From The Consortium News
By Jason Leopold

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abused her authority and broke state ethics laws by sanctioning a campaign to pressure subordinates to fire her former brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten, according to an investigative report released by state lawmakers.

The report found that Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which says “each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”

The punishment for violating the ethics act ranges from sanctions to several thousand dollars in fines that can be imposed by the state ethics board. But the immediate consequence is political, tarnishing Palin’s claim to be an “ethics reformer” while she runs as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

The 263-page report paints a picture of Palin allowing her power as governor to be used to carry out a family feud against Wooten, who was involved in a bitter divorce and child custody dispute with Palin’s sister.

The investigation centered on whether Palin, her husband Todd, and several of her senior aides pressured Public Safety Commissioner Monegan to fire Wooten. In July, Palin fired Monegan, who then publicly blamed his dismissal on his refusal to fire Wooten.

Palin denied that she was retaliating against Monegan and initially welcomed the legislative inquiry, which was approved unanimously by the Republican-dominated Legislative Council, which then hired former prosecutor Steve Branchflower to head the probe.

In his findings, which the Council released Friday night, Branchflower said Monegan’s resistance to the pressure to fire Wooten played a part in Palin’s decision to terminate him as the state’s top police official, but that her firing decision was nonetheless lawful.

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