TrooperGate: Meet The Man In The Middle

For some reason, Democrats have a habit of diefying people who are somewhat less than scrupulous and oftentimes, that diefication comes before they really know who that person is.

Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Jesse Jackson, just to name a few.

Now, they have jumped the gun on diefication again, this time with former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

Far from being an upright man who did what was right, Monegan's story is one of growing interest and a dark past. From Amanda Carpenter at TownHall:

[Monegan] recently admitted dislocating his wife's shoulder "by accident" by "wrestling and tickling" her according to the San Francisco Chronicle. His estranged wife Georgene Moldovan, however, tells it a little differently. Moldovan said she sought a restraining order against Monegan in 1994 after he threatened to kill her, waved a gun at her and knocked her shoulder out of socket, according to court papers. The court papers say: "he pulled out his gun and waved it at me outside my home and yelled he would kill me if I stopped him." Moldovan told the SF Chronicle that Monegan "would show up unannounced and break into my apartment and do threatening things. I was forced to get a restraining order because I was really fearful he was going to harm me." She said he also threatened to throw her body into a cold, Alaskan river.

I bet Monegan didn't want any of this coming to light as it is very embarrassing. Still, the original question of TrooperGate was whether or not Monegan was fired because of his refusal to terminate Governor Palin's ex-Brother-in-law Mike Wooten.

But there is no evidence that this was the case and Monegan even admitted that there was no pressure for him to fire Wooten.

Here is the real story behind the firing:

Thomas Van Flein, Palin's legal counsel, submitted a report to investigators last week that said Monegan was eventually fired for “outright insubordination.” Fein cited evidence showing Monegan defied the Governor by making public requests for projects Palin did not support in her budget, such as an $1.8 million increase for the Anchorage Community Land Trust (a project Palin had previously vetoed) and by planning an unauthorized trip to Washington to lobby the Alaskan delegation for more money. Monegan wanted Washington to give him between $10 million and $20 million to rehire retired troopers to specialize in sexual assault cases. The Palin administration maintained Monegan needed to fill his 56 general enforcement vacancies that already had an existing funding stream before hiring specialized enforcement staff outside the budget. Flein also included an avalanche of 2008 emails from Palin’s staff that discussed Monegan’s, a political appointee who served at the Governor’s pleasure, disruptive agenda in his report. None of the emails mentioned Wooten.

That's right, none of the emails mentioned Wooten. I wonder if the Obama operatives, Democrats Hollis French and Ken Elton, will make sure that these facts are mentioned in the final report?

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Violent Men At Center Of "Troopergate"
Amanda Carpenter
TownHall.com
September 22, 2008

It's Official: Troopergate Is Now A Partisan Witch-Hunt Being Conducted By The Democrats

The Dems must be getting really, really desperate. They see their numbers falling faster than the water going over Niagra Falls, and they are now doing anything and everything to Swiftboat Sarah Palin, even if the rest of the world sees what they are doing while they are doing it.

In a previous post, I introduced you to the investigators of Troopergate. It is already shady enough that Democrats French Hollis and Kim Elton are using their positions of power to influence the investigation. But more information is coming to light, and it is not good news for the Dems who really need this to be a big scandal in order to revive Barack Obama's sagging campaign. Now, we have evidence that Hollis, Elton and compnay may be witness tampering.

From Amanda Carpenter over at TownHall:

A Friday hearing revealed that an Obama partisan has manipulated an independent investigator’s subpoena list for a controversial inquiry against GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The investigation is intended to determine whether Palin abused her office by firing Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Palin says she fired him over budget issues. Her foes believe the firing was due to Monegan’s unwillingness to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law State Trooper Mike Wooten, a man who has admitted to “tasering” his stepson, illegally shooting a moose and has been accused of threatening his former father-in-law with violence and drinking in his police car. Investigator Steven Branchflower admitted he had ceded control of his subpoena list to Sen. Hollis French (D.) during Alaska’s Joint Judiciary Committee September 12 hearing that was scheduled to approve subpoena requests. [CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO.] French is a partisan who has endorsed Palin’s Democratic presidential ticket rival Barack Obama for president and is actively supporting his candidacy. Lawmakers approved 13 of Branchflower’s subpoena requests that day, which included one for Palin’s husband, Todd. Four other subpoenas were approved for aides Branchflower believes participated in a meeting called by Palin’s former chief of staff Mike Tibbles where Wooten’s firing was allegedly discussed. Rep. David Guttenberg (D.) asked Branchflower why he was requesting subpoenas for only those people attending the meeting and not Tibbles himself. Branchflower said he would “have to defer that question to Mr. French.” “I put the list together with, talking to Mr. French,” Branchflower added. Sen. Gene Therriault (R.) told Branchflower, “I don’t understand why you would have to defer that question to Sen. French. If it’s your list you’re in complete control of the list, then why can’t you answer the question?” Branchflower had no explanation. He only offered, “I’m not sure why his name was removed. My initial request was to have him on the list.” At that point, French interjected. “It appeared to me there wasn’t the political will to subpoena Tibbles.” “Something’s fishy here,” Therriault replied. “I mean either Mr. Branchflower conducts his investigation without direction, and now we know he’s been directed on the date and changing what he’s doing and how he’s doing it because of the time pressure he is feeling. And now we’re hearing that people that he’s trying to get information from, there’s direction going on on that, too.” Indeed. Although the investigation is far from concluding, French has suggested it may culminate in an “October surprise,” perhaps even Palin's impeachment as Governor-- a game-changing outcome that would certainly increase the Democrats chances of winning the White House in November. The final report, which French has already described as “damaging,” is set to be released on October 31, four days shy of the presidential election.

Clearly, Hollis French is an Obama operative who is directing this investigation (check the picture) so as to cause as much damage as possible to the McCain-Palin ticket and it is very likely that the Obama campaign knows about it since they sent 30 lawyers and other operatives up to Alaska to try and dig up any dirt they could on Governor Palin.

The actions of Hollis and Elton give this investigation all the markings of a witch-hunt and it is being conducted by the Democrats.

More:

According to campaign finance data available on opensecrets.com Elton has donated at least $2,000 to Obama’s campaign. Three other Democrats on the Elton’s 14-member council are also supporting Obama for president, as identified on Obama’s presidential website. Further fueling the GOP’s fire is the fact that former Commissioner Monegan and state trooper Wooten are surprisingly mild-mannered about this “scandal” that’s blown into a national news story after Palin’s vice presidential appointment. Monegan told the Anchorage Daily News on August 30 that he was never pressured to dismiss Palin’s former brother-in-law. “For the record,” he said, “no one has ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff.” Wooten, for his part, has reportedly turned down at least $30,000 from tabloids hungry for his side of the story. ... CNN reported that Obama campaign officials had been contacting Wooten’s union ...

Something is definitely fishy up in Alaska. And it seems to be centering on two Obama operatives: Hollis and Elton.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Obama Partisan Tampers With Palin Subpoena List
Amanda Carpenter
TownHall.com
September 13, 2008