Where you stand depends on where you sit.
Hi Box,
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Now you know that one of only 240 people totally piss your boss off you have the Gall to have her sign a photo of this guy for "OUTSTANDING TROOPER" and you are surprised when you get fired?
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There's Wooten's side of that in pages 154 - 158. I don't think that he was trying to get her riled up, he sounded happy that she was going to be at the event - why would he antagonize her? My impression of him, from TV interviews and my skimming of the report, is that he *went out of his way* to follow the rules about disciplining Wooten and tried to impress upon her, Todd, and others, that the process had run its course and there was nothing else he could do. But they just kept pushing...
9-10 weeks before he was fired / demoted / transferred / whatever you want to call it, she was praising him at a conference (p. 151-153). Later, they came up with the excuses about the budget, the trip to DC, etc. Coupled with the fact that at his firing, that they didn't give him anything other than keep repeating "different direction" (pages 171-180) tells me that Monegan had a stronger case about his actions over those 18 months than they did. He may have been a poor manager - who knows. But I don't think there's anything in the record about his actions regarding Wooten that shows anything other than care and respect for the law.
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Put yourself in that situation, an underling comes to you with a picture of someone you hate, and they know it, wanting you to endorse the person. Fucker would be gone in a heartbeat. Cmon now, how do you justify that kind of behavior
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See above.
She could have fired him for any reason at any time. When questioned about it, she and her campaign have given several reasons. If there was no problem with the firing, why has the story changed? E.g. see Josh's summary, from August:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/211769.php
Just to close things out, here's what I believe about this whole affair:
0) Palin could fire Monegan at any time, for any reason. If she was pissed off about the picture, she could throw him overboard without any criticism from me (other than the pettiness of it).
1) I don't believe that Wooten is as evil as the Palins paint him. I do believe he *may* have shown bad judgment on several occasions, but there were circumstances that paint the events as not being as bad as Todd and others state (e.g. family being around at the moose killing; his low-power taser demonstration; etc.) I trust that Wooten was treated as others on the force were treated during the investigation unless there's evidence otherwise, but I have no evidence either way. Unless we can make comparisons to disciplinary actions against others in similar circumstances, we'll never know.
2) An elected executive should *never* use their power to force subordinates to intervene in personal matters. She and Todd had no business inquiring about Wooten and trying to get him fired. It's an abuse of power. End of story.
3) Palin, and McCain, have shown contempt for a legal investigation through their interference with it. It reflects badly on them and it's more evidence of the danger they would be in the White House.
4) I don't really expect any further action from the Alaska legislature on this. But I expect that this case, and the way she's handled it, will damage her chances for re-election in Alaska. How much? Who knows.
My $0.02. You can have the last word.
Cheers,
Scott.
