Palin guilty of abuse of power

In spite of the fact that McCain campaign staffers issued a 21-page report yesterday -- before the official report was released, and without the facts of the case, and whining that "the inquiry has been muddied by innuendo, rumour and partisan politics," and further determining for the whole world that Sarah Palin was not guilty of any malfeasance in office -- the Alaskan Legislative Council voted unanimously today to release the official report by investigator Steve Branchflower which contradicted the McCain campaign's protestations of innocence.

In fact, Sarah Palin is guilty as charged of abuse of power.

Branchflower's report contained four "findings."

Don Hunter, writing for the Anchorage Daily News, says, "The first [finding] concludes that Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act, which says that 'each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.'"

In other words, Palin's attempts to get her former brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten fired, was against the law. It was not only unethical, but illegal.

The second finding found that Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten was a "contributing factor" for his dismissal, although Palin did have the right to let him go.

The third finding says a workers compensation claim filed by Wooten was handled appropriately.

The fourth finding concluded that the attorney general's office failed to provide e-mails relative to the case.


None of this is surprising to those of us who have investigated Palin's background as mayor of Wasilla and her behavior on the campaign trail.

It will be interesting to see if the McCain campaign sticks to its story that all of this was politically motivated and Poor Sarah has done nothing wrong: She's merely the target of a bunch of disgruntled political hacks who have it in for her.

But being found guilty of abuse of power, while indicative of the kind of person she is, is really not the main concern. Sarah Palin is about as unqualified to be vice president as a polar bear. She is a religious extremist and theocrat and a member of an ultra-fundamentalist Christian cult; she holds views on many subjects (abortion, sex education, teaching creationism in public schools, separation of church and state, freedom of speech, etc.) which are not shared by the majority of the American people; and her ties to the Alaska Independence Party should immediately disqualify her from holding any public office in the land.

While campaigning on the Republican ticket, her attacks on Senator Obama have been riddled with lies, rife with subtle racism, shot through with attempts to assassinate his character by raising issues long ago laid to rest, and all the while she has failed to provide anything of substance relative to the major issues facing our country.

When required to speak without her "talking points, she dribbles into comic incoherence for which there is only derision heard around the world.

She has pandered to and incited the crazies and the fruitcakes which has resulted in her rallies being filled with strange loonies who "Boo" when she mentions Obama, call out "Kill him!" and "Terrorist!" and otherwise denigrate the senator.

If McCain has any moral integrity left, he will drop her from the ticket immediately and send her back to the mooses.