Dallas Morning News: "Ms. Palin would be wise to quit trying to spin her way out of this mess."

[Bluebear]

Editorial

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin claims the Troopergate investigation clears her of wrongdoing in the firing of her public safety commissioner, which it does not.

The state ethics panel investigation – a bipartisan effort started by a Legislature controlled by her own Republican party – found that though she was technically within her rights to fire the man, she violated state ethics law and abused her power in doing so.

Specifically, the report found, the governor allowed her husband, Todd, to strong-arm government employees in an effort to get someone to fire a state trooper, Michael Wooten, who was going through an ugly divorce with the governor's sister. The state investigator rejected the Palin family's claims that Trooper Wooten was a personal threat, concluding that the governor misused her authority "to advance a personal agenda."

Ms. Palin would be wise to quit trying to spin her way out of this mess. It would be far more plausible if she admitted error but said she and her husband acted out of fear – perhaps misplaced – for the family's safety. But to claim vindication when the report is actually fairly damning should give even McCain-Palin supporters pause.

The temptation to use public power to settle private accounts bedevils all politicians. This Troopergate imbroglio is eerily reminiscent of the 1993 Travelgate scandal involving first lady Hillary Clinton. Her behind-the-scenes machinations against the White House Travel Office – engineering the dismissal of career employees, apparently for the benefit of the Clintons' Arkansas cronies – were legal but unethical.

Just because something is legal on paper, of course, doesn't make it right....


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-trooper_14edi.State.Edition1.24f8dd2.html

[LSparkle]

1. She's gone even further -- I heard her allege she was cleared of ETHICAL wrongs too

It was an audio clip (maybe Randi played it), but she claimed
that she had been exonerated of all wrongdoing -- both legal
AND ethical, which is a flat-out LIE.

[bemildred]

2. Apparently, violating ethics laws is not illegal. nt

[mellowfellowO]

3. If it were...

There'd be no politicians ANYWHERE.

[pinto]

4. Yep. On point. She has been blase about this almost non-story in the MSM, yet

it goes right to her judgment as an executive. Geez, her husband was pretty much stalking the guy for some damning info. And dipping into the situation on a personnel level no private citizen should be allowed to access. Apparently Gov. Palin saw no problem.

Make no mistake, folks, they're thugs. Good looking thugs, but thugs.

[Contrary1]

5. Can a separate suit be filed by the state for abuse of power?

Seems to me there are plenty of grounds for such an action. She may have been within the law to fire the former brother-in-law, but wouldn't abuse of power be a separate issue?