Alaska board clears Palin in ethics case involving trooper

November 4, 2008

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was cleared last night by a state personnel board of any ethics violations in the firing of Alaska's public safety commissioner.

The report from Timothy Petumenos, an independent counsel for the Alaska Personnel Board, said there is no probable cause to believe Palin, Alaska's governor, or any other state official violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with the firing of Walter Monegan.

A separate legislative investigation concluded last month that Palin "abused her power" in seeking to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper. The investigation into the case found that while the refusal of Monegan, then public safety commissioner, to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was "not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor." Wooten had been in a messy divorce with Palin's sister.

Although the Legislature's investigator found that Palin violated the state's ethics law banning public officials from using their offices for personal gain, it did not say whether she should be censured by the Legislature or whether the matter should be referred for criminal investigation.

Palin has maintained that she fired Monegan over budget disagreements. In a statement, Palin's lawyer said she was pleased with the ruling, which proves that the legislative probe's conclusion was wrong. "The Governor is grateful that this investigation has provided a fair and impartial review of this matter and upholds the Governor's ability to take measures when necessary to ensure that Alaskans have the best possible team working to serve them," said the statement from Thomas Van Flien.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Reaching out to football fans last night on election eve, Barack Obama and John McCain were given the chance to declare the one thing they would change if they were the czar of all sports.

Obama said he wants college football to pick a champion with a playoff system, while McCain said he wants to root out performance-boosting drugs.

The taped interviews aired at halftime of ESPN's "Monday Night Football" game between the Washington Redskins and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. I'm fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other. Get eight teams - the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a national champion," Obama told Chris Berman.

Now, college football uses a Bowl Championship Series system, commonly known as BCS, that is based on polls and computer rankings, to pick the two teams that play for the championship.

McCain told Berman he would "take significant action to prevent the spread and use of performance-enhancing substances. I think it's a game we're going to be in for a long time. What I mean by that is there is somebody in a laboratory right now trying to develop some type of substance that can't be detected and we've got to stay ahead of it. It's not good for the athletes. It's not good for the sports. It's very bad for those who don't do it, and I think it can attack the very integrity of all sports going all the way down to high school."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HARTFORD - A Connecticut judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit that alleged election fraud and questioned whether Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was qualified to appear on the state's ballot.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers threw out the case after hearing testimony from the state and a Greenwich man who filed the suit, similar to at least seven others filed in state courts across the country that allege there is a lack of evidence that Obama was born in the United States.

The plaintiff, Cort Wrotnowski, said Connecticut Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz should not have placed Obama's name on the ballot without verifying the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate.

Officials in Hawaii said last week there's no doubt the Democratic presidential candidate was born there and the state's health department has his original birth certificate.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A poll out on election eve says that voters look at Democrat Barack Obama as a strong leader but are divided about whether he has enough seasoning.

Sixty percent of likely voters said Obama is a "strong and decisive leader," 57 percent said he is someone they would be proud to have as president, and 55 percent said he can bring the change the country needs, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released yesterday.

But only 46 percent said he had the right experience to be president, while 52 percent said he doesn't.

For Republican John McCain, 64 percent said he is a strong leader, 59 percent said he is someone they would be proud of as president, and 77 percent said he has the right experience, the poll found. But only 46 percent said McCain can deliver the change needed.

The same survey reinforces the impression that McCain's running mate Sarah Palin is not ready for the presidency. Only 37 percent of likely voters said she has the qualities needed to be president, compared with 67 percent for Democrat Joe Biden.

FOON RHEE