[Vision2020] Palin: Governor offers Orwellian spin

[Saundra Lund]

Anchorage Daily News Editorial

Palin vindicated?
Governor offers Orwellian spin
(10/13/08 22:02:58) 

Sarah Palin's reaction to the Legislature's Troopergate report is an
embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.

She claims the report "vindicates" her. She said that the investigation
found "no unlawful or unethical activity on my part." 

Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.

Page 8, Finding Number One of the report says: "I find that Governor Sarah
Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the
Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act." 

In plain English, she did something "unlawful." She broke the state ethics
law.

Perhaps Gov. Palin has been too busy to actually read the Troopergate
report. Perhaps she is relying on briefings from McCain campaign
spinmeisters.

That's the charitable interpretation.

Because if she had actually read it, she couldn't claim "vindication" with a
straight face. 

Palin asserted that the report found "there was no abuse of authority at all
in trying to get Officer Wooten fired."

In fact, the report concluded that "impermissible pressure was placed on
several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get
Trooper Michael Wooten fired." 

Palin's response is the kind of political "big lie" that George Orwell
warned against. War is peace. Black is white. Up is down. 

Gov. Palin and her camp trumpeted the report's second finding: that she was
within her legal authority to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
But the report also said it's likely one of the reasons she fired him was
his failure to get rid of her ex-brother-in-law trooper.

That's not "vindication," and surely Gov. Palin knows it. 

Gov. Palin does have a defense. She could have said:

"I'm gratified that the report confirmed what I said all along, that I had
the authority to terminate Walt Monegan as public safety commissioner.

"I absolutely disagree that I violated state ethics law. In repeatedly
complaining about trooper Mike Wooten, Todd and I were not pursuing a
personal vendetta. We were trying to protect the integrity of the Alaska
State Troopers from having an arrogant, almost-out-of-control law-breaker in
their ranks. Because the action we were seeking was in the public interest,
not purely our personal interest, there is no ethics law violation."

Gov. Palin and her husband felt so passionately about Wooten because the
case was so personal to them. Their passion blinded them to any other
considerations. 

They had no sense that the power of the governor's office carries a special
responsibility not to use it to settle family scores. They had no sense that
legal restrictions might prevent the troopers from firing Wooten. They had
no sense that persistent queries from the governor's office might be
perceived as pressure to bend state personnel laws.

Gov. Palin and her husband were obsessed with Wooten the way Capt. Ahab was
obsessed with the Great White Whale. No Wooten, no peace.

Has Gov. Palin committed an impeachable offense? Hardly.

Is what she did indictable? No.

But it wasn't appropriate, especially for someone elected as an ethical
reformer. And her Orwellian claims of "vindication" make this blemish on her
record look even worse. 

You asked us to hold you accountable, Gov. Palin. Did you mean it? 

Bottom line: Gov. Palin, read the report. It says you violated the ethics
law.

http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/555236.html