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Palin "Troopergate" facts

Cheryl in NM
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Cheryl in NM

Cheryl in NM

Posted
Posted

Has anyone heard the real story in the real order of events on this?

 

When I first heard about this it stunk (stank?) of retribution from enemies she made in her grand political clean up.

 

Summary:

 

The whole thing started 18 months BEFORE she was governor.

 

Palin's sister, Molly McCann, filed for divorce

 

That same day Palin's dad, Chuck Heath, called the state police with allegations against Trooper Wooten; the following were found to be true by a private investigator hired by the Palin family:

  1. using a Taser on his 10 year old step-son
  2. shooting a moose without a permit
  3. drinking beer while driving a patrol car
  4. He threatened to put a bullet in Heath's if Heath attempted to help McCann find a divorce attorney.

Wooten was disciplined 7 other times in his trooper carreer.

 

The Palin family was in the process of trying to get this dangerous trooper off the job before Sarah was elected governor. Even Monegan states that she didn't directly ask him to remove Wooten, just kept mentioning that they guy shouldn't be a trooper. Mr. Palin said that Trooper Wooten shouldn't be on the job. Monegan stated that other government officials stated concern and asked for Wooten's dismissal. The charges above were found to be correct. That makes this trooper dangerous but Monegan refused to dismiss him because it would look politically motivated, he said.

 

So here we have a man hurting a child, making death threats and behaving irresponsibly and the government won't take him off the job BECAUSE he is connected with the governor's family, when the governor's family is VERY vocal about wanting him gone. What I want to know is why he wasn't removed from his job.

 

Is Wooten a good trooper?

This what Wooten's boss said about him:

"The record clearly indicates a serious and concentrated pattern of unacceptable and at times, illegal activity occurring over a lengthy period, which establishes a course of conduct totally at odds with the ethics of our profession," Col. Julia Grimes, then head of Alaska State Troopers, wrote in March 1, 2006, letter suspending Wooten for 10 days. After the union protested it, the suspension was reduced to five days.

 

If Governor Palin thought this man should STAY on the job we'd be tearing her a new one. This is a bad guy who's managed to keep his nose clean but didn't deserve the second chance. You just don't threaten to kill people and taser a child!

 

This is what Wooten's boss told him:

"This discipline is meant to be a last chance to take corrective action," Grimes wrote. "You are hereby given notice that any further occurrences of these types of behaviors or incidents will not be tolerated and will result in your termination."

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sdWTMer

sdWTMer

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If Governor Palin thought this man should STAY on the job we'd be tearing her a new one. This is a bad guy who's managed to keep his nose clean but didn't deserve the second chance. You just don't threaten to kill people and taser a child!

 

:iagree: How true it is!

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nakitty

nakitty

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But those are all criminal acts.....why wasn't he CHARGED if there was evidence against him? Had he been charged and convicted of these crimes no one would have needed to fire him.

 

ETA....not saying he didn't do these things...just wondering WHY he wasn't charged....

 

As for the taser part.... even the boy said it was something he wanted to do....the OP made it sound like it was an act of child abuse. Very misleading IMO.

 

Bottom line...the guy is a menace from all reports....and MANY of the things they are charging are actual laws being broken....so, again, I want to know WHY wasn't he charged?

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anissarobert

anissarobert

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Cheryl,

 

Thanks for posting this. I heard this on Glen this afternoon, and wanted to post it, but I had no time to research it. I'm glad someone did. I getting to the point that I find it hard to believe anything I hear, but who has the time to look up everything, even with the internet?

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babs

babs

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Posted
But those are all criminal acts.....why wasn't he CHARGED if there was evidence against him? Had he been charged and convicted of these crimes no one would have needed to fire him.

 

ETA....not saying he didn't do these things...just wondering WHY he wasn't charged....

 

As for the taser part.... even the boy said it was something he wanted to do....the OP made it sound like it was an act of child abuse. Very misleading IMO.

 

Bottom line...the guy is a menace from all reports....and MANY of the things they are charging are actual laws being broken....so, again, I want to know WHY wasn't he charged?

Even if the boy "consented" it must be illegal to taser a child - peroid! And the adult should have had the commen sense to know this - all the more considering he is a law enforcement agent.

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TN Mama

TN Mama

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Even if the boy "consented" it must be illegal to taser a child - peroid! And the adult should have had the commen sense to know this - all the more considering he is a law enforcement agent.

 

Sure, a child could "want" to get into a car with their intoxicated parent. A child could "want" to see what it would be like to smoke or drink underage. But those actions by parents would all be illegal . I don't get the logic that the child wanted to get tasered, so it shouldn't equal abuse. :001_huh:

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TN Mama

TN Mama

Posted
Posted
But those are all criminal acts.....why wasn't he CHARGED if there was evidence against him? Had he been charged and convicted of these crimes no one would have needed to fire him.

 

ETA....not saying he didn't do these things...just wondering WHY he wasn't charged....

 

As for the taser part.... even the boy said it was something he wanted to do....the OP made it sound like it was an act of child abuse. Very misleading IMO.

 

Bottom line...the guy is a menace from all reports....and MANY of the things they are charging are actual laws being broken....so, again, I want to know WHY wasn't he charged?

 

Good question.

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Cheryl in NM

Cheryl in NM

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Posted
But those are all criminal acts.....why wasn't he CHARGED if there was evidence against him? Had he been charged and convicted of these crimes no one would have needed to fire him.

 

ETA....not saying he didn't do these things...just wondering WHY he wasn't charged....

 

As for the taser part.... even the boy said it was something he wanted to do....the OP made it sound like it was an act of child abuse. Very misleading IMO.

 

Bottom line...the guy is a menace from all reports....and MANY of the things they are charging are actual laws being broken....so, again, I want to know WHY wasn't he charged?

 

I wasn't trying to mislead, all the websites I read didn't say anything about the child consenting. But, as others have said, a 10 yo doesn't always know what's best for him. A child is a minor under the law and can't really consent to anything legally. It's still abuse IMO.

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jojomojo

jojomojo

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I saw a blog stating Palin's dad was with him when he shot the moose. What a mess.... Glad I'm not the nominee. :)

 

I read (in the files linked from the link I posted earlier) that the shooting was witnessed by his wife and another police officer. And that he took the moose to Palin's father. He processed it for him so it wouldn't go to waste. He waited for him to pick up the meat and he never did, so he took it to Wooten.

 

And even if he was present, I don't think that would make it any more "messy". I wouldn't consider him corrupt by being present. If I was there, I know I wouldn't want to take on a state trooper with a rifle and an anger management problem...

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kokotg

kokotg

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The issue here isn't whether or not Wooten is a bad guy (and, incidentally, he's still at his job; he was never fired). It's whether Palin improperly used her position as governor to press for his dismissal and whether she improperly fired Monegan for not yielding to said pressure. And what you're arguing here, "he was a crappy guy and he SHOULD have been fired" is not her defense. She says she did not pressure anyone to fire him. So it sounds like you're kind of arguing something like, "She didn't try to get him fired at all; there's nothing to the charges, but if there were, she did the right thing anyway."

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TN Mama

TN Mama

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Posted
The issue here isn't whether or not Wooten is a bad guy (and, incidentally, he's still at his job; he was never fired). It's whether Palin improperly used her position as governor to press for his dismissal and whether she improperly fired Monegan for not yielding to said pressure. And what you're arguing here, "he was a crappy guy and he SHOULD have been fired" is not her defense. She says she did not pressure anyone to fire him. So it sounds like you're kind of arguing something like, "She didn't try to get him fired at all; there's nothing to the charges, but if there were, she did the right thing anyway."

 

Well, it might not be THE issue, but it certainly is AN issue. I haven't read a response that says anything like, "She didn't try to get him fired at all; there's nothing to the charges, but if there were, she did the right thing anyway."

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