You hardly needed to be told, did you, that Sarah Palin abused her power when she fired her Commissioner of Public Safety? It was all pretty obvious once Palin decided to stonewall the investigation and paint it as a Democratic witchhunt, even though it was instituted by the unanimous vote of a panel that was 2/3 Republican, and even though it got started long before Palin was on a national ticket. The Palins are busy now trying to spin the story by emphasizing their lack of a financial motive. Of course, no one ever suggested the scandal was about money.
The bottom line is simple. Sarah and Todd Palin tried to get Sarah Palin's former brother-in-law Michael Wooten fired from his job as a state Trooper (see p. 52 of linked report). When Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan wouldn't cooperate, Palin fired him. The Wooten affair, the report concludes, wasn't the sole basis for the firing, but was a contributing factor (p. 69). In short, Palin abused her position as Governor for personal reasons.
McCain knew this scandal was brewing and that this report was coming when he picked Palin as his running mate. As early as July 26, the Votemaster over at electoral-vote.com concluded that Palin was "out of the question" as Veep because of the Troopergate scandal. So no one can say that the Republicans were blindsided by this report. McCain knew it was coming and decided to pick Palin anyway. I leave it to you to decide what this says about McCain's judgment.
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