[UPDATE 10/11/2008]

In the Branchflower report to the Alaska Legislature, Murleen Wilkes and her company, Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage were found to have processed Mike Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim properly. There may have been pressure to dismiss Wooten’s claim from the Governor’s office, but Branchflower found no wrongdoing in Wilke’s handling of the claim.

Finding Number Three

Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim properly and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled

[UPDATE 10/2/2008]
Jason Leopold is now reporting that crucial testimony came from Johanna Grasso, a staffer at Murlene Wilkes’ company, who contacted a tip line and later testified that Murlene Wilkes was not being truthful in her statements that the Palin or Palin’s office was not involved in trying to get Wooten fired. At the hearing held to determine whether subpoenas should be issued, Branchflower read from Grasso’s testimony:

“Well I remember at one point in the conversation [Wilkes] had mentioned or said something to the effect that either the governor or the governor’s office wanted this claim denied and I remember my response being, why? I don’t care if it’s the president that wants the claim denied I’m not going to deny it unless I have the medical evidence to do that,” Grasso testified, according to Branchflower.

According to a bombshell new article from Jason Leopold, writing at The Public Record, Palin’s administration pressured an outside Workers Compensation firm to deny the claim of her former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten.

Leopold claims that while Murleen Wilkes, the owner of Harbor Adjustment Service, initially claimed that the Governor’s office had nothing to do with the denial, faced with damning new evidence contradicting that story, Wilkes admitted to the state’s Troopergate investigator that she was specifically told by the Governor’s office that if she did not deny the claim, her company’s contract would not be renewed.

Murleen Wilkes, the proprietor of Harbor Adjustment Service in Anchorage, had originally denied that she was pressured by Gov. Palin’s office to deny state trooper Mike Wooten’s claim for workers compensation benefits.

But Wilkes changed her story two weeks ago when she was subpoenaed by Steven Branchflower, the former federal prosecutor who was appointed in July to probe allegations Gov. Palin, Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate, abused her office by abruptly ousting Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, state officials knowledgeable about her conversation with Branchflower said.

Suspiciously, Wilkes’ contract was recently renewed by the state at a premium over her previous contract despite the fact that there were lower qualified bids submitted, according to Leopold.

Wilkes has a $1.2 million contract with the state to handle workers compensation claims. Her contract with the state was up but her firm was recently given a new contract–for $1.5 million–despite the fact that there were others who provided the state with a lower bid than Wilkes’s firm. One of the other applicants who submitted a lower bid has appealed the decision.

[Alaska Troopergate Investigator] Branchflower confronted Wilkes with evidence—including statements made to Branchflower by one of Wilkes’s former co-workers—that showed her previous statements were contradicted and that Palin’s office did try to intervene and contacted her to ensure Wooten did not receive benefits for a back injury he said he received while on the job.

Wilkes told Branchlower that she received phone calls and personal visits from Palin officials, including Palin’s husband, Todd Palin, and was told to deny Wooten’s application for worker’s compensation claims because he lied about his physical condition, these people said.

It appears that Sarah Palin and those around her were making it their personal and, apparently, governmental mission to do whatever it took to destroy Mike Wooten. Given such temerity in this abuse of power, no matter how she bumbles through interviews or the VP debate, Palin appears to be a very dangerous choice for national office.

Tags: Politics, Sarah Palin, Troopergate