CalvinBall wrote:I am curious why Palin would accept this position. Is this something that, if they lose, will kill her political career? She is considered as one of the rising stars in the party and I think should have first asserted herself on a national level like Congress before taking on this.

jerseyhoya wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:I am curious why Palin would accept this position. Is this something that, if they lose, will kill her political career? She is considered as one of the rising stars in the party and I think should have first asserted herself on a national level like Congress before taking on this.

She'll still be governor, win or lose. This raises her profile by a factor of 100.

Mountainphan wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:I am curious why Palin would accept this position. Is this something that, if they lose, will kill her political career? She is considered as one of the rising stars in the party and I think should have first asserted herself on a national level like Congress before taking on this.

The answer to your question is "absolutely not". Unless she makes a buffoon of herself on the campaign trail, this will only heighten her national profile for years to come. It certainly won't hurt her in Alaska.

In a press conference this afternoon, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) conceded that someone inside her administration pressured the state's Department of Public Safety to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law, who is now embroiled in a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister.

Palin's statement is the latest in what has come to be known around Alaska as "Wooten-gate." The scandal began on July 11, when Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was fired from his post with little explanation, a move that quickly raised questions in Alaska.

A few days later, Monegan came forward, stating that he had been pressured by those around Palin to fire Wooten -- but had refused to do so -- a choice that he believes led to his sudden dismissal. Palin denied Monegan's accusations, and a Legislative Council has appointed a special commission to probe the matter.

jerseyhoya wrote:SPEECH TIME

I'm seriously nervous.

CalvinBall wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:I am curious why Palin would accept this position. Is this something that, if they lose, will kill her political career? She is considered as one of the rising stars in the party and I think should have first asserted herself on a national level like Congress before taking on this.

She'll still be governor, win or lose. This raises her profile by a factor of 100.

Gotcha. So at worst she will not be governing for two and a half months. At best she will be vice president.

The real question is who is hotter Palin or Ferraro?

cshort wrote:Palin - her beauty pageant photo was nice

dajafi wrote:

cshort wrote:Palin - her beauty pageant photo was nice

Statement is meaningless without pics.

dajafi wrote:

cshort wrote:Palin - her beauty pageant photo was nice

Statement is meaningless without pics.

dajafi wrote:The Palin scandalis that she fired an Alaskan State Trooper who was her former brother-in-law when he got into a custody battle with Palin's sister. So, an abuse-of-power thing, albeit for reasons that I think most people will understand if not condone.

In a press conference this afternoon, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) conceded that someone inside her administration pressured the state's Department of Public Safety to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law, who is now embroiled in a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister.

Palin's statement is the latest in what has come to be known around Alaska as "Wooten-gate." The scandal began on July 11, when Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was fired from his post with little explanation, a move that quickly raised questions in Alaska.

A few days later, Monegan came forward, stating that he had been pressured by those around Palin to fire Wooten -- but had refused to do so -- a choice that he believes led to his sudden dismissal. Palin denied Monegan's accusations, and a Legislative Council has appointed a special commission to probe the matter.

Commissioner dismissal
On July 11, 2008, Governor Palin dismissed Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety and instead offered him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he subsequently turned down.[41][42] Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann.[43] In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson (at the stepson's request), and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days.[44]

Governor Palin asserts that her dismissal of Monegan was unrelated to the fact that he had not fired Wooten, and asserts that Monegan was instead dismissed for not adequately filling state trooper vacancies, and because he "did not turn out to be a team player on budgeting issues."[45] Palin acknowledges that a member of her administration, Frank Bailey, did contact the Department of Public Safety regarding Wooten, but both Palin and Bailey say that happened without her knowledge and was unrelated to her dismissal of Monegan.[45] Bailey was put on leave for two months for acting outside the scope of his authority as the Director of Boards and Commissions.

In response to Palin's statement that she had nothing to hide, in August 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired Steve Branchflower to investigate Palin and her staff for possible abuse of power surrounding the dismissal, though lawmakers acknowledge that "Monegan and other commissioners serve at will, meaning they can be fired by Palin at any time."[46] The investigation is being overseen by Democratic State Senator Hollis French, who says that the Palin administration has been cooperating and thus subpoenas are unnecessary.[47] The Palin administration itself was the first to release an audiotape of Bailey making inquiries about the status of the Wooten investigation.[45][48]

Wooten and the police union alleged that the governor had improperly released his employment files in his divorce case. However, McCann's attorney released a signed waiver from Wooten demonstrating that Wooten had authorized the release of his files through normal discovery procedures.[49][50]

Mountainphan wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:SPEECH TIME

I'm seriously nervous.

Calm down, sparky.

cshort wrote:I heard an interesting comment from Larry Kudlow. She may get dinged for lack of foreign policy experience, but as governor of Alaska, she actually is much more in tune with Russia (and global oil issues) than your average governor.

jerseyhoya wrote:

Mountainphan wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:SPEECH TIME

I'm seriously nervous.

Calm down, sparky.

This is big.