It is interesting to hear that the Officer Palin fired was involved in domestic violence legislation.

i read this in a yahoo article yesterday that completely changes the story for me.

(Wooten is Palin's ex-brother-in-law)

Wooten, 36, admits using a Taser on his stepson but said he poses no threat to the Palin family and didn't drink in his patrol car, as they alleged in a 2005 complaint before Palin was elected governor.
He told the AP this week that he was punished for his past mistakes and has moved on."My priorities are my children and my job and that's what I've been focusing on," he said.

so yes, it appears that Palin was trying to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from law enforcement, but this comes after he admits to using a taser on his son? It's interesting that this part has not been mentioned along with the story. And domestic violence is not mentioned once in the link above.

all of this just makes me so much more confused. not that it makes me want to vote for her/mccain any tiny ounce more or anything, we just need to be conscious of all media spin, not just the kind we oppose.

I think Wooten was probably a scum bag who shouldn't have been a state trooper, but there are channels to go through to get an unfit person in uniform removed from their job. To me the issue isn't whether or not Wooten deserved to be fired, but whether or not Sarah Palin used her office to try to bypass the proper proceedure to get rid of someone she knew personally, then fired a competent department head when she couldn't use political pressure to get her way. If she is willing to do that with one person, then she would be willing to do that with another. Maybe next time it will be to get rid of someone who doesn't agree with her politics, and given what happend with the Department of Justice, that scares me.

When I first heard this story, and I heard what kind of a scumbag Wooten was, I thought, give her a pass on this one. He sounds like a pretty scary guy -- stun gun on a stepson?? -- whom I would not want toting a gun while in a squad car. Scary guy.

BUT I am so tired of the abuse of power by officials who don't think the law applies to them. Is Governor Palin the person who I want choosing an Attorney General? She is willing to fire a department head who is doing his job lawfully, a man whom she praised for his good work on domestic violence issues.

Monica Goodling was one scary person, too. I am tired of the personal ideologies and personal vendettas that have endangered our democracy. Just because you are a woman doesn't mean you will get my vote.

I see videos of John McCain bullying witnesses in hearings, I learn that Palin had a court order against her to leave her brother-in-law alone, and I am very, very worried that we could truly end up with just more of the same.

Kat,

Walt Monegan is not the same person as Officer Wooten. The video above is about the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Not sure of what the connection is between the two, but there definitely is one. However, Commissioner Monegan definitely did not use a taser on his son, so these two actions are indirectly related at best. As far as I've heard, Palin pressured Monegan to use extra-legal means to fire Wooten, rather than just having charges filed against him and removing him from his position through normal means.

Monegan probably didn't agree with going "above the law" and, as that didn't expediently meet Palin's desires, he was let go. Of course, this is all under investigation, so who knows?

The bottom line, though, is that Wooten and Monegan are not the same person.

I remember reading in another Palin post that she tried to fire a librarian who refused to ban certain books too. And it's interesting that the McCain camp is telling people that the investigative committee has five whole Dems on it working in Obama's favor while neglecting to mention the other 10 people that are Republicans. Talk about twisting the facts. I really don't want a liar, bully, or whatever else either of these two are in the white house. I'm already tired of the Bush League acting outside the law when it suits them.

There are some very important distinctions being made here that I wasn't aware of. Thanks, everyone, for sorting this all out.

Mytrr:

Well, Palin "hypothetically" asked (several time) how said librarian would respond to an instruction to remove certain (unnamed) books. And said librarian responded by saying they'd ignore any such request.

And then Palin had asked for their resignation, but dropped the matter when the community came out in support of the librarian. But it might not have been because they wouldn't do as Palin instructed, but as some kind of weird power-trip loyalty test (actually, now that I think about it, is there a difference?); several other members of the administration who had been appointed by her predecessor were also asked to resign, and she only accepted about half of the resignations, so it's not impossible she wasn't actually planning on firing the librarian, anyway, but just wanted to know that she could if she felt like it. Because "town librarian" is such a politicised role, it can only held by someone from the same party. Otherwise who knows what might happen?

Either way, it's very childish behaviour.

sorry, i guess i wasn't clear. i know they are different people, and i agree that it was wrong of Palin to abuse her power. but i also think that this is an important part of the controversy. it doesn't change the fact that firing Monegan was wrong, it just adds another twist to the story that doesn't appear to be covered.

Kat,
i hear you, the whole story is absolutely necessary... without it, then it's possible to confuse who is whom. so, even though you were clear, i think the point you brought up (and i missed) could have mislead someone who didn't have prior knowledge of the story.

something to consider here is that it seems really clear that Palin wants social supports and protection for herself and her family, but not for her people:

her daughter's out-of-wedlock pregnancy will be supported not by her daughter working three jobs, but by her giving her daughter financial and other support... however, she's cut funding to resources for mothers of more modest means, particularly young mothers, such as Covenant House...

she sought to use her political clout to punish her brother-in-law for domestic violence and general assholishness... in an extra-legal fashion... in the same process of protecting her family, however, she removed from office a very effective public servant who was more focused on protecting the families of her constituents through legal means, so she clearly put her interests above (and contradictory to) the interests of those people she was elected to serve...

I think the important thing to focus on here is that Monegan was supposedly fired for "not being a team player on budget issues".

-I am an Alaskan and have been following this closely-

In regards to Wooten tasering/stun gunning his step-son... The whole story is apparently his step-son came up to him and asked him what if felt like, so Trooper Wooten layed out the sofa cushions, set the device to its lowest setting, and gave him a short zap.

Was it the 'responsible' thing to do? Nope. Do I believe under those circumstances Wooten should be fired? Nope. Was his suspension for 5 days a suitable punishment? I think so.

Come on... For my brother-in-law's birthday his family got him a taser... and guess what we did for about 15 minutes after he opened the present... we shocked one another. Not the most mature thing, sure, but it was a birthday party and you have to have some fun in life. By no means should I get charged with Assault (4th degree, Class a Misdo in Alaska) becuase I zapped my brother-in-law at his request.

You have to understand the situational framework before you pass judgment...