ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Top state police officials urged Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's aides and husband to stop pushing for the firing of her ex-brother-in-law, with one warning it could cause "an extreme amount of discomfort and embarrassment."
Gov. Sarah Palin says she has been "cleared of any legal wrongdoing."
That warning from John Glass, Alaska's deputy commissioner of public safety, is included in a state investigator's report that found Palin unlawfully abused her authority to press for the dismissal of Mike Wooten, her sister's ex-husband, from the state trooper force.
Glass said he warned Palin's husband, Todd, that disciplinary action already had been taken against the trooper and that "we could not fire him," according to the report, which was released Friday.
"And I also warned him that it was going to cause some extreme amount of discomfort and embarrassment for the governor if they pursued this and it should never have become public. That it would just be not good for the governor if it continued, and that they needed to cease and desist," Glass told former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, the report's author.
The report was commissioned by a bipartisan Alaska Legislature committee panel investigating Palin's July dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The report found Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's dismissal, but Palin -- now the running mate of GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain -- had the authority as governor to fire him.
The report, however, also states Palin's efforts to get Wooten fired broke a state ethics law that bars public officials from pursuing personal interest through official action.
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link to www.cnn.com]
Captain Marjorie, US Army
United States
