McCain camp tries to quash 'Troopergate'

Several Alaska legislators and residents sued today to halt an investigation of Governor Sarah Palin, alleging that the probe of her firing of the state's public safety chief is a partisan political move.

The lawsuit says that state Senators Hollis French and Kim Elton and Stephen E. Branchflower of the Alaska Legislative Council, who are leading the investigation, have made prejudicial statements in an attempt to smear Palin.

“The partisan actions of Sen. French, Sen. Elton and Branchflower have tainted the investigation beyond the appearance of impartiality required under the Alaska Constitution,” Kevin Clarkson, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, said in a statement. The conservative-leaning Liberty Legal Institute is also involved in the suit.

The investigation, sanctioned by Alaska's legislature, is looking into whether Palin abused the office of governor by pressuring the state's public safety commissioner to fire a state trooper involved in a contentious divorce with her sister before she became governor.

Late Monday, John McCain's campaign took steps to divorce his running mate from the controversy, which could come to a head when the investigative report is released in mid-October, just weeks from Election Day.

It released e-mails supporting her contention that she dismissed Walt Monegan over budget disagreements, not the family matter. The McCain campaign also declared that Palin is unlikely to speak with an investigator hired by the state legislature as long as the probe is "tainted" by politics, the Associated Press reported.

The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted Friday to issue subpoenas to 13 people -- including Palin's husband Todd but not Palin herself -- to compel cooperation with the investigation.

Among the e-mails was a farewell by Monegan, when he was fired in July, that suggested that Palin had reason to believe she had lost his support, and that urged his former colleagues to communicate better with her. "For anyone to lead effectively they must have the support of their team, and I had waited too long outside her door for her to believe that I supported her," he wrote. "Please, choose a different path."

But Monegan, himself, disputed Monday night that he was fired over budget issues.

"I truly did not know why I was terminated," he said on MSNBC. "I mean, the very first night it happened, I walked away scratching my head."

Monegan also said that he did feel pressured to dismiss the trooper, Mike Wooten.

"No one ever said 'fire him,' " he said. "They said things like-this man should not be a trooper. This man shouldn't represent the troopers. Those kinds of things, which are inferring that, to fire him.

Monegan said "the very first time I even heard trooper Wooten's name was through her husband Todd, who wanted to tell me what kind of character that was working for me, and how he had filed a complaint and had documents and pictures. And primarily, he wanted to describe the character of trooper Wooten. And that was in January of '07. It continued, right up until the last.... So, it was continual. It was a kind of a reoccurring theme. If it wasn't-initially, it was the governor and her husband, but then it became other commissioners and not only did they call me, but they called other members of my staff. "

Monegan told ABC News.com he was summoned to a December 2006 meeting with Todd Palin, who became "upset" when Monegan told him the allegations against Wooten had already been investigated and the case would not be
re-opened. "When Sarah later called to tell me the same thing, I thought to myself, 'I may not be long for this job.' "

But, Monegan said, he stood by his position. "I held the public trust. As chief, I was responsible."