McCain campaign clears Palin in Troopergate ethics probe

ANCHORAGE — Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that cleared her of wrongdoing.

Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of the so-called Troopergate investigation, a legislative probe into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public-safety commissioner.

The commissioner, Walt Monegan, said 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 expected to release their findings today. Campaign officials have yet to see that report — the result of an investigation that began before Palin became McCain's running mate — but said the probe has falsely portrayed a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner as something inappropriate.

"The following document will prove Walt Monegan's dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administration," campaign officials wrote. "Trooper Wooten is a separate issue."

Palin's critics said that shows she used her office to settle family affairs.

"When you're the governor, you leave your household hat at home and you become governor," said state Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican who has frequently clashed with Palin.

The campaign's report instead blames former campaign opponent Andrew Halcro, who has a blog, of conspiring with Wooten to pin Monegan's dismissal on the family's dispute with Wooten.

"It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger after drinks with Trooper Wooten led the Legislature to allocate over $100,000 of public money to be spent in what has become a politically driven investigation," the 21-page report concludes.

Todd Palin has said he had numerous conversations with government officials about why Wooten was allowed to stay on the job, but said he never pressured anyone to fire him.

In a sworn statement to legislative investigators, Todd Palin said he talked with more than a dozen state officials and suggested there was bad blood between the governor and Monegan over two other matters:

• An inquiry from Monegan to the governor about whether she once failed to put her infant son, Trig, in a car seat while she was driving.

• The unavailability of a state trooper airplane for the governor's use when traveling to Alaska's rural areas.

On the car seat, Monegan sent an e-mail to the governor June 30, 12 days before he lost his job, that said: "Via a soon-to-be-retiring legislator, we received a complaint that had you driving with Trig not in an approved car seat; if this is so that would be awkward in many ways."

The governor fired back an e-mail: "I've never driven Trig anywhere without a new, approved carseat. I want to know who said otherwise — pls provide me that info now."

On the trooper airplane, "It seemed that whenever Sarah needed this plane, it was unavailable," Todd Palin said. "We were concerned that the Department of Public Safety was retaliating against Sarah for selling the Murkowski jet that Department of Public Safety officials enjoyed using." In 2007, the governor sold a jet her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, bought.

Information from McClatchy Newspapers

is included in this report.