[Choux]

"Now that Sarah Palin has been found to have abused her powers, violated state ethics, and lied about it, I did a little digging and found an interesting historical footnote.

The McCain/Palin ticket is the first in American history in which both candidates were found to have violated ethics standards before a national election.

McCain, of course, was admonished by Senate Ethics Committee "for exercising 'poor judgment' for intervening" with federal regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, as part of the infamous Keating Five scandal.

And now McCain's running mate has also been found to have violated state ethics laws and abused the powers of her office, as part of the "Troopergate" scandal.

The nation has had 102 major-party tickets covering 51 presidential elections over more than two centuries. And we've never had a ticket in which both candidates on the same ticket were responsible for ethics violations before a national election. McCain/Palin is the first.

It makes the whole "reform" pitch a little more difficult, doesn't it?" From Washington Monthly on line.

[tomder55]

Re:Keating 5 .

80% of the Keating 5 were Dems and McCain was completely exonerated by the Dem investigator Robert Bennett (who you will recall also served as Clintoon's laywer during the impeachment ).

Bennett recommended to the Senate Ethics Committee that McCain be found clean but the Democrat led Senate had to make a case against him because he was the only Republican on the hook. The Senate Ethics Committee found McCain and Glenn to be the least blameworthy of the five senators. (McCain and Glenn attended the meetings but did nothing else to influence the regulators.) McCain was guilty of nothing more than "poor judgment," the committee said, and declared his actions were not "improper nor attended with gross negligence."


Still McCain conceeds his poor judgement in befriending Keating .He has since spent his career in the Senate dedicated to reform ;even passing laws I despise like McCain Feingold.
...

Re : Palin Troopergate :Here is the key part of the disjointed finding :

“Governor Palin's firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.” “This does nothing to diminish the seriousness of the charges,”

http://media.adn.com/smedia/2008/10/...ffiliate.7.pdf


Yeah ,Palin's ethics violation was to try to get a child abusing bad cop fired . Palin had this cop who was not only a disgrace to the uniform and a danger to others, but she also had a commissioner;Commissioner Monegan, in her administration who not only was insubordinate in regards to other matters, but deliberately bucked her authority in this case.


Compare that to the other "Troopergate" ;when Arkansas Gov. Bill Clintoon used Arkansas State Troopers to procure bimbos for himself.Now that is what I call an ethics violation.

[speechlesstx]

So we're trying this topic again, eh? As I sid before, I spent a great deal of time reading the report and the conclusion was her "abuse of power" was that she 'engaged in "official action" by her inaction if not her active participation.' What kind of wishy-washy BS is that?

As for firing Monegan he found that not firing Wooten was "not the sole reason" but "likely a contributing factor" though it was a "proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority." I'm sure the last straw was when Monegan delivered a photo of a trooper "on the eve of the 2008 annual Police Memorial Day ceremony" to be signed by her and used as a poster to be placed in trooper stations around the state. The @#$! Photo was of Wooten!! Knowing the sensitivity here what kind of idiot would do that?

Needless to say, it goes on to list numerous examples of her dissatisfaction with Monegan's performance having nothing to do with Wooten.

Now here's where it gets good. The recommendations for action consisted of establishing better guidelines for handling medical records of a state employee and to "consider amending AS 39.25.080 to permit those who file complaints against peace officers to receive some feedback about the status and outcome of their complaint."

That's it. The recommendations for dealing with Palin's "abuse" is a better way to deal with medical records and to make it easier for someone with a complaint against a peace officer to get feedback so the next frustrated family who was threatened by a peace officer - in this case Palin's dad being told he would "eat a f'ing lead bullet" - would find better cooperation with the state. Big deal.

[excon]

Hello Steve:

The minute she let the "first Dude" get on the phone to DO state business, she violated her ethical responsibility. You can spin it any way you like, but she's a crook, a liar and a cheat.

excon

[speechlesstx]

Hello Steve:

The minute she let the "first Dude" get on the phone to DO state business, she violated he ethical responsibility. You can spin it any way you like, but she's a crook, a liar and a cheat.

That's some pretty darned strong language, ex. I think one can judge the severity of this offense by the recommendations for punishment. There were none. Did you even look at the images I attached?

[excon]

Hello again, Steve:

Good spin. However, the report doesn't punish or recommend punishment. That's for the State Personnel Board to do, where the case will go next. I don't think she'll be punished there either, because she appointed them... Plus, I doubt the case would have went there if there wasn't a finding of wrongdoing.

But, the public knows she's a crook... You DID see the video where she says she's glad the report cleared her of wrongdong and of any HINT of unethical conduct?? Wow, DUDE!

When I read the report, I think it said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Now, maybe I didn't read what I read, I but I think I read it... Who knows - if Palin gets elected, maybe up will be the new down?

Bwa, ha ha ha.

excon

[speechlesstx]

It doesn't go next to the State Personnel Board, it stays with the committee who will decide what to do next if anything besides close the case. The legislature hired Branchflower to investigate and "prepare a final report, including any recommendations for action by the legislature." See the attached. I stand by my prior statement and refer you again to previous attachments listing said recommendations.

[excon]

Hello again, Steve:

You say she's not guilty because the report doesn't recommend any punishment. I say she's guilty because the report says she is.

I guess there ain't nothing we can do about that.

excon

[speechlesstx]

Don't put words in my mouth like ol' whatshisname does. I never said declared her innocent in this, I linked the severity of the "crime" to the severity of the recommendations for action, which is what he was hired to do. Suggesting the legislature make it easier for someone who files a complaint to get information on the status is pretty severe, eh? You seem to think it's a hangin' offense and the investigator seems to think the governor shouldn't have had to jump through so many hoops to find out what was going on.

[excon]

Hello again, Steve:

Ok then. We agree. She violated the ethics statute. You say only a little. Ok. I thought you were saying, like SHE says, that she didn't DO anything...

That's all I wanted from you AND from her - an acknowledgment of what the report SAID. I don't want her to hang. Losing the election and going back to Ak is fine with me.

excon

[magprob]

Yesterday I saw a political cartoon in the Deseret News that showed Sarah Palin sitting in a chair reading a book entitled: “How to field-dress a donkey!”

[tomder55]

[Galveston1]

If I were on trial for something, I sure wouldn't want Ex on the jury. He doesn't believe in that thing about "innocent until proven guilty". And I thought he was strong on the law. Oh, well.

[tomder55]

Palin has been cleared of all charges of ethics violations by the Alaska state personnel board . I'm sure that is page one in your newspaper this morning.

In a sharply worded rebuke, the new report from independent investigator Timothy J. Petumenos accused the investigator for the state Legislative Council of using the wrong statute to evaluate Palin's conduct, misconstruing the available evidence and failing to obtain all the "material" evidence needed to "properly" evaluate the case.

"There is no probable cause to believe that Gov. Palin violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act by making the decision to dismiss . . . Monegan," concluded the new investigation, with which Palin cooperated fully.

Palin didn't breach ethics laws in firing, report says - Los Angeles Times

"Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?" [Ray Donovan ]

[speechlesstx]

I didn't even bother with my paper this morning, I was too busy trying to shore up a fantasy team that can't seem to keep a healthy QB and RB. I doubt it was in my paper at all. Shame this didn't come out last week. On another note, we'll probably get to see the video the LA Times is holding tomorrow...

[tomder55]

I got an extra QB .