Is Sarah Palin striving to become a high-latitude Victoria Richart?

2008 Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska

Alaska's current "Troopergate" sounds a lot like the "MiraCosta Mess" to me. I wonder who the Daniel Shinoff alter ego is in this story. I'm not saying that Palin's ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Wooten, is an angel, but I doubt that it was part of Palin's job description to make personnel decisions regarding individual troopers. Just because you have power doesn't mean your personal agenda must be fulfilled by your subordinates.

CBS News
by Laura Strickler and Kim Lengle
WASILLA, Alaska, Sept. 3, 2008

Alaskans refer to it as “troopergate” but the McCain campaign is convinced the investigation into Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s attempts to fire her ex-brother-in-law, state Trooper Mike Wooten, will show no wrongdoing. Palin allegedly demanded that Wooten be fired from his job while Wooten was in the midst of a bitter divorce with her sister. The results of the investigation will be released a few days before the November election.

The focus of the investigation will surround whether Palin abused her power as governor by pressuring Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, to fire Wooten. After Monegan declined to fire Wooten, Palin asked him to step down. Investigators will try and figure out if the two incidents are related, Palin says they are not...



PALIN DID A POOR JOB OF VETTING THE PERSON WHO REPLACED MONEGAN


Anchorage Daily News
Story by LISA DEMER
August 30th, 2008

Alaska's former commissioner of public safety says Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain's pick to be vice president, personally talked with him on two occasions about a state trooper who was locked in a bitter custody battle with the governor's sister...

No one from the McCain campaign ever contacted him to vet Palin as a candidate, Monegan said.

Who did they contact? "We don't talk about the vetting process," said Maria Comella, Palin's vice president campaign press secretary...

Palin's replacement for Monegan, Chuck Kopp, was forced to resign just two weeks after he was appointed because of a sexual harassment complaint that had been filed against him when he was the chief of police in Kenai.

Palin, in a news conference announcing Kopp's resignation July 24, said she was unaware that the Kenai city council had reprimanded Kopp as a result of the complaint and would not discuss how her staff had vetted Kopp before naming him to replace Monegan three days after Monegan was fired...

NOTE: Anchorage attorney Thomas V. Van Flein seems to be the Daniel Shinoff alter ego in this case.