Trooper-Gate Report Finds Palin Abused Power in Firing MoneganThe just-released Trooper-Gate report finds that Sarah Palin abused her power in the affair by pressuring subordinates to fire Mike Wooten, thereby violating an Alaska law holding 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.” *
It also finds that Monegan’s “refusal to fire Trooper Mike Wooten” — who was embroiled in a family dispute with the Palins — “was not the sole reason [Monegan] by Governor Sarah Paln” but “it was likely a contributing factor”. Still, the firing was a proper exercise of Palin’s authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.
In addition, the report found that the office of Attorney General Talis Colberg failed to substantially comply with the legislature’s written request for information about the case in the form of emails.
* This sentence has been updated from an earlier version.
