Troopergate: The Second Report Implodes

The Anchorage Daily News found the report by Personnel Board investigator Tim Petumenos "less-than-convincing". They're right. Now comes Monegan's lawyer's rebuttal of the report's findings, strongly suggesting that Palin committed perjury:

Former Commissioner Monegan testified that the Governor called him in January 2007 to talk about Trooper Wooten. Governor Palin denied that the conversation occurred. Both individuals testified under oath.

The existence of the two conflicting statements, alone, normally would suffice for a finding of probable cause, with the final determination as to which version was most credible to be by a neutral fact-finder made at a formal hearing. But there was additional evidence available on this issue, beyond the two sworn statements by Governor Palin and Commissioner Monegan.

In the last paragraph on page 31 of the report, the investigator for the Personnel Board accepts at face value the Governor's claim that the call to Commissioner Monegan never occurred; the investigator points to Todd Palin's testimony (also taken at face value) as confirming the fact that Mr. Palin had never talked to the Governor about his meeting with Commissioner Monegan. The investigator's report states:

"Governor Palin, in any event, has testified under oath that she was unaware that Todd Palin made these early 2007 inquires to Commissioner Monegan. Todd Palin confirmed that he did not discuss either the Monegan meeting or Commissioner Monegan's follow up call with the Governor at any time until the matter became the subject of scrutiny in 2008."

But in making this finding, the investigator's report ignores an e-mail that the Governor sent to Former Commissioner Monegan on February 7, 2007, shortly after the date of the disputed phone call. In her February 7 e-mail, the Governor expressed her concern about the Wooten situation in terms that unequivocally establish: (1) the Governor's knowledge that Commissioner Monegan already knew of her own concerns, and (2) the Governor's knowledge that Todd Palin had already directly informed Commissioner Monegan of her family's concerns. The Governor's February 7 email states:

"Just my opinion - I know you know I've experienced a lot of frustration with this issue. I know Todd's even expressed to you a lot of concern about our family's safety after this trooper threatened to kill a family member - ..."

If the January phone call never occurred (as the Governor claimed in her deposition testimony), how did the Governor know on February 7 (when she sent her email) that Commissioner Monegan already knew of her frustration? And if the Governor truly was unaware of any contacts between Commissioner Monegan and Todd Palin, how could she claim to know that Mr. Palin had expressed the family's concern to Commissioner Monegan?

Even though the e-mail seriously undermines the Governor's denial of the January phone call and directly refutes her claim that she knew nothing of Todd Palin's communications with Former Commissioner Monegan, the report by the Personnel Board's investigator all but ignores the e-mail's contents. This omission and others like it raise a question whether the report reflects a careful and critical examination of all available evidence designed to discover the truth or merely a hasty review aimed at meeting an election-eve deadline.