"Openness" must have another meaning in Alaska

TROOPER PROBE

Palin 'Unlikely' to Talk to Prosecutor

ANCHORAGE -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is unlikely to meet with a special prosecutor looking into whether she or other state officials improperly pushed to punish a trooper, a spokesman for John McCain's presidential campaign announced Monday.

The largest paper in the state, the Anchorage Daily News, today opens an editorial, "Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she's on the national stage.

"Instead, Gov. Palin has begun stonewalling the Legislature's attempt to get the bottom of allegations that she, her family or staff violated ethical or state personnel rules. As a result, the Troopergate allegations hang over Palin's future and cloud her candidacy for vice president."

Sarah Palin has said she fired Walter Monegan over disagreements about budget priorities. Monegan says he received repeated e-mails and phone calls from both Palins and her staff expressing dismay over the continued employment of state trooper Mike Wooten, whose divorce from Sarah Palin's sister was ugly.

One lawmaker complained earlier this month that state Sen. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat overseeing the investigation, appears to be steering the investigation "in a manner that will have maximum partisan political impact on the national and state elections."French said last night: "The McCain campaign seems to have forgotten that this began with a unanimous vote by eight Republicans and four Democrats to begin an investigation."