Report clears Palin in Alaska's Troopergate probe

This time, Gov. Sarah Palin can claim vindication against allegations that she abused her power in office by firing her public safety commissioner.

Palin - running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain - violated no ethics laws, according to a report released by the state personnel board on the eve of Election Day. An earlier, separate investigation by the Legislature found that Palin had abused her office.

"There is no probable cause to believe that the governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters," the personnel board's report said.

"The Governor is grateful that this investigation has provided a fair and impartial review of this matter and upholds the Governor's ability to take measures when necessary to ensure that Alaskans have the best possible team working to serve them," her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said in a statement after the report was released Monday.

The earlier report implicating Palin was dismissed as a political smear by the McCain-Palin campaign, which issued its own report clearing the governor of all wrongdoing. The campaign focused on only one aspect of the first report's split findings - that Palin could fire Commissioner Walt Monegan, who serves at her pleasure.

In a scandal known as Troopergate, Monegan said he felt pressure from Palin, her husband and her staff to fire a state trooper who had gone through a contentious divorce from Palin's sister. Palin denied the claim and said Monegan was fired in July because she wanted the department to head in a new direction.

Monegan told The Associated Press on Monday he was "perplexed and disappointed" by the latest report. It was prepared by Timothy Petumenos, an independent investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board.

"It conflicts with the first investigation and then casts doubts on both of them. So, it doesn't really resolve anything," Monegan said. "If it did, then I could walk away. It does seem to fly in the face of circumstantial evidence."

The investigation by the Legislative Council concluded last month that Palin abused her office by allowing her husband and staffers to pressure Monegan to fire the trooper, Mike Wooten. However, it upheld the firing because Monegan was an at-will employee.

Petumenos said his conclusions differ from the report by the legislative panel's investigator, former prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, because the earlier probe assumed facts without having all relevant data at hand. He said Branchflower used a wrong statute as the basis for his conclusions, misconstrued the available evidence and did not consider or obtain all the material evidence to reach a proper finding.

Petumenos said his investigation included much more data, including additional e-mails of state personnel, including Palin. And while some of Palin's personnel e-mails were obtained, he said, it was impossible to know if any had been deleted. The report recommends that the state address the issue of personal e-mail use to conduct state business.

Petumenos concluded that Palin did not seek the trooper's firing after she became governor. "Also absent from the evidence reviewed is any assertion that the Governor directed anyone in the Department of Public Safety to terminate Trooper Wooten, or directed anyone on her staff to seek the termination of Trooper Wooten," the report said.

State Sen. Kim Elton, chairman of the Legislative Council, said he was disturbed by the report, claiming it left out a lot of context in the matter. The legislative investigation was valid, he said.

"I think we have two lawyers who reached different conclusions on the law," Elton said.

Alaska Personnel Board investigations are normally secret, but the three-member panel decided to release this report, citing public interest in the matter given Palin's status as a candidate for national office.

Palin had earlier waived her privacy rights, but others in her administration did not and Petumenos sought to keep the matter from playing out in the media.

Documents released Monday did not include transcripts of separate depositions given by Palin and her husband, Todd.

That deposition was the only one given by Sarah Palin. She was not subpoenaed to answer questions in the Legislature's investigation, though her husband, Todd, gave an affidavit in that probe.

Petumenos said that during her deposition given under oath, Sarah Palin denied Monegan's claim that she had two conversations with him about the trooper.

Monegan stood by his contention, also given under oath in both investigations, that the conversations took place.

"I'm disappointed that she didn't acknowledge them," he said.

Palin also said in her deposition she didn't know her husband had met with Monegan in her office to discuss his frustrations that Wooten remained on the job, and that he prevailed upon Monegan to get rid of him.

Palin initially said she would cooperate with the Legislature's probe. But after she became John McCain's running mate, she said the investigation had become too partisan and filed an ethics grievance against herself with the personnel board. Personnel board members are appointed by the governor, who can fire members for cause.