Palin e-mails critical of troopers

EAGLE RIVER, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wrote e-mails that harshly criticized state troopers for failing to fire her former brother-in-law and ridiculed an internal-affairs investigation into his conduct.

The e-mails, never before made public, were divulged by a former public-safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, who was fired by Palin in July.

Monegan has given copies to state ethics investigators to support his contention that he was dismissed for failing to fire Trooper Mike Wooten, who at the time was feuding with Palin's family.

"This trooper is still out on the street, in fact he's been promoted," said the Feb. 7, 2007, e-mail sent from Palin's personal Yahoo account and written to give Monegan permission to speak on a violent-crime bill before the Legislature.

"It was a joke, the whole year long 'investigation' of him," the e-mail said. "This is the same trooper who's out there today telling people the new administration is going to destroy the trooper organization, and that he'd 'never work for that b****, Palin'.)"

Asked about the e-mails, Palin campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella said the governor merely was alerting officials to potential threats to her family and that there is no evidence Palin ever ordered that Wooten be fired.

Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body authorized last month to look into whether she pressured Monegan to fire Wooten and whether his failure to do so led to his dismissal.

Palin had promised to cooperate with the inquiry, but she hired a lawyer this week to fight to move the case to the jurisdiction of the state personnel board, which Palin appoints. Her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, challenged the jurisdiction of Stephen Branchflower, the retired prosecutor hired to investigate and report to the Legislature by late October.

When Palin entered the governor's office in late 2006, Wooten had been reprimanded, reassigned and suspended for five days for incidents reported by Palin's family. The family had filed complaints in April 2005 after Palin's younger sister's marriage to Wooten fell apart and the couple battled in a bitter child-custody dispute.

Palin has said she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of security concerns for the family. Monegan has said Palin never directly told him to fire Wooten but that the message was clearly conveyed through repeated messages from Palin, her husband and three Cabinet members.

In August, Palin acknowledged that "pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it."

In an interview Wednesday, Monegan said he took his duties as Alaska's top law-enforcement official seriously. "I would willingly die for the governor, but I would never lie for her," he said.

He revealed two e-mails he received from Palin but declined to give copies. The first came on Feb. 7, 2007, after the governor's husband, Todd, met with Monegan to press the case for disciplinary action against Wooten. Palin's family had accused the trooper of shooting a cow moose without a permit, Tasering his stepson and drinking while driving a trooper vehicle. Palin followed up with a phone call to Monegan.

In the e-mail sent a few weeks later, Palin encouraged Monegan to testify for a bill that would require 99-year sentences for police officers found guilty of murder. "For police officers to violate the public trust is a grave, grave violation — in my opinion. We have too many examples lately of cops and troopers who violate the public trust DPS has come across as merely turning a blind eye or protecting that officer, seemingly 'for the good of the brotherhood'."

She cited Wooten's case as an example of violating the public trust.

The second e-mail came from Palin's Yahoo address on July 17, 2007, after the local newspaper publicized a legislative proposal that would keep guns away from the mentally ill.

Her first thought about the bill, the e-mail said, "went to my ex-brother-in-law, the trooper, who threatened to kill my dad yet was not even reprimanded by his bosses and still to this day carries a gun, of course.

"We can't have double standards. Remember when the death threat was reported, and follow-on threats from Mike that he was going to 'bring Sarah and her family down' — instead of any reprimand WE were told by trooper union personnel that we'd be sued if we talked about those threats. Amazing. And he's still a trooper, and he still carries a gun, and he still tells anyone who will listen that he will 'ever work for that b*itch' (me) because he has such anger and disdain towards my family.

"So consistency is needed here," the e-mail said. "No one's above the law. If the law needs to be changed to not allow access to guns for people threatening to kill someone, it must apply to everyone."

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An aide to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is refusing to give a deposition in the review of Palin's firing of her public-safety commissioner. An attorney for Frank Bailey questions whether the Legislature has jurisdiction to investigate the firing of Walt Monegan.

— The Associated Press