Todd’s 52-Page Affidavit
Looks like someone liberated the 52-page affidavit Todd Palin submitted in TrooperGate today. Unfortunately, it was liberated to the AP, which tends not to be forthcoming with details of liberated documents.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s husband defended his role as a close adviser to his wife Wednesday but was adamant that he didn’t meddle in her administration to try to settle a family dispute.
[snip]
"I have heard criticism that I am too involved in my wife’s administration," Todd Palin wrote in an affidavit Wednesday that was provided to The Associated Press. "My wife and I are very close. We are each other’s best friend. I have helped her in her career the best I can, and she has helped me."
[snip]
He answered the questions and provided his first detailed views on how the Monegan case was handled. He also expanded on his complaints about his former brother-in-law.
It’d be nice, don’t you think, if the AP had identified whether or not the information in said affidavit was in contradiction with any known facts? Or, at the very least, if the article made it a little more clear why the document got liberated today, when–most observers believe–we’ll have a report in our grubby little hands on Friday?
As it is, all this tells us is that Todd Palin still believes this is a battle over whether or not Mike Wooten is a creep or not–and not whether he, Todd Palin, is a creep for having Monegan fired for following the rules.
Juicy!!!
Thanks ew.
digg
Someone liberated the affidavit from the AP, and the Anchorage Daily News has posted the whole thing on their site. [pdf, naturally]
Doesn’t this also tell us that they – Todd Palin’s defense team – want to explain away Lt. Gov. Todd Palin’s involvement in official government business as the epitome of a good marriage, based on a close friendship, with his mutually friendly wife?
My guess is that Branchflower was not in need, nor depending on, information from First Dude to set his report. I think he had what he needed and just wanted to lock Todd and the other 6 State people down under oath and on the record so they couldn’t change their stories after the report was released.
Ahh. Very good.
I’m reading the deposition and its making me laugh because the Gov. sold the Gov.’s airplane and then, when she needed one to hobnob about Alaska on official business (and public relations tours) they couldn’t secure access to the Dept of Public Safety’s King Air Turbo, about which Lt. Gov Todd Palin gets rather exercised, and about what Todd complains to many people, in the state government and out. It seems he complains as much about the DPS airplane as about Trooper Whooten and he’s convinced the unavailability of the airplane is petty obstruction. Fairness, not law or ethics, is what rules Todd Palin’s world.
Palin definitely comes across as a guy who’s completely obsessed with that nasty character Whooten and maybe for good reason but maybe just because his Todd Palin’s sense of fairness is inflamed.
And, as Halcro notes, the story is bogus:
The post is worthwhile for a catalog of the sheer bogosity of Palin’s affy.
OT, but I’ve been really wanting to ask this: How is it that Ted Stevens is such a powerful Republican senator, yet a Republican, politicized, run-from-the-White-House DOJ is prosecuting him during an election year? With the VP candidate of his party as the Governor of his state? Who did Ted Stevens piss off?
Jeebus. You gotta’ love a story that launches with this:
“…On March 1, 2006. Colonel Julia Grimes, the Director of the Division of State Troopers, issued a report finding that Mr. Wooten had used a Taser stun-gun device on his ten-year-old stepson (my nephew), had drunk beer both before and during the operation of his marked State Trooper patrol car, and had illegally shot a cow moose without permit…”
It’s like Northern Exposure meets Jerry Springer while under the influence of bad drugs.
I have a theory. Todd Palin didn’t just run into Mike Wooten on snow machines 100 miles out of Wasilla on the Yetna River, he followed him there.
“I spend a lot of time out on the Yetna River using my snow machine, and by coincidence saw Wooten there one day, and took photos.”
By coincidence, indeed.
Or he lured him out there surreptitiously somehow or another. No evidence of that, no reason it shouldn’t be a possibility though.
ot
remember this zinger about the farc uranium?
“The rhetoric of respect for democracy that the current administration babbles is so hollow it is shocking it doesn’t collapse from the inner vacuum.”
respect minus zero, no limit
Sorry, I was going over some old stuff and it just jumped out at me.
In this time of misery and sorrow I have to find humor where I can.
Well, the other thing is, the pics are undated.
What are the chances that a guy would have pics of his bro-in-law from when they were still bros-in-laws? What are the chances taht someone took a FILM camera on a “snow machine”? And if not film, then Palin would have had to work to avoid a date stamp.
Rayne, its wild isn’t it!?
The first few pages are a nice lesson in striking vendettas. Hey, just pick one of these wonderful reasons and feel free to take the law into your own hands. It’s that “Alaska Frontier” way!
My favorite part is Mr. Palin Objects…
Including on deliberative grounds.
Because it’s hard to claim spousal privilege when the conversation was inappropriate in the first place.
Funny sentence Page 20, line 13:
He’s always been a “private citizen” and never not one. Does he see his wife’s Governorship as his, too?
todd palin comes across as extremely petty.. i think neil is right on the picture taking episode…
Page 21 line 3: Palin uses the word “contemporaneous”
Ya think?
Page 17, line 24.
“Walt Monegan was, to the best of my knowledge, not terminated.”
This is interesting because earlier he says that he complained so much about Wooten that Sarah told him to shut up. “To the best of my knowledge” is plausible deniability, and the earlier claim that Sarah decided to stop discussion of the matter, a consistent element.
If they are so close, then you would think the conversation with her about his obsession with Wooten would be not only welcome but expected.
He doesn’t make a categorical statement, he makes a qualified one. I wonder if he had a conversation about Monegan getting fired that he has to be able to explain away, all the while, giving Sarah cover for her decision to offer Monegan a “promotion.”
Also, Todd expected a full report from Monegan when he initially complained about Wooten. He didn’t get one because Monegan is a pro and it pissed Todd off – not just the wrist slap but the lack of attentiveness.
Well, the other thing is that Sarah told him to shut up because his tampering was (and may well still) get Molly’s kids taken away from her.
Todd does not once mention the custody dispute, but what was going on, at least partly, is they were trying to make Wooten look like a thug so he would lose his kids.
You’re right, the Halcro post is enlightening.
The protective order gambit is particularly nasty abuse of the justice system. I understand why temporary orders are given with limited or no evidence but I do not understand why an individual who seeks one disingenuously and lies in the court of law does not pay a price. There must be consequences for abusing this public safety mechanism.
Wherein Sarah Palin is party to perpetrating a fraud upon the court of in seeking a protective order without evidence of domestic violence but asserting at least one incidence of domestic violence perpetrated by Wooten…link to protective order.
The Hackett’s Legal Investigations report is a joke.
Its an investigation for the divorce of Wooten and his wife. But the report was made to Todd & Sarah Palin and the investigator was reporting on the incident and the suitability of the bar manager as a witness. Why Todd & Sarah were cut in on this is a mystery to me.
Wooten was at a bar and stuck his nose ino someone else’s bussness, a couple that was arguing, the bar manager separated them by taking the male in the couple away from the rest; Wooten flashed his badge, the bar manager thought Wooten shouldn’t have a badge based on his behavior… unbecoming.
I’ll let everyone else read it so I don’t have to, but he certainly sounds like–how would Phil Gramm put it?–a whiner.
It’d be nice, don’t you think, if the AP had identified whether or not the information in said affidavit was in contradiction with any known facts?
I think the AP just wants to get credit for being the first with the most, and analysis can come later. More interesting is Todd’s crazy paranoid ramblings about Monegan. Check out this stuff from page 13:
In that same email, Monegan stated that he had heard a rumor from an unnamed source that Sarah was supposedly driving Trig… 9 weeks old, in her car without “an approved infant car seat” and that this situation could be “awkward.” This odd and offensive email was forwarded to me…. She was not happy with Monegan’s false accusation or his implied threat that it was “awkward” as if he now needed to issue a citation. Sarah has always been a good mother and to accuse her of something like that was very offensive. Sarah responded that “I’ve never driven Trig anywhere without a new, approved car seat. I want to know who said otherwise-pls provide me that info NOW.” (emphasis added) I’m not sure Monegan ever responded to the Governor’s direct order. The next day it was learned through Kris Perry that this false allegation of her driving was really about a group tour of a Point McKenzie farm and a big diesel truck that everyone rode in on a private road without traffic at slow speed….”
Lovely family. Reminds me of the Bush klan. All about uncovering enemies, destroying them, rewarding the toadies who will go along with your insane crusades. I think the line about “not sure Moneagn ever responded to the Governor’s direct order” tells us everything we need to know about these people. I guess the whole “policy differences” and “financial issues” stuff has gone right out the window. Talk about batshit nutso. Can’t wait to hear how the McSame campaign spins this.
The chairman of the board of AP is William Dean Singleton,the guy who called Obama,Obama bin Laden.
That pretty much explains everything.
I find it very ironic about the baby and the car seat – if it’s true, Sarah Palin actually has more in common with Britney Spears than Barack Obama ever did!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ent…..692974.stm
Todd senses real danger in Wooten and intends to protect his family and greater Alaska from this maniac.
By Todd’s diligence, over time, he builds a dossier on Wooten that includes taser-ing his 10 year-old step son, drinking two beers on the job, picking up the kids from school in the squad car, interfering in a personal argument between a couple in a bar, showing his badge, arguing with the landfill manager about a $5 fee, showing his badge, intimidating people, and shooting a moose on a moose hunt with his wife and (former) friend, before she could shoot it – she had the license for one moose.
That said, the protective order says there was domestic violence so Wooten hit his wife, has a drinking problem and is an asshole. All those issues not withstanding, Todd Palin’s determination to put this guy where Todd thinks he belongs, in his own personal hell here on earth, is punitive not just. It appears to be a personal vendetta. One is which Todd used his place as first dude to effect. Monegan was collateral damage.
All throughout his quest he’s met with obstacles, like Monegan and others, also the DPS folks just can’t make that Turbo prop plain available enough for Sarah to get around Alaska. (What happened to her plane?) It’s interesting that he needs two reasons to bitch about Monegan; one isn’t enough.
Todd has a sense of what is fair and right and trusts his own judgment enough to pursue the righteous outcome, even if it really isn’t any of his business and despite that fact his judgment is suspect.
Actually, the protective order was filed when he was out of town, basically an attempt to nab the kids for good while he was gone. After Wooten got back and talked to the judge, the judge rescinded the order and told Molly and her sister that filing for the protective order had been an abuse of the courts.
Everything basically supports that this guy is a verbal asshole, but not physically violent at all.
Hmmm. I agree that he’s PROBABLY a verbal asshole, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say “everything basically supports” it. Wooten himself hasn’t said much, but what he HAS said makes him sound like a man who admits that he made some really dumb mistakes earlier in his life. He comes across as honest and repentant, and he says that he just wants to get on with his life and be a good father. That’s not an easy trick for a verbal asshole. Could all of that just be good coaching by his lawyer and his union rep? Sure. But contrast Wooten statements to say, Todd Palin’s affidavit, which was probably vetted by both his lawyer and the McCain campaign, and tell me this: Which one of them deserves to be called a verbal asshole?
‘In Justice’: David Iglesias On U.S. Attorney Firings, Fresh Air, 10/8 20 mins.
Voting Access In 10 Key States, Fresh Air, 10/8 15 mins.
Tova Wang, the primary author of the report and vice president of Common Cause discusses
“Voting in 2008: 10 Swing States”.
D’ya think McC’s mysterious morning announcement was announced to deflect attention from Todd’s affidavit?
Well, it was probably the Palin side which released the affy (pre-emptively).
But, yeah, I think they’ve gone on the air with Ayers to drown out TrooperGate.
Probably? I’d say definitely!
And I’d wonder if a draft of Branchflower’s report has already circulated to his Legislative masters in the last few days,
– prior to First Dude’s agreement to provide a written response to the subpoena,
– was given to the McSame-MsBull…winkle campaign as a heads-up by those same friendly Legislative masters,
– is in fact what triggered this “shiny thing over here” affidavit,
– and the affidavit is a lawyer-generated, carefully crafted (for Alaskan bush legal circles), attempt to defuse more pointed and alarming charges in the Branchflower report.
And lastly, the first thing that came to my mind was the idea that the First Dude was attempting to try and substitute himself as the only miscreant instead of his wife.
How much does anyone want to bet that First Dude and MsBull…winkle both spent a lot of time together cobbling up this “story”? You know, the one where First Dude takes a bullet for his spouse.
what announcement ???
what did he announce ???
I been hearin about a mcsame surprise, and readin about peoplesellin Obama short on intrade
but I ain’t heard any announcement yet
if mcsame has something to get the first dude off the front page, he better hit it QUICK
todd palin comes off as petty and UNSTABLE, and that’s just based on HIS OWN STATEMENTS
tomorrow, the first dude is gonna be in over his head, and his wife is the one footing the bill on this. sarah palin has a positive duty to keep todd palin out of confidential state records. sounds to me as if todd palin took a gander at the trooper’s disability file
that would be a crime, and the responsible party is NOT todd palin
paging princess pandora, obstruction indictment, table for one …
so somebody needs to tell me what mcsame announced ???
or is GONNA announce
that could deflect the shit storm that is about to destroy princess pandora and the first dude
Grudge game.
Sounds like Roger Clemens … obsessive, paranoid, with time on his hands.
Who is paying the legal expenses?
My high schooler is reading The Reshaping of Everyday Life:1790-1840 by Jack Larkin for his US history class.
After reading this post EW, he stated, “Looks like if McCain-Palin make to Washington DC, there is a good chance to turn back the clock to pre 1790’s with the exception that there will not be a patriot spirit for democratic freedoms but a momentum towards state owned entities that control the monetary system. And, instead of new standards of propriety and self-control, we’ll have the Jerry Springer-Todd Palin standard of self-rule. Instead of an economy growing, it will be shrinking. Instead of the middle class growing stronger, it will be significantly weaker. The one constant: the benefits of economic growth will meet the distribution inequality level of the 1790’s and the gap between the richest and poorest will grow even wider than over 220 years ago. Of course, we’ll have yet another “wave” of religious enthusiasm –what, that will be the ‘Fourth Great Awakening?’ But I have to go back to that ’spirit of reform’ the Palins could bring to our nation. I imagine McCain is running a campaign pretty close to the log cabin and hard cider campaign of William Henry Harrison with Palin and hubby on the ticket. I guess we need to get ready to relive ’small scale and scarcity’. A nice social transformation backwards should McCain-Palin get into office, especially with the influence possiblities of that first dude. Cripes, what a mess. I can only hope a majority of voters are seeing this and understanding how backwards our future could end up with the wrong leaders in office.”
Out of the mouth of babes…
Alaska Supreme Court decision due today on the last ditch effort to shut down Branchflower. From McClatchy:
That last bit gave me pause. Surely the report will be released immediately? Would there be any other reason than an order from the court to sit on the report?
But the final bit in the article is fun:
The McCain-Palin campaign doesn’t know what it is talking about? Now there’s an understatement. I’d lose the “sometimes” part, though.
I think the committee has to vote to release the report.
The fact that they are fighting the report’s release does not look good and sends the voters the message that Palin is never about transparency. She never will be either. And McCain backs this behavior. Of course it is the GOP standard. More. Of. The. Same.
The bigger message sent between the lines is that Dobson does NOT focus on the family. His lack of focus shows through his sending legal help to block this report and having a willing spirit to cover lies, bear false witness, before millions, by manipulation of the courts. He is rationalizing sin for the sake of the war he is leading against Roe V Wade. It appears Dobson understands the Biblical example of Judas better than Jesus.
EW, hope you get a chance to read Andrew Halco’s analysis of the First Dude’s deposition.
Two odd thoughts.
First, in regards to the Stevens’ investigation. Could the prosecution be deliberately throwing the game in order to get him acquitted?
Secondly, could the Democratic legal officials in Nevada have launched the ACORN raid so that THEY would have the evidence and not the totally corrupt Bush DOJ?
-G
Naomi Wolf (FDL mentioned in video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgkeTanCGI
Thanks for the link.
So to respond to allegations that Monegan was fired as part of a vendetta on Wooten, Palin basically responds with a 52 page screed about how much he hates Wooten that gives a play-by-play of the vendetta.
And Sarah Palin didn’t fire Monegan because he wouldn’t fire Wooten, she fired him because he was hogging the Royal airplane and he was a p-i-g Pig. And because he passed on a complaint (from a citizen) about not having Trig in the correct car seat. Off with his head!
Interesting strategy.
I wonder if Alaska has a recall option.
That was my first thought. It certainly makes more sense then the “honest mistake” theory. I don’t think BushCo wanted this prosecuted, and I certainly don’t put this sort of thing beyond them. Judge didn’t cooperate, though.
The thing that makes me think it wasn’t planned is that the redacted information was in testimony in court. I think that’s the only reason the case didn’t get tossed. If it was planned, they’d have carefully avoided that.
Boxturtle (Or they may have simply assumed that the fix was in and they just needed to give the judge something to hide behind)
Real Military Honor, or The Right Way to Scuttle a Ship – for the Right Reasons.
Compare and Contrast the Honor of Capt. Langsdorff to Bush, McCain, the Palins and the Republican Party.
OT – Someone on the McCain crew has had their butt chewed by economists and realists and his housing plan has now been reissued and “corrected”
http://www.politico.com/news/s…..14414.html
So he goes to the debate and there he “sprung his surprise idea” complete with posting around a document that explained under McCain’s plan “… the government would buy the mortgages at a discounted rate, reflecting the declining value of the mortgage paper”
All of which no doubt sounded good to McCain, had that right “gut” appeal. It just showed a complete ignorance of the real problems, particluarly those of cascading defaults in the shadow financial market. So now that some probably fairly panicked people who do understand the problems have had a chance to talk to him, uh, well, McCain reissued the document.
I particularly like the campaign’s position that since the sentence they removed ran completely contrary to the intentions of their initiative, it was a “simple mistake” to include it to start with.
Also OT, apparently some members of Pakistan’s parliment have made their way over to visit Aafia Siddiqui and they want her sent back to Pakistan.
Their take, after meeting with her, was that “She seemed calm and composed, and her mind was active and alert”
The USAtty handling her case, though, has had a different take:
So it’s the USA has started the ball with “oooh, she’s crazy crazy crazy” And her lawyer wants her to receive medical treatment as the victim of torture.
And if Reuters keeps the same picture it has now with the story, well, let’s just say you could read the whole story and never get an explanation for why the protestor’s sign that starts, “Release Dr. Afia” goes on to say “and her innocent children”
Because no on in the press seems to really give a damn about her children and what has been done to them over the years. In particular, Nancy Grace and the US press have never gotten around to having even a minimal interest in the 11 yo child, a US citizen, that the US deliberately left to be disappeared by the Afghanis.
If Garcia (wasn’t he involved with ICE when they had the informant who they had wearing a wire to murders in Mexico and they sat back and did nothing while they listened to the torture and murder over the wire – didn’t want to save a man from torture and death bec it might hurt their drug case here?) thinks Safia is nuts, I wonder what phrase comes to mind to describe the men who would walk away from an 11 yo and leave him to be disappeared and used as leverage.
They might need to torture the children later; cannot release them.
I am glad that we now know it was Todd the whole time and not Sarah. But if she becomes VP, can we afford to have the top levels of government cavorting with known criminals? McCain and Palin both say that would be bad (if applied to Obama)!
Did any body notice how Todd reserves the right to “remember” stuff later, and yet claims that he’s fulfilled the demands of the subpoena? I did. Isn’t that having your cake and eating it, too? Can he get away with this crap? It’s not rhetorical, I’m not a lawyer, I don’t know.