Michael Wooten

The Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal, also known as Troopergate, involves the possibly illegal July 2008 dismissal of the Alaskan Public Safety Commissioner Walter C. Monegan III by Governor Sarah Palin for not firing Alaskan State Trooper Mike Wooten, who was also Palin's ex-brother-in-law.

On October 10, 2008, the twelve-member bipartisan Alaska Legislative Council voted unanimously to release, the so called Branchflower Investigative Report, which found Palin had violated the ethics law covering state executive employees when she dismissed Monegan. Under Alaska law, the state's three-member State Personnel Board, not the Legislative Council, decides whether a governor has violated the ethics laws. On November 3, 2008, the bipartisan Personnel Board which had been appointed by Palin, released the findings of its own investigation which concluded that Palin did not violate any ethics laws. No action was ever taken.

Sarah Palin, who in late August became the Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election, said that she reassigned commissioner Walt Monegan because of performance-related issues. Monegan said that his forced resignation may have been tied to his reluctance to fire Mike Wooten, an Alaska State Trooper who is also Palin's ex-brother-in-law. Monegan said that the Governor herself, her husband, and members of her staff as well as the state's Attorney General, had contacted him numerous times regarding Wooten. At the time Palin dismissed Monegan, Wooten was involved in a custody battle with his former wife, Molly McCann, Palin's sister.

Palin denied that there had been any pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten, either from herself or from anyone in her administration. In mid-August, Palin acknowledged that "pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it." She also apologized to Alaskans for what she called "this distraction."

Before Palin became governor, she and other members of her family had made various allegations of misconduct against Wooten. An internal investigation upheld some charges and rejected others. On March 1, 2006 the chief of the Alaska state police issued a letter of reprimand to Wooten, and he served a five-day suspension as penalty. After Palin became governor in December 2006, she, her husband Todd Palin, and various aides had further contacts with Monegan about Wooten. Monegan told both Sarah Palin and Todd Palin that the disciplinary proceeding against Wooten was concluded and could not be reopened.

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Wikipedia