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JUNEAU, Alaska - State Sen. Hollis French has been fined nearly $1,400 by the Alaska Public Offices Commission for not reporting donations.

Surprise. Surprise. President Barack Obama has done a nationwide search and appointed the Chairman of the Troopergate investigation as Director of Alaskan Affairs at the Interior Department. Is this a case of political payback for a smear job well done on Governor Sarah Palin??? Yes!

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The lawyer for Gov. Sarah Palin's husband fired back at Alaska state senators Saturday, disputing that Todd Palin and others "ignored" subpoenas issued last fall during the Troopergate investigation of the governor. Attorney Thomas V. Van Flein said that immediately after a judge's decision refusing to intervene, all subpoenaed witnesses, including Todd Palin, filed detailed written responses to lawmakers. "These are not the actions of contemptuous witnesses, rather, they reflect a studied and deliberate invocation of law and due process, and in accord with the rule of law, once the court issued its decision, the parties then...

Sarah Palin has been cleared of abusing her office in the "Troopergate" case by a state personnel board, which over-turned the findings of an earlier probe by the state legislator. The investigation into the dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner found that the Alaskan governor had not abused the power of her office by firing Walt Monegan. It also cleared her from ethics violations in respect to her dealings regarding Michael Wooten, the state trooper involved in a contentious divorce and custody battle with her sister. The report, released the day before the US presidential elections, concluded there was...

A new report just released -- hours before the polls open on Election Day -- exonerates Gov. Sarah Palin in the Troopergate controversy. ... Both investigations found that Palin was within her rights to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. But the new report says the Legislature's investigator was wrong to conclude that Palin abused her power by allowing aides and her husband, Todd, to pressure Monegan and others to dismiss her ex-brother-in-law, Trooper Mike Wooten. Palin was accused of firing Monegan after Wooten stayed on the job.

...My conclusion is that the Wooten and Monegan matters reveal an Alaska scandal, but one very different from what has been reported by the national press. The scandal — and it is a serious one — involves the conduct of the managers of Alaska’s police agencies and the political officials who have sought to defend them and attack Governor Palin... Excerpt: See the whole opinion at http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2008/10/25/opinion/columnists/doc49014ba09bfbe185314041.txt

STATEMENT FROM MCCAIN-PALIN SPOKESWOMAN MEG STAPLETON Friday, October 10, 2008 ARLINGTON, VA — McCain-Palin 2008 spokeswoman Meg Stapleton issued the following statement on today’s release of Stephen Branchflower’s report: “Today’s report shows that the Governor acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan. The report also illustrates what we’ve known all along: this was a partisan led inquiry run by Obama supporters and the Palins were completely justified in their concern regarding Trooper Wooten given his violent and rogue behavior. Lacking evidence to support the original Monegan allegation, the Legislative Council seriously overreached, making a...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - It's unclear what impact the so-called "troopergate" investigation in Alaska may have on the presidential election. (see video report) A report from a state legislative committee says Governor Sarah Palin violated Alaska's ethics laws and abused her power by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper. But the committee has no authority to sanction Palin, and is not recommending a criminal investigation. The next step, if any, is up to Alaska's state Personnel Board. If it were to decide Palin violated ethics law, it could refer the matter to the Senate president...

(snip) Today, however, in an episode of political theater that would make Josef Stalin blush, French gave it his very best shot: The investigator he hired and directed, Steve Branchflower, has labored mightily and given birth to a bloated and redundant 263-page report which boils down, for purposes of the ongoing presidential campaign, to two paragraphs that completely contradict one another. And the one of them that's unfavorable ignores the most important — indeed conclusive — evidence on point, but goes on to provide Branchflower's guess as to whether Gov. Palin has done anything improper. Please understand this, if you...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state's public safety commissioner. The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn't the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely was a contributing factor. The Republican vice presidential nominee has been accused of firing a commissioner to settle a family dispute. Palin supporters have called the investigation politically motivated. Monegan says he was dismissed as retribution for resisting pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's...

The lead dog on the Troopergate smear campaign has a little explaining to do himself. On his official State of Alaska website he claims to have been in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1977-78 as a private. There is also a reference to (PLC). As a former Marine, this smells fishy. In another story French claims he spent six weeks at Quantico, VA. As every Marine knows, Quantico is where Marine officer training occurs. For French to have been a Marine private he would have had to complete basic training at either Parris Island or San Diego, which takes about...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday. The politically charged inquiry imperiled her reputation as a reformer on John McCain's Republican ticket.

Corruption: Wooten - Tip of the Iceberg Oct 2 Written by: Seth Church 10/2/2008 1:31 AM My turn: "Troopergate" allegations expose new corruption By Jim Crawford - I've known and respected many Alaska State Troopers in my 60 years in Alaska. But amazingly, now it appears that the most corrupt 'Good Old Boy' network is Alaska's Department of Public Safety. "Troopergate" allegations that Gov. Sarah Palin, her staff, or husband, Todd, used undue influence to get Trooper Mike Wooten fired were unfounded since he wasn't fired. The "Troopergate" investigation, however, documented the reasons why he should have been. I believe...

Palin pre-empts state report, clears self in probe ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing. Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law. Lawmakers are...

On the eve of a report on a legislative panel's abuse-of-power investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report clearing her of any wrongdoing. Palin, running mate to Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is the subject of two inquiries into whether she abused her power by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner says he was dismissed for resisting pressure to fire Palin's former brother-in-law, a state trooper. Lawmakers are expected to release their findings Friday. The report the McCain-Palin campaign released Thursday night says the firing was based on a budget dispute. Since then, the...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin remained in the dark while her husband repeatedly asked top state officials to help get his former brother-in-law kicked off the state police force, Palin's husband and top aides said in affidavits provided to The Associated Press.

Alaska's Supreme Court has refused to shut down an ethics investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee. The decision Thursday sets the stage for state lawmakers to release a report on their investigation Friday. The report could prove to be an embarrassment for Palin and a distraction for John McCain's presidential campaign in the final weeks of the race....

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband and seven aides will answer questions from a legislative inquiry into abuse-of-power allegations against the U.S. Republican vice presidential candidate, state and campaign officials said on Monday. Palin is being investigated for her dismissal in July of the state's public safety commissioner, a move that critics of Palin allege was part of a personal vendetta against a state trooper who is the governor's former brother-in-law. Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said Palin's chief of staff and six other aides will stop fighting subpoenas that were issued last month by the state's...

When the McCain campaign released the bad news it had accumulated in its post-haste vetting of Sarah Palin, it did so all at once, during the travel holiday weekend of Labor Day. They chose this strategy, as one key campaign adviser promised a New York Times reporter, "We are going to flush the toilet." And what a toilet it is. Just to pick one of the examples that actually relates to the issue of her mode of governance – the ostensible reason she was chosen to be a heartbeat away from the presidency by a man with a 72-year-old ticker...

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA (AP) - Less than a week after balking at the Alaska Legislature's investigation into her alleged abuse of power, Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday indicated she will cooperate with a separate probe run by people she can fire. An attorney for the GOP vice presidential nominee met with an investigator for the state Personnel Board to discuss sharing documents and schedule witness interviews, McCain spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said. Neither she nor McCain spokesman Ed O'Callaghan had further details about the meeting and said they did not know if the governor or her husband would be interviewed.