Obama painted her as just a plain ‘liar’ in
This isn't about Obama's political history (you neglect to mention that Palmer decided not to run, asked him to run in her stead, then changed her mind and expected him to just hand her back her candidacy---rather selfish on her part!). This is about the kneejerk reaction by the same old Republican insiders to stonewall another investigation, this one started before SP was a gleam in sour Johnny Mac's eye. A mostly Republican investigation, in fact.
But it's not as easy to run over Alaskans as Republicans (or whatever sour Johnny's handlers are, since there are plenty of Republicans appalled by the whole mess) think. They are more libertarian up there, and really resent being beseiged by outsiders trying to run roughshod over people they know and respect, like Walt Monegan. You think Alaskan State Troopers are fuzzy-haired liberals?
You are incorrect on all accounts... including the public record
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Barack_Obama/%22new_politics%22
"Now, promoting himself as a fresh face on the national political stage, proclaiming his distance from lobbyists and the Washington culture of special interests, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has to contend with his own history. ... From Chicago to Springfield, his past is filled with decidedly old-school political tactics -- a history of befriending powerful local elders, assisting benefactors and special interests, and neutralizing rivals."—Dan Morain, Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2007.[2]
In 1996, his first campaign for the Illinois Senate, "Obama quickly mastered the bare-knuckle arts of Chicago electoral politics. His overwhelming legal onslaught signaled his impatience to gain office, even if that meant elbowing aside an elder stateswoman like [Sen. Alice] Palmer. ... A close examination of Obama’s first campaign clouds the image he has cultivated throughout his political career: The man now running for president on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it."—David Jackson and Ray Long, Chicago Tribune, January 3, 2007.[3]
This is pure bull. You think you can keep slandering good honest politicians and get away with it? Now the McCain campaign is going after the Republicans in Alaska as being part of the "good old boy" network that doesn't like a women as Govenour. Vitodude and the rest of the conservative punditry are simply evil people willing to lie to accompish their political goals. Discusting people, really.
I am stating facts and supporting them with links to the Chicago Sun and Times.
Because my beliefs do not fit into your typical emotional, hysterical, ~angry left~ rants that is your problem. My posts are 100% supported in Fact.
You just respond with emotion, hysterical and ~ angry left~ rants that in essence can be reduced to you crying your eyes out saying 'Love my Barry'
This is a Given, the republicans invented the word Stonewall when congress was trying to get pertinent information from the Nixon administration.
This is the way republicans operate, they enforce the law when convenient and disregard the law when convenient.
Sick and Tired of republican shenanigans and the world associating America and Bush in particular with Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition?
Vote:
Obama/Biden
For a return to sanity in America.
The greatest predictor of future behvior is past behavior. McCain/Palin promise transparency in government but really they are offering more of the Bush/Cheyney secretiveness and lawlessness. We've had eight years of the Bush administration's refusal to comply with subpoenas, refusal to testify, disappearing e-mails, refusal to produce documents etc. When will we all learn our lesson?? McCain is not offering change. He is offering more of the same destructive tactics that prevent us from ever obtaining the truth. Get rid of these Republican bums now before they ruin our great democracy!!
As Alaskans look south and see "The Religious Right Republican Fair and Balanced Truth Brigade" approach their boundaries, I can hear the cry from the top of the Capital - "Beware Alaska citizens, the "Christians" are coming".
Up to this time the people of Alaska have been a harmonous peace loving bunch and up to now they had only seen and heard what this Brigade has wrought during other elections. The Alaskan people were such nice people.
Les, this is not "Troopergate," it is Tasergate. If this trooper was still married to Palin's sister and still employed by the State of Alaska, you would be arguing that Palin was negligent for not dismissing a state trooper who tasered a 10-year old boy. What type of a state trooper force does a state have when it tolerates a trooper who could not resist tasering a child?!!! Maybe this is the change Obama is advocating. Again, liberals isolating themselves to their own facts which is what "Swift boating" is really about. If Kerry had signed a Department of Defense Form 180, he could have presented "historical" facts that would have disproved or proved the Swift boaters right or wrong. Since his own facts were more favorable than historical facts, Kerry will never sign a 180 allowing you and others to miss use the true meaning of Swift boating.
If it did happen then Palin and the rest of her family are guilty of child endangerment, it is against the law to not report child abuse you know. The first time this was brought up was not when it happened but during a divorce and custody battle. A judge told the Palin family to stop spreading this vindictive trash because it was not true and their bad mouthing of the father was harming the children involved. The judge told them to stop spreading unfounded rumors to try to get the father fired from his job, they never did.
Gov. Palin is guilty of this and it seems there is something under the surface that is much more damaging or they would not have started fighting so hard to put a stop to it.
The only "CHANGE" McCAin/Palin bring is a change of stories when their old stories are closely examined.
That isn't the point, Thron, and you know it. This Wooten guy sounds like bad news, and I'm sure he deserved to be fired, whatever his relations with Palin's sister.
The issue is abuse of the legislative process - which is kind of serious in the case of someone running for VP, don't you think? Maybe Palin acted quite properly - although it doesn't sound like she did - in which case she has all the more reason to see the matter settled in public, in court. That's what they're for.
How can we trust people who try to manipulate the legal system in this way with the running of our country?
There is NO evidence that Palin has "manipulated the legal system." Wooten is still employed and he has a record of illegally shooting a moose and drinking beer in his patrol care on occasions. These facts Palin has no control over but do you expect your local police officers to be drinking beer while on duty? If you were governor of your state would you not address these misconduct issues? How would you like to be judged before ALL the facts are in? The only reason Palin is resisting the releasing information is that the issue has become a polical fiasco to fool individuals like yourself. If you are looking for manipulation of the legal system think Sandy Berger, Charlie Rangel, Teddy Kennedy etc.
BINGO!!!! Same song, different verse!
If he did that and was brought up on charges then he would have been disciplined. There is no need for the GOVERNOR to step in if he's that bad.
Oh come on! From What I read in local accounts, the kid pestered the guy to do it because he wanted to know what it felt like--jeesh!
That whole aspect of Palin's fiasco of Palin's personal grudge-driven behavior is of little importance.
And police departments across the country swear that Tazers are harmless, really. Just interrupt the flow to the nerves controlling your muscles, so you can't control your muscles. No pain, just no muscles. So, conservatives: is it abuse to use it or not?
And the timeline is way off: the family knew about this for years and did nothing.
Finally, the judge who heard the case(s) for years, told Palin to back off. He heard the evidence. Nuff said.
The media is no longer our friend. As a kid, I thought Walter Cronkite was a god. Now, I have to read Izvestia or Pravda (or any other paper that isn't friendly with us) for the truth. While G. Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning, Karl Rove saw the trust Americans have for their politicians and news agencies, and took advantage of our gullibility. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me". What's worse than shame on me? That's where we are now. And as far as the economy goes? Average people are doing fine, but the Corporate Controlled Media would have you panic (again) so we're compliant to bailing out the wealthy (News Hour with Jim Lehrer). Don't believe a word of it hurting you nearly as much as it's hurting them. Withdraw your money from the arrogant and irresponsible banks and watch them crumble. You have much more power than they will ever tell you. Make em pay.
LOVE YOU!!!
Although I strongly suspect making a run on the banks will only give the country a final nudge into financial ruin and kill the few good blue collar jobs left.. I do tend to agree with you notions regarding the US media...
And it's been that way for decades!
When I was first based in England in 1955 and a few years later posted to France, I was stunned to learn that any story that even remotely implied that America ever got any thing wrong would never be reported, Walter Cronkite or not, in the US media. Yet the same stories were routinely reported in the London Times, Le Monde and other papers throughout the world.
That continues to this day. It seems to me, Americans, more than any other people in the world, live in that cave described by Plato, where one can only see shadows, and are never permitted to see even a hint of the truth of a thing.
I eventually painfully concluded that we Americans are the most propagandized people in the world... as well as the world's best trained air headed consumers...
That sorry state continues to this day. But, IMO, even in the face of years of being ruled by lying, corpse effing repubs, we may be getting a tad better!
I'm not religious, but daily say, "Thank god for the net!"
Les, I was just about to ask your sister, my neighbor in West Hartford, what Les thinks of Sarah. Now I know.
After 8 years of bush-Cheney,what people really want isnt more money or cheap gas. People just want DISCLOSURE. There are strong believes out there that,had the last years not been all about covering up,people might have anticipated all these,at least the man made disasters would have been averted or to the least minimised.
Now all john mcCain wants to offer is even more CLOSURE to the scale that is threatening to make Bush/Cheney look like Amateurs.
I tend to agree that some of us want disclosure more than anything else. But I strongly suspect we are a minority. The majority merely wants to plug along, believing the propaganda that they ( all christians! ) have the highest standard of living, bar none, in the world. They also firmly believe Americans are smarter, kinder, and more forgiving than all others. That the US government mostly acts in the interest of humankind and when we kill whole populations, it's for their own good.
That is, it seems to me, rather than wearing blinders, thanks to the corporate media, at birth Americans are fitted with a device that blocks out all intellectual truth. It forces us to distrust and/or dismiss strong evidence of a thing. We then live our lives only embracing bizarre beliefs forced upon us by said media, American folk lore, church and state...
Yes, the two articles about the McCain operatives in Alaska definitely needs a wider audience!
An overlooked connection in "Troopergate": Palin's hard-right anti-abortion policies may have influenced her decision to fire Monegan, who, without her approval, had lobbied for earmarks for "rape kits" that included emergency contraception:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/17/175430/636/888/601186
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