Those who followed politics in the 1990's undoubtedly remember the original "Troopergate" scandal, which involved allegations that then-governor Bill Clinton enlisted a handful of trusted Arkansas State Troopers to assist in finding attractive young women willing to satisfy the governor's sexual needs.
The Sarah Palin version of "Troopergate" bears no resemblance to the original.
The common version of the Sarah Palin Troopergate smear goes something like this: In 2005 Sarah Palin's sister Molly was going through a nasty divorce. Her husband at the time, Mike Wooten, was an Alaska State Trooper. Palin and her family went to desperate lengths to destroy Wooten's career and to portray him as a sadistic madman. After she became governor, in a desperate act of cronyism Sarah Palin allegedly pressured Alaska's Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Wooten. Palin also allegedly ordered Monegan to spread false allegations of Wooten engaging in spousal abuse in order to bring about Wooten's dismissal. Monegan, an honest and upright individual who was "always a team player," refused to comply with Palin's orders. In retaliation, Palin had Monegan fired in July 2008 in a purely political abuse of power.
Currently, there is an ongoing ethics investigation in Alaska, the purpose of which is to determine the truth and establish the actual reason(s) Monegan was fired. It should be noted straightaway that the ethics complaint was filed by Gov. Palin herself, in order to give her the opportunity to publicly argue her case. Walt Monegan did not file the ethics complaint.
The press is continually reporting on this story, and has repeatedly tied any McCain-Palin slip in the polls to "concerns over Troopergate," or some similar line of reasoning. Like most incidents that involve family disputes or politics, the story behind Walt Monehan's dismissal and Molly (Heath/Wooten) McCann's divorce is complicated, but not difficult to understand.
Sarah Palin's sister Molly filed for divorce from Mike Wooten in April 2005. Here is how Wikipedia summarizes the incidents surrounding the divorce filing (footnotes link to Wikipedia):
On April 11, 2005, Chuck Heath (the father of Molly McCann, then Molly Wooten, and of Sarah Palin) phoned the police related to the serving of Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) papers upon Molly's then-husband, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten as part of submitting a divorce request.[14][15] Simultaneously a call was received from Paul Page related to the "disconnected" behavior of Wooten, and who relayed to the officer what he had been told by Heath and McCann.[14] Subsequently Sergeant Burke Waldron returned the call to Heath and spoke to McCann. She said that Mike Wooten had threatened to shoot her father if he hired an attorney to help in her divorce.[14][15][16] McCann told the police, as part of the original complaint, that although Wooten "has never physically abused her" he "acts very intimidating".[14] Furthermore she alleged the use of illegal testosterone supplement and drink driving, had threatened to "take down" Palin if she got involved (at that time Palin was not Governor), as well as stating she was "scared" of what of what Wooten "would do when he finds out she has hired an attorney".[14]
As part of the divorce proceedings the judge granted the Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) against Wooten, awarded custody of McCann's children to her, and issued a summons.[17]
Based on McCann's complaint, the Alaskan Police began an investigation into the claims made.
... On August 10, 2005, Palin sent an email to Col. Julia Grimes, chief of the Alaska state police, urging that Wooten be dismissed and giving more details about the alleged death threat.[19] The email from Palin to Grimes said that the February 2005 threat by Wooten to shoot Heath came after McCann had accused Wooten of attending an event with another woman.[16][19] In the email, Palin described Wooten as "a loose cannon" and "a ticking timebomb," and said that failing to fire Wooten "would lead a rational person to believe there is a problem inside the organization."[16][19]
... On May 9, a court hearing was held regarding the DVPO. At this hearing the DVPO was quashed because McCann's counsel was unable to produce evidence of any acts of physical or implied violence.[21][15]
The divorce went to trial in October 2005. The presiding judge reviewed the DVPO complaint, but dismissed it because there was no evidence that Wooten was ever physically violent. The judge castigated the Heath family (including Sarah Palin) for "disparaging" Wooten during the trial. He also questioned why the Heath family wanted Wooten fired, noting that such an act would severely impair Wooten's ability to pay child support. A representative from the Alaska State Trooper's union (not an official department spokesman) defended Wooten and accused the Heath family of "harassment." A divorce was granted, but fights over child custody, child support, and visitation rights continued through 2008. (Mike Wooten pictured at left)
Due to the nature of the charges made against Wooten, the Alaska State Police launched a formal investigation. Here are the results (footnotes link to Wikipedia):
Death threat
The probe found that Wooten violated internal policy, but not the law, in making a death threat against Heath (the father of Sarah Palin and Molly McCann).[15] Wooten denied having made the threat, but the investigation decided that he had in fact done so.[15] The trooper investigation concluded that the death threat was not a crime because Wooten did not threaten the father directly; therefore, the investigator deemed the threat to be a violation of trooper policy rather than a violation of criminal law.[2] Although the death threat was listed as a violation of trooper policy in the Memorandum of Findings[15] issued on October 29, 2005, it was not mentioned at all in the suspension letter[23] sent to Wooten by Col. Grimes on March 1, 2006.
Moose hunt
The internal investigation found that Wooten had committed a hunting violation in shooting a moose without a permit: he had been out hunting with McCann in September 2003 and had shot the animal himself even though their permit was in McCann's name only.[15] According to subsequent news reports, McCann had obtained the permit but balked at killing the moose herself, so she handed the gun to her then-husband, who shot the animal.[24]
Taser incident
Wooten was also found to have violated department policy in using a Taser on his then 11-year old stepson in 2003. He told investigators that he did so "in a training capacity" after the child had asked to be tased in order to show his cousin, Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, that he "wasn't a mama's boy".[25][15][26]
In a statement to the police, the boy said "that he wanted to be tased to show that he's not a mommy's boy in front of Bristol. Following being tased he went upstairs to tell his mother that he was fine."[21] In a statement to the police, Molly McCann said "she was up stairs giving a bath to the kids … Mike was going to show Payton what it feels like and she told Mike that he better not."[21] According to Molly's account, she remained upstairs during the incident.
Although the Taser incident happened in 2003, it was not reported to police until on or after April 11, 2005, the day that Molly McCann filed for divorce. On June 6, 2005, a police investigator asked Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol why they "waited so long and brought the incident up after two years." Bristol said "because of the divorce."[21]
Alcohol-related allegations
The investigation initially cleared Wooten on all of the alcohol-related charges,[15] but Grimes overturned that result and found that Wooten did "take [an] open beer with him when he drove away in his trooper vehicle" on one occasion in the summer of 2004, violating both the law and internal trooper policy.[27] Wooten was not on duty; he was wearing "civilian attire." And he "drove approximately one mile to his residence."[21] Because Wooten "was a member of the SERT [SWAT] team … he [was allowed to] use his State vehicle for personal use."[28] The only witnesses to this event were close friends of Sarah Palin's father: "Adrian Lane was a student of Chuck Heath's in Idaho when he was a child and they have been close friends ever since."[15] This is apparently why the original Memo of Findings[15] treated this allegation as "Not Sustained." Wooten denied this allegation.[21]
Other charges
Wooten was cleared of numerous other allegations made by McCann and her family, including that he had taken illegal steroid and testosterone supplements, that he had physically assaulted McCann, and that he had illegally shot a wolf.[15]
Suspension of Wooten
Based on the internal investigation findings, Grimes announced on March 1, 2006 that she would suspend Wooten for ten days. In announcing the suspension, Grimes referred to the Taser, moose and beer incidents, and also to seven other negative actions in Wooten's personnel file, such as failing to use turn signals. She concluded that "[t]he record clearly indicates a serious and concentrated pattern of unacceptable and at times, illegal activity occurring over a lengthy period, which establishes a course of conduct totally at odds with the ethics of our profession".[16][25][23] After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days, and Wooten was warned by Grimes that he would be fired if he committed any further misconduct.[25]
One may question whether or not the Heath family went to unnecessary extremes in their attempt to disparage Mike Wooten, but the official investigation leaves little doubt that a dismissal of Wooten (rather than just the 10 day suspension that he received) would have not been grossly out of line. He did, after all, swear to uphold the law of the State of Alaska, and seemed to have no problem engaging in routine infractions of that law.
It is also important to note that at the time, the results of the investigation into Wooten's behavior -- specifically the warning by Grimes -- were not revealed to the Heath/Palin family, as they were strictly part of an internal affairs proceeding. The exact nature of the disciplinary action taken against Wooten would not be made public until some time later. The Heath/Palin family only knew that Wooten had been given a 10 day suspension that was halved to five days. Obviously they did not consider this "slap on the wrist" punishment to be sufficient.
Walt Monegan's involvement in the Wooten affair began in January 2007 with a meeting between Monegan and Todd Palin, Sarah Palin's husband; Palin had just been sworn in as the state's governor. Todd Palin brought up the allegations made during Molly's divorce, and clearly articulated that an unstable individual such as Wooten should not be wearing a state trooper's badge.
According to Monegan, Gov. Palin continued to mention Wooten in conversations regarding specific legislation, including a proposed 99 year sentence for police officers who commit murder, and a proposed law designed to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Mike Wooten also continued to be the subject of inter-office memos, emails, and conversations between various state officials and members of Gov. Palin's staff. Obviously Palin and her family still felt (rightly or wrongly) that Wooten was unstable and should not be wearing a badge, and that he had never been effectively disciplined. As far as can be determined, Walt Monegan never acted on the Heath/Palin family's repeated pleas for Wooten to be investigated and/or further disciplined.
Walt Monegan was fired in July of this year. Again, from the Wikipedia summary (footnotes link to Wikipedia):
On July 11, 2008, Palin's acting chief of staff Mike Nizich dismissed Monegan, offering him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he turned down.[38]
In a letter to DPS employees announcing his termination, Monegan wrote that he was an at-will employee and knew his dismissal was "a possibility ever present," and that he had been advised that the governor wanted to take DPS in a "different direction."[39] In an interview the next day Monegan said that the dismissal had come "out of the blue" and that "[i]f the governor was upset with me for one thing or another, it had never been communicated to me."[38]
On July 17, Palin said publicly that "We have [to] start recruiting. We have to start doing more than just talking about it. And taking action also." Monegan responded on July 18 that the two most recent trooper graduating classes had the most recruits in years.[40] On July 18, Monegan suggested that his dismissal might have been related to his reluctance to fire Wooten. He said phone calls and questions from the Palin administration and the governor's husband, Todd Palin, about Wooten started shortly after Monegan was hired and continued until May or June 2008.[41] Monegan said that Palin's acting chief of staff, Mike Nizich, told him on July 11 that he was being removed from his position because Palin wanted to take the Department of Public Safety in a different direction.[42]
On July 18, in response to Monegan's comments, Palin released a statement:
“ I do not interfere with the day-to-day operations of any department. Former Commissioner Monegan was not released due to any actions or inaction related to personnel issues in his department. We had hoped the former commissioner would have stayed in state service to help fight alcohol-related crime. We offered him the position of executive director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control board and, unfortunately, he turned it down.[43][40] ” The statement also denied that the governor had improperly accessed Wooten's employment records, saying that "[t]o allege that I, or any member of my family, requested, received or released confidential personnel information on an Alaska State Trooper, or directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous. Any information regarding personnel records came from the trooper himself."[43] Palin said "absolutely no pressure [was] ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time … no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody."[40]
Walt Monegan's conflicting statements about the nature of his dismissal should cast some doubt on the veracity of his claims of cronyism within the Palin administration. However, the consistent mention of Wooten by members of the Heath/Palin family leaves little doubt as to their intention to sew doubt about Wooten's fitness as a law enforcement officer within the fabric of the state Department of Public Safety.
Interestingly, Alaska State Rep. Hollis French, who is leading the current ethics investigation, has been a close friend and political ally of Walt Monegan for years. Perhaps those looking for cronyism within the Alaska State Government should start by exploring "the French connection."
Finally, the Anchorage Daily News recently reported on papers filed by Gov. Palin's attorneys that seem to clearly show that Monegan engaged in a pattern of insubordination and willful disregard for state government rules during his tenure as Public Safety Commissioner -- none of these actions involved Trooper Mike Wooten. Such activity would of course merit disciplinary action or dismissal. Some of the insubordinate acts included:
- 12/9/07: Monegan holds a press conference with Hollis French to push his own budget plan.
- 1/29/08: Palin’s staffers have to rework their procedures to keep Monegan from bypassing normal channels for budget requests.
- February 2008: Monegan publicly releases a letter he wrote to Palin supporting a project she vetoed.
- June 26, 2008: Monegan bypassed the governor’s office entirely and contacted Alaska’s Congressional delegation to gain funding for a project.
However, controversy still surrounds a single lobbying trip that Monegan took to Washington, DC. Palin's office claimed that the trip was the "last straw" for Monegan, and concurrent staff emails contain doubt and confusion about the trip, but internal documents show that it was approved by Palin's chief of staff. Nonetheless, blogger Ed Morrisey notes, "The wonder of this isn’t that he got fired — it’s how he managed to hang onto his job as long as he did."
Although it appears that the Heath/Palin family vendetta against Mike Wooten may have gone a little overboard, as of yet there is no clear evidence that Sarah Palin engaged in any illegal or unethical behavior with respect to Wooten, or the termination Walt Monegan.
________________________________________________
10-10-08: The official state investigation into "Troopergate" has ended. Here is how the AP summarized the conclusion:
A legislative investigator found that Palin violated state ethics laws and abused her power by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.
... The inquiry looked into Palin's dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.
Stephen Branchflower, a retired prosecutor hired to conduct the investigation, said Monegan's firing was lawful. But the pressure Palin and her husband put on him, he said, was not.
The Commission's report stated that Sarah and Todd Palin's continued pleas to have officer Mike Wooten disciplined or fired constituted a misuse of power by the office of the Governor. But the commission recommended no criminal investigation (in other words, they found no criminal wrongdoing) and referred the matter to the Alaska Senate, which actually has the power to sanction Palin if it so chooses.
The Wall Street Journal has more, including this statement from the governor's office:
...
RETURN TO PALINSMEARSDEBUNKED.COM HOME