GOP lawmakers sue to stop Palin investigation

[disneydude]

GOP lawmakers sue to stop Palin investigation - Yahoo! News


Suing to stop a Bi-Partisan investigation...:doh

Once again proving that a McCain/Palin administration would continue to subscribe to the Bush/Cheney Mantra: Accountability to no one.

 

[Saboteur]

GOP lawmakers sue to stop Palin investigation - Yahoo! News


Suing to stop a Bi-Partisan investigation...:doh

Once again proving that a McCain/Palin administration would continue to subscribe to the Bush/Cheney Mantra: Accountability to no one.

Ah Republicans..... Either way this looks bad. It's obvious that they're trying to cover up the phone calls and e-mails.

 

[rsixing]

IF this Palin has nothing to hide why try to stop the investigation or worse, not cooperate?

 

[RightinNYC]

IF this Palin has nothing to hide why try to stop the investigation or worse, not cooperate?

Maybe because the Obama supporter who's in charge of running it has made multiple public statements that indicate his political bias will ensure that the investigation will be nothing more than a hit job?

 

[Lerxst]

Maybe because the Obama supporter who's in charge of running it has made multiple public statements that indicate his political bias will ensure that the investigation will be nothing more than a hit job?

Substantiate this statement please.

 

[Panther]

Substantiate this statement please.

It has been well documented. Try Google.

 

[aps]

Maybe because the Obama supporter who's in charge of running it has made multiple public statements that indicate his political bias will ensure that the investigation will be nothing more than a hit job?

With Republicans being part of the investigation, can you explain how this alleged Obama supporter will be able to do a "hit job"?

 

[Harshaw]

With Republicans being part of the investigation, can you explain how this alleged Obama supporter will be able to do a "hit job"?

You forget that there are numerous prominent Alaska Republicans who don't like her because she cleaned house.

 

[danarhea]

Maybe because the Obama supporter who's in charge of running it has made multiple public statements that indicate his political bias will ensure that the investigation will be nothing more than a hit job?

1) Stephen Branchflower, the lead investigator of Troopergate, is a lifelong Republican.

2) The committee investigating Palin consists of 4 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

 

[RightinNYC]

With Republicans being part of the investigation, can you explain how this alleged Obama supporter will be able to do a "hit job"?

From another thread:

Let me get this straight. This Democrat:

Hollis French - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Who has said things like this:

Quote:
"It's likely to be damaging to the Governor's administration," said Senator Hollis French

Quote:
"The Governor first issued a blanket denial but now she's had to back down and that's a problem," said French. "She has a credibility problem," he said.

Quote:
French says the McCain campaign failed to contact any of the Senators involved in the investigation during the vetting process of Gov. Palin.

"If they had done their job they never would have picked her," said French. "Now they may have to deal with an October surprise," he said, referring to the scheduled release Oct. 31 of the committee's final report.

Is the guy in charge of issuing an "unbiased" and "bipartisan" report about what happened?

Sure doesn't sound like he's made up his mind or has an ax to grind.

He's also an open Obama supporter:

Barack Obama | AK HQ Blog

And has been attacking McCain:

Obama Hopes to Take Hold of 7 Traditionally GOP States - America’s Election HQ

I haven't done many criminal investigations yet, but I don't think you're supposed to speculate in the media about the target's guilt.

 

[aps]

I actually think this is a good thing--it keeps this issue in the limelight, and it shows exactly what disneydude mentioned--that McCain-Palin is no different than Bush-Cheney (and Nixon-Watergate at that).

 

[Thorgasm]

You forget that there are numerous prominent Alaska Republicans who don't like her because she cleaned house.

Well, which is it? Did she clean house or are they still in power?

 

[Thorgasm]

From another thread:

So, is someone who supports a candidate incapable of having the integrity to be a part of an investigation?

 

[RightinNYC]

1) Stephen Branchflower, the lead investigator of Troopergate, is a lifelong Republican.

2) The committee investigating Palin consists of 4 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

In two letters released Wednesday, Thomas Van Flein called the investigation "unlawful and unconstitutional" and said the man hired to run it, former prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, has a conflict of interest because he's a friend of the fired commissioner

The investigation has included setting up a secret tip line to "accept and investigate anonymous rumors and complaints outside the scope" of the inquiry, Van Flein alleged. He also said Branchflower has deposed witnesses without proper notice other attorneys.

Van Flein sent one of the letters to Branchflower and the other to Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, who heads the Legislative Council, the body that unanimously approved the investigation in July. Both letters were dated Tuesday.

Elton this week rebuffed a Republican attempt to have Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat, replaced as head of the investigation.

Van Flein wrote that both French and Branchflower are friends of Monegan but apparently failed to disclose those relationships to the Legislature.

The investigation, which began after Monegan’s dismissal in July 2008, is being led by outspoken supporters of Barack Obama and members of the Democratic Party. Sen. Elton, the Chair of the Legislative Council donated $2,000 to the Obama campaign but has failed to disclose this to the Legislative Council and he continues to preside over the Council with respect to the investigation, refusing to convene meetings of the Council at the request of a majority of the Council’s membership. Sen. French the investigation “project manager” failed to disclose to the Legislative Council the comments he made on a radio program criticizing the Governor’s conduct regarding the termination of Monegan as “criminal” prior to being appointed as the investigation “project manager” and even prior to a vote to investigate at all. Sen. French also failed to disclose to the Legislative Council that he had a personal bone to pick with the Governor over the Monegan firing because Monegan was a friend and because he had worked closely with Monegan during the 2008 legislative session regarding attempts to include in the state budget items that Governor Palin had vetoed.

adn.com | Alaska Politics Blog : And now this

If those allegations are true, this is a serious problem.

 

[RightinNYC]

So, is someone who supports a candidate incapable of having the integrity to be a part of an investigation?

No. Someone who makes public statements about how something is "criminal" before they even begin what is supposed to be an unbiased investigation is incapable of credibly conducting that investigation.

If a judge made a statement like that about a defendant before a trial began, he'd either have to recuse himself from the case or he'd get in a ****load of trouble with the Bar because of his own ethical violation.

 

[Thorgasm]

No. Someone who makes public statements about how something is "criminal" before they even begin what is supposed to be an unbiased investigation is incapable of credibly conducting that investigation.

If a judge made a statement like that about a defendant before a trial began, he'd either have to recuse himself from the case or he'd get in a ****load of trouble with the Bar because of his own ethical violation.

I don't know, it looks like McCain has sent a pack of wol....I mean lawyers up to Alaska to stop this.

It's funny how Bush/Cheney have been doing this for going on 8 years and here we are with more of the same BS. They'll say that they cooperate with investigations and hold people accountable, and then when push comes to shove, they balk and cry "left wing conspiracy".

Replace the Obama supporter and cooperate. But that isn't what they are trying to do. First they want it moved to a bunch of Palin appointees, and now they don't want any investigation. She agreed to cooperate. Now it seems that they have something to hide. It reeks to high heaven.

 

[Lerxst]

It has been well documented. Try Google.

Thanks for not answering the question.

 

[RightinNYC]

I don't know, it looks like McCain has sent a pack of wol....I mean lawyers up to Alaska to stop this.

It's funny how Bush/Cheney have been doing this for going on 8 years and here we are with more of the same BS. They'll say that they cooperate with investigations and hold people accountable, and then when push comes to shove, they balk and cry "left wing conspiracy".

Replace the Obama supporter and cooperate. But that isn't what they are trying to do. First they want it moved to a bunch of Palin appointees, and now they don't want any investigation. She agreed to cooperate. Now it seems that they have something to hide. It reeks to high heaven.

They didn't seem to have a problem with the investigation before it got so heavily politicized. Palin was willing to cooperate, the Republican leaders I mentioned above were supporters of going forward, and the panel voted unanimously to look into the issue to see if there was anything there.

It's only once the national election hype got a hold of this thing and the stakes became infinitely higher that both sides started to get aggressive on the issue.

Think about it: If there was really something there, don't you think Palin and the Reps would have been against this thing a looooong time ago? To me, it seems completely reasonable to oppose it now - given that guys statements and actions it seems pretty obvious that this thing is going to be framed in the absolute worst possible way.

 

[ADK_Forever]

You forget that there are numerous prominent Alaska Republicans who don't like her because she cleaned house.

Do you think there just might be other reasons why her fellow Repubs might not like her? Just one or two... possibly? Ya think?

 

[Thorgasm]

They didn't seem to have a problem with the investigation before it got so heavily politicized. Palin was willing to cooperate, the Republican leaders I mentioned above were supporters of going forward, and the panel voted unanimously to look into the issue to see if there was anything there.

It's only once the national election hype got a hold of this thing and the stakes became infinitely higher that both sides started to get aggressive on the issue.

Think about it: If there was really something there, don't you think Palin and the Reps would have been against this thing a looooong time ago? To me, it seems completely reasonable to oppose it now - given that guys statements and actions it seems pretty obvious that this thing is going to be framed in the absolute worst possible way.

Especially in light of the current administration, it's not the crime, it's the cover-up. This will play worse than just cooperating. Everyone is pretending as if evidence would be made up. There is an Obama supporter heading it. Fine replace him and go on with the majority republican board. Oh yeah, all of Alaska is out to get her, I forgot. What with her approval rating being as high as 80% and recently at 65%, it stinks.

Even if she did nothing wrong, it will play worse politically not being transparent.

 

[RightinNYC]

Especially in light of the current administration, it's not the crime, it's the cover-up. This will play worse than just cooperating. Everyone is pretending as if evidence would be made up. There is an Obama supporter heading it. Fine replace him and go on with the majority republican board.

They tried, and their efforts were stopped by another Obama supporter.

Van Flein sent one of the letters to Branchflower and the other to Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, who heads the Legislative Council, the body that unanimously approved the investigation in July. Both letters were dated Tuesday.

Elton this week rebuffed a Republican attempt to have Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat, replaced as head of the investigation.

 

[Thorgasm]

They tried, and their efforts were stopped by another Obama supporter.

Well, Palin better figure out something soon, playing Cheney isn't going to cut it.

 

[aps]

I think there's something to this investigation. In reading more about the background, it appears that when the divorce proceedings were taking place, the judge who was presiding had warned Molly Hackett (Palin's sister) that she and her family should stop disaparaging Wooten. Looks like they couldn't leave well enough alone.

Court records obtained by NEWSWEEK show that during the course of divorce hearings three years ago, Judge John Suddock heard testimony from an official of the Alaska State Troopers' union about how Sarah Palin—then a private citizen—and members of her family, including her father and daughter, lodged up to a dozen complaints against Wooten with the state police. The union official told the judge that he had never before been asked to appear as a divorce-case witness, that the union believed family complaints against Wooten were "not job-related," and that Wooten was being "harassed" by Palin and other family members.

Court documents show that Judge Suddock was disturbed by the alleged attacks by Palin and her family members on Wooten's behavior and character. "Disparaging will not be tolerated—it is a form of child abuse," the judge told a settlement hearing in October 2005, according to typed notes of the proceedings. The judge added: "Relatives cannot disparage either. If occurs [sic] the parent needs to set boundaries for their relatives."

Palin Warned to Stop Disparaging Sister's Ex | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008 | Newsweek.com

Wooten had already been punished for the acts that the Palin family were alleging to the fired employee. Hmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[PeteEU]

Well, Palin better figure out something soon, playing Cheney isn't going to cut it.

Looks like it is. Witnesses are falling by the wayside refusing to testify, which basicly means no investigation for now. Again the Republican-Rove machine wins.

 

[Gill]

I don't know, it looks like McCain has sent a pack of wol....I mean lawyers up to Alaska to stop this.

It's funny how Bush/Cheney have been doing this for going on 8 years and here we are with more of the same BS. They'll say that they cooperate with investigations and hold people accountable, and then when push comes to shove, they balk and cry "left wing conspiracy".

Replace the Obama supporter and cooperate. But that isn't what they are trying to do. First they want it moved to a bunch of Palin appointees, and now they don't want any investigation. She agreed to cooperate. Now it seems that they have something to hide. It reeks to high heaven.

Yep, the lawyers should have just asked for a full and complete definition of the word "is". That alone would have delayed it for a few months if legal precedents mean anything.