Super trooper investigations gonna blind me, but I won't be blue...
DeLay AND Abramoff back in one post, omg it's almost too much for a girl to handle~
Palin E-Mails Show Intense Interest in Trooper's Penalty
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the running mate for GOP presidential candidate John McCain, wrote e-mails that harshly criticized Alaska state troopers for failing to fire her former brother-in-law and ridiculed an internal affairs investigation into his conduct.
The e-mails were shown to The Washington Post by a former public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, who was fired by Palin in July. Monegan has given copies of the e-mails 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 a 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 state 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's campaign spokeswoman, Maria Comella, said that Palin was merely alerting officials to potential threats to her family and that there is no evidence that Palin ever ordered Wooten to be fired.
"Let's be clear, Governor Palin has done nothing wrong and is an open book in this process. Mr. Monegan even stated himself that no one ever told him to fire anyone, period," Comella said later in a statement. "The Governor was rightly expressing concern about Mr. Wooten."
Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body that was authorized last month to look into whether Palin pressured Monegan to force Wooten from the state police force and whether his failure to do so led to his dismissal.
Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week moved to change the jurisdiction of the case to the state personnel board, which Palin appoints. Her attorney, Thomas V. Van Flein, who was hired last month, challenged the jurisdiction of Stephen Branchflower, the retired prosecutor hired to investigate and report back to the legislature by the last week of October.
When Palin entered the governor's office in late 2006, Wooten already had been reprimanded, reassigned and suspended for five days for incidents reported by Palin's family. They had filed complaints in April 2005 after her younger sister's marriage fell apart and the couple battled in a bitter child-custody dispute.
Palin has said previously that she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of security concerns for the family. Monegan has said that Palin never directly told him to fire Wooten but that the message was clearly conveyed through repeated messages from Palin, her husband and three members of her Cabinet.
"To allege that I, or any member of my family . . . directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous," Palin said in a statement in mid-July after Monegan's dismissal.
In August, Palin acknowledged that "pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it."
During an interview here Wednesday, Monegan said that as Alaska's top law enforcement official, he took his duties seriously. "I would willingly die for the governor, but I would never lie for her," he said.
He showed The Post two e-mails he received from Palin, but he declined to give copies. The first e-mail 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. After her husband met with Monegan, Palin followed up with a phone call to Monegan.
In that first e-mail, sent a few weeks after the meeting, 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. She recounted his transgressions, beginning with the killing of the cow moose using a permit obtained by his wife. Molly McCann, who uses her name from a previous marriage, was with Wooten at the time.
"He's still bragging about it in my hometown and after another cop confessed to witnessing the kill, the trooper was 'investigated' for over a year and merely given a slap on the wrist," the e-mail said. "Though he's out there arresting people today for the same crime!"
"He threatened to kill his estranged wife's parent, refused to be transferred to rural Alaska and continued to disparage Natives in words and tone, he continues to harass and intimidate his ex. -- even after being slapped with a restraining order that was lifted when his supervisors intervened," the e-mail said. "He threatens to always be able to come out on top because he's 'got the badge', etc. etc. etc."
Palin wrote that the Wooten matter had contributed to "the erosion of faith Alaskans should have in their law enforcement officials." She concluded by saying the e-mail was "just my opinion."
The second e-mail Monegan produced came from Palin's Yahoo address on July 17, 2007, after the local newspaper publicized a legislative proposal that would keep guns out of the hands of 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. . . .
"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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Palin Wants Independent Trooper-Gate Probe Called Off
In the latest sign that Sarah Palin's promised cooperation with the Trooper-Gate investigation is failing to materialize, her lawyer is now demanding that the entire case be taken out of the hands of the independent prosecutor hired by Alaska lawmakers, and given over to a state personnel board -- whose three members were appointed by the governor herself.
In an unusual "ethics disclosure" filed last night, along with related documents, to the state Attorney General, Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, asked the personnel board to look into the firing of Walt Monegan, the former public safety commissioner at the center of the case. Van Flein also asked the legislature to drop its own investigation, contending that only the personnel board has jurisdiction over ethics. And he suggested that if the legislature didn't agree to hand the matter over to the personnel board, Palin would not be made available for a deposition.
Sen. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat in charge of the legislature's investigation, immediately told the Anchorage Daily News that the probe would go ahead as planned. French has said before that he is willing to issue subpoenas if necessary.
"We're going to proceed. If they want to proceed, that's perfectly within their right but it doesn't diminish our right to do so," he said.
The case concerns allegations that Palin improperly pressured Monegan to fire a state trooper who was embroiled in a family dispute with the Palin family, then fired Monegan when he refused to axe Wooten.
Van Flein, whose fee is being paid for by the state of Alaska, also used last night's complaint -- released the night before Palin is to speak as John McCain's vice presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention -- to put out information intended to paint the trooper, Jim Wooten, in a negative light, as well as to undercut Monegan's claims that the governor pressured him to fire Wooten.
In the words of the ADN, the complaint contends that:
"Monegan never told the governor or Todd Palin that Wooten had been disciplined over complaints brought by the family that included tasering his stepson, illegally shooting a moose and telling others that Heath would 'eat a f***ing lead bullet' if he helped his daughter get an attorney for the divorce."
And:
"Recently, Wooten's supervisor intervened when he wouldn't return the children after a visit, the complaint says. Wooten warned his ex-wife he was going to get her and Palin, the complaint says. 'There is evidence suggesting that Wooten was following the governor,' it says."
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Palin Aide Dodges Trooper-Gate Deposition
As if we needed another sign that Sarah Palin has decided to stonewall the Trooper-Gate investigation, ABC News reports this afternoon that lawyers for her aide Frank Bailey have cancelled Bailey's scheduled deposition in the investigation.
Bailey is central to the case. In phone recordings released last month as part of a parallel probe by the state Attorney General, Bailey suggested that Palin and her husband wanted trooper Mike Wooten -- who has been embroiled in a messy family dispute with the Palins -- removed from his job.
"The Palins can't figure out why nothing's going on," Bailey told a trooper official. "I mean he's declared bankruptcy, his finances are a complete disaster, he's bought a new truck. All kinds of crazy stuff. He doesn't represent the department well. The community knows it, but no action is being taken."
This is by no means the first instance of foot-dragging on the legislature's investigation from Palin's camp since she was announced last week as John McCain's running mate. In a complaint filed last night to the Alaska Attorney General, Palin's lawyer suggested that Palin would not be made available for her deposition unless the investigation was taken out of the hands of the legislature and handed over to the state personnel board, who's three members are appointed by the governor. Sen. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat overseeing the probe, has said that he is willing to issue subpoenas if necessary.
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Fiorina: ‘I Do Not Think That The Republican Party Subjected Hillary Clinton To Sexism’
Over the last few days, conservatives have been blasting criticisms of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as sexist. Today in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, McCain campaign adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer wrote an op-ed titled, “Ignore the Chauvinists. Palin Has Real Experience.” In an interview with NBC yesterday, First Lady Laura Bush said that she wonders “if we aren’t already seeing a little bit” of sexism directed toward Palin. McCain campaign adviser Carly Fiorina said that “American women…will not tolerate sexist treatment” of Palin.
Apparently, this sexism is being perpetrated solely by progressives…at least according to the McCain campaign. Today in a press conference, Fiorina agreed that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has also been “subject to sexism.” However, according to Fiorina, none of it was done by Republicans:
I would absolutely say that Hillary Clinton has been subject to sexism. By the way, if there are facts that you can show me, I would be delighted to see them, but I do not think that, based on my experiences, what I have seen, I do not think that the Republican Party subjected her to sexism.
I think the Republican Party took her on on her stand on the issues, took her on hard on her stand on the issues. I have said numerous times, I disagree with Hillary, but I also have great admiration for Hillary Clinton.
Let’s refresh Fiorina’s memory with a few examples:
- In November 2007, when a questioner asked “How do we beat the bitch [Clinton]?,” McCain replied, “That’s an excellent question.”
- In 1998, McCain made a lesbian joke that referenced Clinton’s daughter: “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.”
- In May, McCain adviser Alex Castellanos said, “Her problem is she’s Hillary Clinton. And some women, by the way, are named [bitch], and it’s accurate.”
- In March 2007, CNN host Glenn Beck said that Clinton’s “stereotypical” voice was “nagging,” adding that it “just sticks in your ear like an ice pick.”
Basically, the McCain campaign has been saying that no one can criticize Palin because doing so would be sexist. There’s no doubt that all women candidates, including Palin, are subjected to sexism. But legitimate criticisms - about Palin’s policies, for example - have nothing to do with gender and should be raised.
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US says troops could quit Baghdad soon
General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, said declining violence in Baghdad raised the possibility that American combat troops could leave the capital by next summer.
Asked in an interview with the Financial Times whether it was feasible that US combat forces could leave Baghdad by July, he said: “Conditions permitting, yeah.”
His comments come as the US and Iraq hammer out the final details of a long-term security agreement that reportedly outlines a potential timeline for US combat troops to leave Iraqi cities by next summer, and the country by 2011.
“The number of attacks in Baghdad lately has been, gosh, I think it’s probably less than five [a day] on average, and that’s a city of seven million people,” said Gen Petraeus.
While declining to comment on the details of the security agreement, Gen Petraeus said US combat forces had already pulled back from cities in 13 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. The sight of US soldiers exiting Baghdad would be highly symbolic given the scale of violence that gripped the city in 2006 and 2007.
Gen Petraeus leaves Iraq later this month to become head of Central Command, which oversees US operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa. Before his departure, the four-star general will give President George W. Bush his final recommendation for troop levels as commander in Iraq. He will continue to help shape policy on Iraq in his new role.
Senior brass in the Pentagon have hoped conditions in Iraq would permit further reductions this autumn following the withdrawal this summer of the five “surge” combat brigades to reduce the stress on the military and free up troops for Afghanistan.
Gen Petraeus declined to outline his recommendation, but conceded that the recent unexpected withdrawal of 2,000 Georgian troops during the conflict with Russia had caused “some wrinkles”.
“You have to look at various contingencies and make assumptions, and in some cases if you have an uncertainty, then needless to say you hedge your bets a bit.”
His recommendation will come during the closing stretch of the US presidential campaign in which Iraq remains a key issue. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, has outlined the kind of fixed timetable opposed by Gen Petraeus and other senior brass by vowing to remove troops within 16 months of taking office.
Gen Petraeus declined to say whether he would continue to voice such opposition if Mr Obama became the next commander-in-chief.
“What needs to take place is a good discussion on missions, on objectives, on levels of risk associated with various courses of action and that’s, I think, what will take place whoever’s elected, frankly.”
Overall, Gen Petraeus said Iraq was a “dramatically changed country” from when he assumed command in February 2007. He said attacks had plummeted from a daily rate of 180 in June 2007 to about 25 recently. He mused that “there is certainly a degree of hope that was not present 19 months ago”.
Gen Petraeus welcomed the increased capability of the Iraqi security forces and the fact that 70 per cent of Iraqi army battalions are now taking the lead in military operations. The US military passed a milestone when it this week handed over responsibility for the former bloody province of Anbar province to Iraqi security forces.
But he also urged caution, saying there were ”innumerable challenges out there still. Make no bones about it”. These include resolving the final status of oil-rich Kirkuk, key provincial elections, and remaining ethno-sectarian tensions. And while al-Qaeda was greatly diminished, he said, it still had the capability to deliver lethal attacks.
Military experts attribute the decline in violence to the surge, as well as to a ceasefire by Shia militias aligned with Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand cleric, and the emergence of “Sons of Iraq”, roughly 100,000 predominantly Sunnis who switched sides to fight with the US against al-Qaeda.
In recent weeks, however, the US has grown concerned about an apparent crackdown by Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia prime minister, on some senior members of the Sunni groups. Gen Petraeus said that while it was “a concern”, Mr Maliki had promised not to “cut loose” the “Sons of Iraq” who are paid about $300 a month to protect local neighbourhoods.
Gen Petraeus expressed frustration at the slow speed of integrating some of the “Sons of Iraq” into the Iraqi army, although he acknowledged that it was a “very emotional topic” for many Iraqi politicians because of previous sectarian fighting between the Shia and Sunni.
When Gen Petraeus last testified before Congress in April, he was very critical of alleged Iranian support for Iraqi militias. Asked why his command had never produced the evidence it promised to support its allegations, Gen Petraeus said the move was in deference to the Iraqi leadership who wanted to deliver the evidence privately to Tehran.
Asked whether Iranian meddling in Iraq had subsided, Gen Petraeus said the leaders of the so-called “special groups” militias had fled Iraq during the recent military campaigns initiated by Mr Maliki in Basra and Baghdad. “They’re in Iran, they’re in Lebanon, they’re in Syria and so…there’s very much a wait and see attitude.”
At Centcom, Gen Petraeus will also assume overall responsibility for Afghanistan. He declined to speculate about whether Afghanistan would require an Iraq-like surge of more than the three additional brigades the Pentagon currently believes are necessary. But he pointed out that the situation in Afghanistan was very different to that in Iraq.
“There are limitations in Afghanistan that are not found here…Iraq’s infrastructure is still vastly greater than that of Afghanistan. So, there was an ability here to absorb a substantial number of forces in a relatively short period of time,” he said.
“I think, again, the infrastructure challenges, the transportation and logistical challenges, and perhaps, again, the desires of national authorities and so forth are all different. So, again, it would be very premature to speculate about what might or might not be added to Afghanistan.”
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He's Baaaack! Tom DeLay Hailed as GOP Hero
Tom DeLay, the former House GOP majority leader whose connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff brought scandal and disgrace to the Republican party, returned to the spotlight in Minneapolis last night, helping to host a private party that drew hundreds of delegates and Republican officials.
"He's the man, he's the man," said one guest leaving the party.
"I've always liked him, he's a good solid conservative," said one delegate standing in line for entrance to the party, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Prince William County, Virginia.
DeLay arrived at the Minneapolis night club for his party last night in a gold mini-van, no longer traveling with the Capitol police detail that used to protect him from reporters and other perceived security threats.
He declined to answer questions from ABC News as he entered the back door of the club through a loading dock.
Once known as "the hammer" for his hardball tactics on Capitol Hill, the featured entertainment at DeLay's party was the band Smash Mouth.
Asked his reaction to DeLay's appearance in Minneapolis, Cong. John Mica (R-FL) declined to answer and then head-butted the ABC camera.
DeLay's arrival was hardly welcomed by the campaign of Sen. John McCain. McCain led the Senate investigation that revealed many of the abuses connected to Abramoff, and DeLay has criticized McCain for years.
Earlier this year, according to The Hill, DeLay accused McCain of "betraying" the conservative movement.
"He is no friend of ours," said one McCain campaign official. "But you can't really keep him out of the city."
Ethics watchdog groups were appalled that DeLay would be back in the spotlight at the Republican convention.
"Why would they welcome back one of the most obvious examples of corruption," asked Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation, a public interest group monitoring the role of lobbyists at the political conventions.
No longer in office, and awaiting trial on state election law violations in Texas, DeLay disappeared from the Washington scene two years ago after deciding not to seek re-election from his Congressional district south of Houston.
Despite speculation, DeLay has not been indicted in the ongoing federal investigation of Congressional corruption and influence peddling. The convicted lobbyist, Abramoff, who once boasted of his close ties to Delay, is cooperating with authorities.
Abramoff is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday by a federal judge in Washington.
DeLay's unintended legacy may be the new Congressional ethic reform legislation that has changed the rules about what lobbyists can do to gain access and influence with members of Congress, a law, passed to correct the abuses ascribed to DeLay and Abramoff.
Under the new law, lobbyists may no longer pay for travel, meals and gifts for members of Congress as Abramoff once did.
In recent months, DeLay has sought to re-establish himself as a player in the Republican party. He started the Coalition for a Conservative Majority, wrote a book, "No Retreat, No Surrender," and has established his own web site where he blogs with his own political commentary.
"Why one of the most disgraced members of Congress would think that he had an opportunity now to redeem himself is beyond me," said Miller of the Sunlight Foundation.
"I do not believe all is forgiven," she said.
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Abramoff: 'I am not a bad man'
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff told a federal judge Wednesday that his lifestyle of trading expensive gifts for political favors crossed the line, even by Washington standards, but said he was "not a bad man" and pleaded for leniency.
Abramoff, the central figure in a corruption scandal that shook up Washington politics and contributed to the Republican loss of Congress in 2004, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. In a letter to the court Wednesday, he said even he is shocked to look back on what his life had become.
"It is hard to see the exact moment that I went over the line but, looking backwards, it is amazing for me to see how far I strayed and how I did not see it at the time," Abramoff wrote. "So much of what happens in Washington stretches the envelope, skirts the spirit of the rules, and lives in the loopholes. But even by those standards, I blundered farther than even those excesses would allow."
Abramoff is serving a nearly six-year prison sentence for a fraudulent Florida casino deal. He faces up to 11 years in prison when he is sentenced Thursday for corrupting Capitol Hill lawmakers with expensive meals, golf junkets, luxury sports tickets and other gifts.
But prosecutors are asking for a much more lenient sentence of less than four years. Defense attorneys say he deserves even less time. Since pleading guilty in 2006, Abramoff has been the key witness in his own corruption scandal. He has provided the Justice Department evidence that helped send Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles to prison.
Abramoff said his cooperation has been extensive. Not only did he confirm what prosecutors knew, he said he also offered new leads and tips, pointed them in different directions and spent countless hours meeting with investigators. Several Capitol Hill aides and powerful political figures have pleaded guilty because of his cooperation.
"My efforts do not even the balance, but they are a good down payment on what I still must do," Abramoff wrote.
He said he has spent the first two years of his prison sentence reflecting on his actions.
"I see that my crimes all had the same cause - my shortsighted and selfish view that the ends could justify the means," he wrote. "I am not a bad man (although to read all the news articles one would think I am Osama bin Laden), but I did many bad things."
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle has wide discretion when it comes to handing down a sentence. She has been lenient at times in the case but has shown little patience for defendants who arrive in her courtroom with excuses. Abramoff will get an opportunity to speak in court.
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Palin E-Mails Show Intense Interest in Trooper's Penalty
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the running mate for GOP presidential candidate John McCain, wrote e-mails that harshly criticized Alaska state troopers for failing to fire her former brother-in-law and ridiculed an internal affairs investigation into his conduct.
The e-mails were shown to The Washington Post by a former public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, who was fired by Palin in July. Monegan has given copies of the e-mails 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 a 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 state 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's campaign spokeswoman, Maria Comella, said that Palin was merely alerting officials to potential threats to her family and that there is no evidence that Palin ever ordered Wooten to be fired.
"Let's be clear, Governor Palin has done nothing wrong and is an open book in this process. Mr. Monegan even stated himself that no one ever told him to fire anyone, period," Comella said later in a statement. "The Governor was rightly expressing concern about Mr. Wooten."
Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body that was authorized last month to look into whether Palin pressured Monegan to force Wooten from the state police force and whether his failure to do so led to his dismissal.
Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week moved to change the jurisdiction of the case to the state personnel board, which Palin appoints. Her attorney, Thomas V. Van Flein, who was hired last month, challenged the jurisdiction of Stephen Branchflower, the retired prosecutor hired to investigate and report back to the legislature by the last week of October.
When Palin entered the governor's office in late 2006, Wooten already had been reprimanded, reassigned and suspended for five days for incidents reported by Palin's family. They had filed complaints in April 2005 after her younger sister's marriage fell apart and the couple battled in a bitter child-custody dispute.
Palin has said previously that she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of security concerns for the family. Monegan has said that Palin never directly told him to fire Wooten but that the message was clearly conveyed through repeated messages from Palin, her husband and three members of her Cabinet.
"To allege that I, or any member of my family . . . directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous," Palin said in a statement in mid-July after Monegan's dismissal.
In August, Palin acknowledged that "pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it."
During an interview here Wednesday, Monegan said that as Alaska's top law enforcement official, he took his duties seriously. "I would willingly die for the governor, but I would never lie for her," he said.
He showed The Post two e-mails he received from Palin, but he declined to give copies. The first e-mail 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. After her husband met with Monegan, Palin followed up with a phone call to Monegan.
In that first e-mail, sent a few weeks after the meeting, 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. She recounted his transgressions, beginning with the killing of the cow moose using a permit obtained by his wife. Molly McCann, who uses her name from a previous marriage, was with Wooten at the time.
"He's still bragging about it in my hometown and after another cop confessed to witnessing the kill, the trooper was 'investigated' for over a year and merely given a slap on the wrist," the e-mail said. "Though he's out there arresting people today for the same crime!"
"He threatened to kill his estranged wife's parent, refused to be transferred to rural Alaska and continued to disparage Natives in words and tone, he continues to harass and intimidate his ex. -- even after being slapped with a restraining order that was lifted when his supervisors intervened," the e-mail said. "He threatens to always be able to come out on top because he's 'got the badge', etc. etc. etc."
Palin wrote that the Wooten matter had contributed to "the erosion of faith Alaskans should have in their law enforcement officials." She concluded by saying the e-mail was "just my opinion."
The second e-mail Monegan produced came from Palin's Yahoo address on July 17, 2007, after the local newspaper publicized a legislative proposal that would keep guns out of the hands of 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. . . .
"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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Palin Wants Independent Trooper-Gate Probe Called Off
In the latest sign that Sarah Palin's promised cooperation with the Trooper-Gate investigation is failing to materialize, her lawyer is now demanding that the entire case be taken out of the hands of the independent prosecutor hired by Alaska lawmakers, and given over to a state personnel board -- whose three members were appointed by the governor herself.
In an unusual "ethics disclosure" filed last night, along with related documents, to the state Attorney General, Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, asked the personnel board to look into the firing of Walt Monegan, the former public safety commissioner at the center of the case. Van Flein also asked the legislature to drop its own investigation, contending that only the personnel board has jurisdiction over ethics. And he suggested that if the legislature didn't agree to hand the matter over to the personnel board, Palin would not be made available for a deposition.
Sen. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat in charge of the legislature's investigation, immediately told the Anchorage Daily News that the probe would go ahead as planned. French has said before that he is willing to issue subpoenas if necessary.
"We're going to proceed. If they want to proceed, that's perfectly within their right but it doesn't diminish our right to do so," he said.
The case concerns allegations that Palin improperly pressured Monegan to fire a state trooper who was embroiled in a family dispute with the Palin family, then fired Monegan when he refused to axe Wooten.
Van Flein, whose fee is being paid for by the state of Alaska, also used last night's complaint -- released the night before Palin is to speak as John McCain's vice presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention -- to put out information intended to paint the trooper, Jim Wooten, in a negative light, as well as to undercut Monegan's claims that the governor pressured him to fire Wooten.
In the words of the ADN, the complaint contends that:
"Monegan never told the governor or Todd Palin that Wooten had been disciplined over complaints brought by the family that included tasering his stepson, illegally shooting a moose and telling others that Heath would 'eat a f***ing lead bullet' if he helped his daughter get an attorney for the divorce."
And:
"Recently, Wooten's supervisor intervened when he wouldn't return the children after a visit, the complaint says. Wooten warned his ex-wife he was going to get her and Palin, the complaint says. 'There is evidence suggesting that Wooten was following the governor,' it says."
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Palin Aide Dodges Trooper-Gate Deposition
As if we needed another sign that Sarah Palin has decided to stonewall the Trooper-Gate investigation, ABC News reports this afternoon that lawyers for her aide Frank Bailey have cancelled Bailey's scheduled deposition in the investigation.
Bailey is central to the case. In phone recordings released last month as part of a parallel probe by the state Attorney General, Bailey suggested that Palin and her husband wanted trooper Mike Wooten -- who has been embroiled in a messy family dispute with the Palins -- removed from his job.
"The Palins can't figure out why nothing's going on," Bailey told a trooper official. "I mean he's declared bankruptcy, his finances are a complete disaster, he's bought a new truck. All kinds of crazy stuff. He doesn't represent the department well. The community knows it, but no action is being taken."
This is by no means the first instance of foot-dragging on the legislature's investigation from Palin's camp since she was announced last week as John McCain's running mate. In a complaint filed last night to the Alaska Attorney General, Palin's lawyer suggested that Palin would not be made available for her deposition unless the investigation was taken out of the hands of the legislature and handed over to the state personnel board, who's three members are appointed by the governor. Sen. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat overseeing the probe, has said that he is willing to issue subpoenas if necessary.
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Fiorina: ‘I Do Not Think That The Republican Party Subjected Hillary Clinton To Sexism’
Over the last few days, conservatives have been blasting criticisms of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as sexist. Today in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, McCain campaign adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer wrote an op-ed titled, “Ignore the Chauvinists. Palin Has Real Experience.” In an interview with NBC yesterday, First Lady Laura Bush said that she wonders “if we aren’t already seeing a little bit” of sexism directed toward Palin. McCain campaign adviser Carly Fiorina said that “American women…will not tolerate sexist treatment” of Palin.
Apparently, this sexism is being perpetrated solely by progressives…at least according to the McCain campaign. Today in a press conference, Fiorina agreed that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has also been “subject to sexism.” However, according to Fiorina, none of it was done by Republicans:
I would absolutely say that Hillary Clinton has been subject to sexism. By the way, if there are facts that you can show me, I would be delighted to see them, but I do not think that, based on my experiences, what I have seen, I do not think that the Republican Party subjected her to sexism.
I think the Republican Party took her on on her stand on the issues, took her on hard on her stand on the issues. I have said numerous times, I disagree with Hillary, but I also have great admiration for Hillary Clinton.
Let’s refresh Fiorina’s memory with a few examples:
- In November 2007, when a questioner asked “How do we beat the bitch [Clinton]?,” McCain replied, “That’s an excellent question.”
- In 1998, McCain made a lesbian joke that referenced Clinton’s daughter: “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.”
- In May, McCain adviser Alex Castellanos said, “Her problem is she’s Hillary Clinton. And some women, by the way, are named [bitch], and it’s accurate.”
- In March 2007, CNN host Glenn Beck said that Clinton’s “stereotypical” voice was “nagging,” adding that it “just sticks in your ear like an ice pick.”
Basically, the McCain campaign has been saying that no one can criticize Palin because doing so would be sexist. There’s no doubt that all women candidates, including Palin, are subjected to sexism. But legitimate criticisms - about Palin’s policies, for example - have nothing to do with gender and should be raised.
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US says troops could quit Baghdad soon
General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, said declining violence in Baghdad raised the possibility that American combat troops could leave the capital by next summer.
Asked in an interview with the Financial Times whether it was feasible that US combat forces could leave Baghdad by July, he said: “Conditions permitting, yeah.”
His comments come as the US and Iraq hammer out the final details of a long-term security agreement that reportedly outlines a potential timeline for US combat troops to leave Iraqi cities by next summer, and the country by 2011.
“The number of attacks in Baghdad lately has been, gosh, I think it’s probably less than five [a day] on average, and that’s a city of seven million people,” said Gen Petraeus.
While declining to comment on the details of the security agreement, Gen Petraeus said US combat forces had already pulled back from cities in 13 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. The sight of US soldiers exiting Baghdad would be highly symbolic given the scale of violence that gripped the city in 2006 and 2007.
Gen Petraeus leaves Iraq later this month to become head of Central Command, which oversees US operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa. Before his departure, the four-star general will give President George W. Bush his final recommendation for troop levels as commander in Iraq. He will continue to help shape policy on Iraq in his new role.
Senior brass in the Pentagon have hoped conditions in Iraq would permit further reductions this autumn following the withdrawal this summer of the five “surge” combat brigades to reduce the stress on the military and free up troops for Afghanistan.
Gen Petraeus declined to outline his recommendation, but conceded that the recent unexpected withdrawal of 2,000 Georgian troops during the conflict with Russia had caused “some wrinkles”.
“You have to look at various contingencies and make assumptions, and in some cases if you have an uncertainty, then needless to say you hedge your bets a bit.”
His recommendation will come during the closing stretch of the US presidential campaign in which Iraq remains a key issue. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, has outlined the kind of fixed timetable opposed by Gen Petraeus and other senior brass by vowing to remove troops within 16 months of taking office.
Gen Petraeus declined to say whether he would continue to voice such opposition if Mr Obama became the next commander-in-chief.
“What needs to take place is a good discussion on missions, on objectives, on levels of risk associated with various courses of action and that’s, I think, what will take place whoever’s elected, frankly.”
Overall, Gen Petraeus said Iraq was a “dramatically changed country” from when he assumed command in February 2007. He said attacks had plummeted from a daily rate of 180 in June 2007 to about 25 recently. He mused that “there is certainly a degree of hope that was not present 19 months ago”.
Gen Petraeus welcomed the increased capability of the Iraqi security forces and the fact that 70 per cent of Iraqi army battalions are now taking the lead in military operations. The US military passed a milestone when it this week handed over responsibility for the former bloody province of Anbar province to Iraqi security forces.
But he also urged caution, saying there were ”innumerable challenges out there still. Make no bones about it”. These include resolving the final status of oil-rich Kirkuk, key provincial elections, and remaining ethno-sectarian tensions. And while al-Qaeda was greatly diminished, he said, it still had the capability to deliver lethal attacks.
Military experts attribute the decline in violence to the surge, as well as to a ceasefire by Shia militias aligned with Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand cleric, and the emergence of “Sons of Iraq”, roughly 100,000 predominantly Sunnis who switched sides to fight with the US against al-Qaeda.
In recent weeks, however, the US has grown concerned about an apparent crackdown by Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia prime minister, on some senior members of the Sunni groups. Gen Petraeus said that while it was “a concern”, Mr Maliki had promised not to “cut loose” the “Sons of Iraq” who are paid about $300 a month to protect local neighbourhoods.
Gen Petraeus expressed frustration at the slow speed of integrating some of the “Sons of Iraq” into the Iraqi army, although he acknowledged that it was a “very emotional topic” for many Iraqi politicians because of previous sectarian fighting between the Shia and Sunni.
When Gen Petraeus last testified before Congress in April, he was very critical of alleged Iranian support for Iraqi militias. Asked why his command had never produced the evidence it promised to support its allegations, Gen Petraeus said the move was in deference to the Iraqi leadership who wanted to deliver the evidence privately to Tehran.
Asked whether Iranian meddling in Iraq had subsided, Gen Petraeus said the leaders of the so-called “special groups” militias had fled Iraq during the recent military campaigns initiated by Mr Maliki in Basra and Baghdad. “They’re in Iran, they’re in Lebanon, they’re in Syria and so…there’s very much a wait and see attitude.”
At Centcom, Gen Petraeus will also assume overall responsibility for Afghanistan. He declined to speculate about whether Afghanistan would require an Iraq-like surge of more than the three additional brigades the Pentagon currently believes are necessary. But he pointed out that the situation in Afghanistan was very different to that in Iraq.
“There are limitations in Afghanistan that are not found here…Iraq’s infrastructure is still vastly greater than that of Afghanistan. So, there was an ability here to absorb a substantial number of forces in a relatively short period of time,” he said.
“I think, again, the infrastructure challenges, the transportation and logistical challenges, and perhaps, again, the desires of national authorities and so forth are all different. So, again, it would be very premature to speculate about what might or might not be added to Afghanistan.”
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He's Baaaack! Tom DeLay Hailed as GOP Hero
Tom DeLay, the former House GOP majority leader whose connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff brought scandal and disgrace to the Republican party, returned to the spotlight in Minneapolis last night, helping to host a private party that drew hundreds of delegates and Republican officials.
"He's the man, he's the man," said one guest leaving the party.
"I've always liked him, he's a good solid conservative," said one delegate standing in line for entrance to the party, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Prince William County, Virginia.
DeLay arrived at the Minneapolis night club for his party last night in a gold mini-van, no longer traveling with the Capitol police detail that used to protect him from reporters and other perceived security threats.
He declined to answer questions from ABC News as he entered the back door of the club through a loading dock.
Once known as "the hammer" for his hardball tactics on Capitol Hill, the featured entertainment at DeLay's party was the band Smash Mouth.
Asked his reaction to DeLay's appearance in Minneapolis, Cong. John Mica (R-FL) declined to answer and then head-butted the ABC camera.
DeLay's arrival was hardly welcomed by the campaign of Sen. John McCain. McCain led the Senate investigation that revealed many of the abuses connected to Abramoff, and DeLay has criticized McCain for years.
Earlier this year, according to The Hill, DeLay accused McCain of "betraying" the conservative movement.
"He is no friend of ours," said one McCain campaign official. "But you can't really keep him out of the city."
Ethics watchdog groups were appalled that DeLay would be back in the spotlight at the Republican convention.
"Why would they welcome back one of the most obvious examples of corruption," asked Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation, a public interest group monitoring the role of lobbyists at the political conventions.
No longer in office, and awaiting trial on state election law violations in Texas, DeLay disappeared from the Washington scene two years ago after deciding not to seek re-election from his Congressional district south of Houston.
Despite speculation, DeLay has not been indicted in the ongoing federal investigation of Congressional corruption and influence peddling. The convicted lobbyist, Abramoff, who once boasted of his close ties to Delay, is cooperating with authorities.
Abramoff is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday by a federal judge in Washington.
DeLay's unintended legacy may be the new Congressional ethic reform legislation that has changed the rules about what lobbyists can do to gain access and influence with members of Congress, a law, passed to correct the abuses ascribed to DeLay and Abramoff.
Under the new law, lobbyists may no longer pay for travel, meals and gifts for members of Congress as Abramoff once did.
In recent months, DeLay has sought to re-establish himself as a player in the Republican party. He started the Coalition for a Conservative Majority, wrote a book, "No Retreat, No Surrender," and has established his own web site where he blogs with his own political commentary.
"Why one of the most disgraced members of Congress would think that he had an opportunity now to redeem himself is beyond me," said Miller of the Sunlight Foundation.
"I do not believe all is forgiven," she said.
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Abramoff: 'I am not a bad man'
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff told a federal judge Wednesday that his lifestyle of trading expensive gifts for political favors crossed the line, even by Washington standards, but said he was "not a bad man" and pleaded for leniency.
Abramoff, the central figure in a corruption scandal that shook up Washington politics and contributed to the Republican loss of Congress in 2004, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. In a letter to the court Wednesday, he said even he is shocked to look back on what his life had become.
"It is hard to see the exact moment that I went over the line but, looking backwards, it is amazing for me to see how far I strayed and how I did not see it at the time," Abramoff wrote. "So much of what happens in Washington stretches the envelope, skirts the spirit of the rules, and lives in the loopholes. But even by those standards, I blundered farther than even those excesses would allow."
Abramoff is serving a nearly six-year prison sentence for a fraudulent Florida casino deal. He faces up to 11 years in prison when he is sentenced Thursday for corrupting Capitol Hill lawmakers with expensive meals, golf junkets, luxury sports tickets and other gifts.
But prosecutors are asking for a much more lenient sentence of less than four years. Defense attorneys say he deserves even less time. Since pleading guilty in 2006, Abramoff has been the key witness in his own corruption scandal. He has provided the Justice Department evidence that helped send Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles to prison.
Abramoff said his cooperation has been extensive. Not only did he confirm what prosecutors knew, he said he also offered new leads and tips, pointed them in different directions and spent countless hours meeting with investigators. Several Capitol Hill aides and powerful political figures have pleaded guilty because of his cooperation.
"My efforts do not even the balance, but they are a good down payment on what I still must do," Abramoff wrote.
He said he has spent the first two years of his prison sentence reflecting on his actions.
"I see that my crimes all had the same cause - my shortsighted and selfish view that the ends could justify the means," he wrote. "I am not a bad man (although to read all the news articles one would think I am Osama bin Laden), but I did many bad things."
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle has wide discretion when it comes to handing down a sentence. She has been lenient at times in the case but has shown little patience for defendants who arrive in her courtroom with excuses. Abramoff will get an opportunity to speak in court.
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