Rotophonic

Why Alaskans Must Impeach Sarah Palin

With a unanimous vote of 12-0, the Republican-dominated Alaska State Legislative council voted to release its findings [pdf] regarding Governor Sarah Palin's efforts to get her ex-brother-in-law fired and the dismissal of Department of Public Safety head, Walt Monegan. Finding number one was:

Finding Number One For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides

"The legislature reaffirms that 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."

Given that the reports recommends that no criminal charges be pursued, the question is, "What should Alaska do now?" It seems clear to me watching from the outside that there is only one course of action for the Alaska Legislature: the Alaska Legislature must impeach Sarah Palin.

Here is the rationale for pursuing this action, versus something more hand-slappy like a censure vote. A clear finding of wrongdoing in Palin's abuse of power and violation of the ethics act The report clearly shows an effort by Sarah Palin, her husband Todd Palin, and nearly all senior members of her administration to force Walt Monegan to violate his own ethics and the laws of the State of Alaska. For someone who ran on a reformer ticket, she seems less like a reformer and more like a typical corrupt politician. Even more than that, does it seem extremely inappropriate to Alaskans that within one month of her being sworn in, Todd Palin was holding official meetings in the Governor's office? A clear lack of understanding of what she did wrong Sarah Palin does not understand what the phrase "public trust" means when the laws of her state clearly charge her with defending it. If she did, why, only days after the reports' release, would she be rallying against "abuse of power" despite being found guilty of it on Friday? Beyond that, despite being told by Walt Monegan that the case was closed on the complaints against her brother-in-law, she had her staff and her husband continue to pursue getting her brother-in-law fired. As Governor, she has the power to introduce legislation that might make penalties stiffer for State Troopers to violate rules or laws. It appears that she did not do that: she simply wanted her brother-in-law to be fired and would stop at nothing. A lack of repentance for her actions and those of her administration Governor Palin now claims:

I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there.

Alaska State Legislators should hear in that phrase, "Not can I disregard questions put to me by debate moderators, I can also completely disregard the findings of a lawfully constituted investigation AND whatever that investigation said I did, I will do it again." Sarah Palin's efforts to discredit, distort and manipulate the results of a legal and non-partisan investigation Rather than support the investigation, Governor Palin directed members of her staff not to participate in the investigation. Governor Palin allowed the McCain campaign to sully the reputation of Branchflower, the investigator, and Monegan, a widely respected Alaska law enforcement figure. Governor Palin refused to answer any questions from the investigator, despite repeated promises that she would cooperate fully. All of these efforts were done to prevent Branchflower from getting full and fair access to the facts of the case. While it is obviously a serious action to take, I can't find any reason not to support impeachment of Governor Sarah Palin. If the Legislature fails to take that action, its legislators should abandon all hope of future executive elected official following the rules that they craft for the protection of Alaska's public trust.