October 12, 2008	Sunday	Shawwal 12, 1429

JUNEAU (Alaska), Oct 11: Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her position as Alaska governor by pressuring officials to sack a state trooper once married to her sister, a long-awaited official investigation said on Friday.

In a potentially explosive 263-page report released by Alaska’s Legislative Council following a six-hour closed-door hearing, investigator Steve Branchflower said Palin violated state ethics rules governing public officials.

Palin had allowed her husband Todd Palin to use the Alaska governor’s office and its resources to pressure officials to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, her former brother-in-law, the investigator said.

“The evidence supports the conclusion that governor Palin, at the least, engaged in ‘official action’ by her inaction if not her active participation or assistance to her husband to get trooper Wooten fired,” his report said.

“Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get trooper Michael Wooten fired.

“She had the authority and power to require Mr Palin to cease contacting subordinates, but she failed to act.”

McCain-Palin campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said the report showed Palin had acted “properly and lawfully” in axing Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan, dismissing the investigation as politically motivated.

A Republican-dominated bipartisan committee had launched the investigation following Palin’s decision to sack Monegan in July.

Monegan claimed he was fired because of his refusal to sack Wooten, who had been involved in an acrimonious divorce with Palin’s younger sister in 2005.

The inquiry found that although Palin was within her rights as Alaska governor to dismiss Monegan, she had breached ethics rules by allowing her husband to badger officials into firing Wooten.—AFP