The McCain campaign vetted this woman? The Wall Street Journal uncovers a letter from an informal ethics advisor, Wevley Shea, who counseled her to apologize for her handling of the firing of Walter Monegan.
In the letter, written before Sen. John McCain picked the Alaska
governor as his running mate, former U.S. Attorney Wevley Shea warned
Gov. Palin that "the situation is now grave" and recommended that she
and her husband, Todd Palin, apologize for "overreaching or perceived
overreaching" for using her position to try to get Trooper Mike Wooten
fired from the force. After his initial letter in July, Mr. Shea followed up with another
letter, dated Aug. 4, in which he told Gov. Palin that she probably
couldn't legally shun a legislative investigation into the firing of
Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
The entire letter is here. Again, I ask did McCain vet this woman and ignore the issues or did he just make a maverick, from the hip decision?
That's an ABC news report...just in case you didn't notice.
They say that she got her nickname for her tenacious play on the basketball court, but I'm thinking that her tenacity in going after her former brother-in-law is more than a little barracuda-like.
As Troopergate continues, Newsweek's doing a little investigative journalism.
Court records show that Palin and her family were told more than once to "stop disparaging" State Trooper Michael Wooten. The first warning was three years ago, before Palin was elected governor. Again in January of 2006, the judge was concerned about the Palin family attacks on Wooten and threatened to reduce Palin's sister's child custody rights if the attacks didn't stop:
"It is the mother's [Hackett's] responsibility to set boundaries for
her relatives and insure [sic] they respect them, and the disparagement
by either parent, or their surrogates is emotional child abuse," Judge
Suddock wrote. He added that: "If the court finds it is necessary due
to disparagement in the Mat-Su Valley [the area north of Anchorage
where Palin and her extended family live], for the children's best
interests, it [the court] will not hesitate to order custody to the
father and a move into Anchorage."
The judge is right. When adults act like babies in front of the children, it is abuse. Is is so hard to keep your opinions of your ex to yourself for the good of the kids?
Oh wait....we're talking about the woman who said yes to John McCain rather than "Thanks Senator, but I'm going to have to take a pass on your VEEP offer. You see as much as I'd love to be VP and as good as I would be at it, the timing isn't right. I have a very young special needs child who's going to require some love and attention from his mom. My 17-year old is pregnant and not yet married. You know how self-conscious teen girls are, and as a mom, I just can't put Bristol through that media meat grinder that my candidacy would require. If you need someone in 2012, please do give me a call. And I thank you again for considering me." Family values? I don't know Sarah Palin (I'd like to get to know her, but she's not taking questions right now), but based on what I see and read and what my mom would have done for me* those values are ringing a little hollow right now.
*and thank God she didn't have to, because when I was 17, based on the way that I was raised, murder was less of a sin than sex before marriage.
UPDATE: Mudflats has some excellent additional information on TrooperGate. If you're aware that Trooper Wooten was found guilty of drinking beer in his cruiser, you should read his post.