Sarah Palin on Banning Books:
This should be a no-brainer!
GIBSON: There's a lot on the Internet about a conversation you did or did not have with a librarian about banning books. Want to clear up what's on the Internet?
PALIN: I never banned a book, never desired to ban a book. When I became mayor in our town, it was the issue of: what if a parent came into our local public library and asked for a book to be taken off the shelf, wha's the policy? ...It kind of cracked me up seeing the list of books that I supposedly banned&one of them was 'Harry Potter!' It wasn't even written or published then.
So, she doesn't deny considering banning books if a parent asked her to. That's still kind of worrisome seeing as it's a free speech issue.
Sarah Palin on 'Troopergate':
GIBSON: The other issue is Troopergate, which is very much in the news today, the Associated Press is saying how there's going to be 13 subpoenas that come out, one of them to your husband, Todd. First of all, do you welcome the investigation&
PALIN: Absolutely, there's nothing to hide in this. The personnel board is the appropriate agency or overseeing board to inquire as to whether anybody did anything wrong or not, but here's the issue with Troopergate and I'm glad that you're asking.
I think the word is "oversight" not "overseeing." I could be wrong...
The trooper in question here did conduct dangerous and illegal activities and our personal security detail when I was first elected had asked us very appropriately, are there any threats against you and your family.
That's not what the guy you fired said!
And I said, well, you know, ironically, yeah, it's a state trooper who's threatened to kill my dad and bring down me and once I got elected, his threats were he was going to bring down the governor and the governor's family, so it was very appropriate that we brought the concerns to personal security detail -- they asked us to bring it to the commissioner, which I did.
GIBSON: And he was your brother-in-law at one point.
PALIN: Yeah, back in '05 -- yeah.
Here are those short 'n' vague answers again! Care to elaborate and maybe dispel the rumors about you firing someone because they wouldn't fire your ex-BIL?
GIBSON: The -- you mentioned the personnel board, it's a bipartisan legislative group, that's working at it now, which you said was fine, until you got named as the vice presidential nominee, and then you said the personnel board ought to handle it.
PALIN: We've said all along that & the personnel board is the appropriate agency or board to inquire -- our state statute says if there is a question about actions of the governor, lt. governor, or attorney general, you go to the personnel board. So we've said all along that that's appropriate &
GIBSON: Even though they're all appointed by you.
D'OH!
PALIN: No, they're not.
Oh.
In fact, they were all appointed by the prior administration, I had one reappointment on that board, they weren't all appointed by me. But, the issue that people are asking about -- first, they got it wrong when they say did I fire a trooper, because there was an issue back in '05 about him, as he was divorcing my sister. No, nobody fired the trooper, he's still a trooper to this day, he's out there. He had tasered his stepson
TIME OUT!
I had to look this claim up. So, it turns out Wooten did taser his step son, but according to what Wooten told CNN Wooten didn't taser the kid like he was an RNC protester, but in fact just put him through a portion of the training cops go through by shocking his step-son.
HE ADMITS THIS WAS NOT A GOOD THING TO DO AND I AM NOT DEFENDING HIM.
However, Palin saying that Wooten "tasered his own step-son" seems to be intentionally misleading, aka the dictionary's idea of a lie.
he had made those death threats, you know, there were a lot of concerns from not just my family, but from the public about this trooper's activities, and he's apologized for those since, I saw on the air the other day.
Well, so long as you saw it on TV.
But, the issue is the commissioner, who was his boss, was he pressured to fire that trooper, that's the underlying issue here, right, Commissioner Monegan. Commissioner Monegan has said the governor never asked me to fire him, the governor's husband never asked me to fire him, and we never did. I never pressured him to hire or fire anybody.
That's not what Monegan told ABC News. Here's an excerpt from an article at their website:
"I was called to her Anchorage formal Governor's office to talk with Todd Palin about an issue that was a private family matter," recounted Monegan. Todd became "upset," Monegan recalled, when told the allegations had already been investigated and the case would not be re-opened.
"When Sarah later called to tell me the same thing, I thought to myself, 'I may not be long for this job.'" But, Monegan said, he stood by his position. "I held the public trust. As Chief, I was responsible."
Governor Palin initially agreed to "cooperate fully" with the Alaska state legislative investigation but since being chosen as John McCain's running mate both she and her husband have refused to testify voluntarily. Friday the legislature issued a subpoena for Todd Palin.
Monegan said he tried to persuade the first couple to drop the matter. "As a cop for 35 years I'm pretty familiar with issues that come up in divorce cases," and said his argument to both Todd and Sarah was, "if this was so egregious, why didn't you bring it up sooner? Why did you wait until several years later?"
Monegan, who gave sworn testimony behind closed doors for nearly eight hours last week, said he also provided the State's investigator with copies of e-mails he received from the Governor in which she referred in disparaging terms to her former brother-in-law.
"This is not a 'he said she said' situation. Others were contacted by Todd and Sarah as well," according to Monegan, who said he was confident the investigation would find adequate documentation to corroborate his testimony.
So, there you go. Either you believe Monegan or you don't. It sounds like there was pressure put on him. Let's see what else Palin has to say about it:
Why I replaced commissioner Monegan was after two years, of he working in my cabinet, as a political appointment, at will, exempt, recognizing after two years, he wasn't meeting the goals I wanted met in that area of public service, there were a lot of things that we were lacking, and a lot of goals weren't being met&
I wanted to bring somebody in with more vision and more energy to beef up public safety, hire more troopers, we increased the budget, yet still we had dozens and dozens of trooper positions vacant, we weren't reaching the goals on recruitment and retention of troopers, so that was one of the issues. I did recognize though that Commissioner Monegan could provide for the state some good public service in another area, so I did offer him another job, as the person in charge of the alcohol beverage control board, he chose not to transfer into that position, he chose then to leave state service, he didn't want that position, so the two issues have nothing to do with each other, the trooper's still a trooper today, Commissioner Monegan was offered another job, he turned that down, and now we're in the midst of a hiring practice for a new commissioner.
More from that ABC News article quoting Monegan:
"No goals were conveyed to me by the Governor at any time," said Monegan.
"All of the Commissioners who worked for the Governor would say the same. She was preoccupied with her pipeline proposal," Monegan said. "All of us were waiting to hear what goals she would set for our departments."
Monegan said the Governor never sat down to talk with him about public safety priorities. "She met with us perhaps four times," he said, "and half the time the Governor was busy on her Blackberry. In one meeting she took a phone call and left the room, directing us to talk to her aide."
The only goals that were set for his department, said Monegan, "we incorporated through the Department of Public Safety Strategic Plan, which we ran past her, she approved and we posted on our website."
Oops. Sorry, Sarah. Seems other people disagree with you.
It seems you're shaping up to be a first-class typical politician!
GIBSON: You think he should be a trooper? Given what he did?
PALIN: It amazes me still to think we cannot have very, very high standards for our troopers, for anybody in public service,
Be careful what you wish for!
certainly though, those who have a badge and carry a gun. But, I have always put in my commissioners hands their rights, their authority to hire, fire those that they need on their team to provide for better public service, I haven't micromanaged them. So, I didn't tell the guy to hire or fire anybody.
She has "always" done that? For all 2 years she's been a governor? Or for the six years she was mayor of a town so small the entire population could fit inside Invesco Field ten times over? How many commissioners has she had?
GIBSON: Didn't improperly intercede, not worried about the subpoenas, even to Todd.
PALIN: No, because I know that Todd, too, never pressured Commissioner Monegan. He did, very appropriately, though, bring up those concerns about a trooper who was making threats against the first family, and that is appropriate, in fact, you go to the department of law's web site, and it says right there in Q&A form on their Web site, it says, if you have an issue or a concern about an Alaskan state trooper, you bring that concern to the commissioner of the department of public safety. That's what Todd did, he appropriately did.
It's all very appropriate, except when you guys kept bringing it up, apparently.
I mean, come on, are threats from an alcoholic ex-husband really threats? I mean, I suppose, but it seems to me like you did the right thing in calling the police, but then you didn't let it go once the cops said there was nothing more to do. I mean, Monegan says you waited years to pursue this with the police.
But another issue that I think has been lost through mainstream media reporting this, is that the trooper is still a trooper, Commissioner Monegan was replaced because he wasn't reaching the goals that our cabinet members were to reach, find efficiencies, put new vision, new energy into all of our departments. And, it's an issue that should be investigated by the personnel board, and they do -- it's been so politicized at this point, too, I think it's turned into quite the political issue.
Well, you are a politician. Can't be too surprised about that.
Sarah Palin on Economic Policy:
We'll save this for part 7! That'll be posted tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
Orignal From: ThePete VS. PALIN VS. GIBSON: FIGHT! (Round 6)
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