Yup, I'm getting "those" emails about the Governor and her Monegan SNAFU too

There is someone I've been talking to for awhile about the entire Monegan issue. This individual has a rather close relationship with the State Troopers through a third party and has been very agitated by Walt Monegan's treatment at the hands of the Governor. However, this person's sensitive position means that he/she has been unwilling to even let me put in a quote anonymously...until now.

I've redacted whatever I believed was necessary to maintain anonymity yet I believe I kept the clarity of the message:

"I have some serious beef with the Governor. I didn't realize the tactics she was going to use against Monegan, and much of that means I REALLY can't comment on it. Much of her basis for firing him was about recruitment - that he "didn't do enough" to get more trooper positions filled.

[phrase redacted] ****** worked for them in the recruitment division for several years, and seriously - what Palin said is offensive on so many levels. I know - and even occasionally assisted ***** on the recruitment efforts, and I can tell you they were doing more for trooper recruitment than I've seen any other company/organization do for anyone. They don't just put out newspaper ads and hope for the best.

I know you were just talking about people going "you need to talk about this" a lot to you, but I'll add another to the list. I really would talk about it [phrase redacted] but I think (it) would get noticed in the wrong way."

I cannot even imagine how many folks in DPS and the Troopers have been holding in frustration like this. Talk about a morale killer.

Walt Monegan hasn't earned these people's loyalty through charm. Walt Monegan earned their loyalty because he made it clear THROUGH HIS ACTIONS that his employees and the people of Alaska were his priorities and he was willing to do the job that needed to get done to solve the root of the problems...not just slap a bandaid on them and call it good.

That kind of integrity lost him his job.

****UPDATE****

Andrew Halcro has some interesting "rumors" on his blog about the Monegan firing.

However, the part I noticed most was showing how Palin contradicted herself when she said the recruiting was one of the issues leading to his firing:

"Unfortunately as my term progressed, Commissioner Monegan was not making headway on key goals, such as filling numerous trooper vacancies." Governor Palin 8/13/08

What she said in her State of the State speech:

"In Public Safety and Corrections, after years of positions left vacant, we've doubled academy recruits." Governor Palin 1/15/08

So after telling Alaskans that Monegan had doubled academy recruits to fill vacancies, she turns around and says she fired Monegan because he wasn't attracting recruits to fill vacancies.

My head hurts.

Yeah, I think that Alaskan's demand for Ibuprofen is going to spike in the next few months.

Chuck Kopp resigns effective immediately

Per KTUU 5:00 report breaking news: Kopp resigns on his own "for the good of the Department of Public Safety."

More at 6:00 PM report and the press release should be out any second...we hope...

Per ADN:

In a brief news conference with Gov. Sarah Palin in her Anchorage office late this afternoon, Kopp said he was stepping down effective immediately. Kopp, appointed to replace former Commissioner Walt Monegan 10 days ago, said recent scrutiny of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint has been too hard on his family.

Neither Kopp nor the governor would answer questions.

"We're going to move forward now," Palin said. "This has been brutal on a good family."

No replacement has been announced.

I'll bet...not for awhile...

This is the part I love:

"The recent media firestorm has been detrimental to the Department of Public Safety mission, the citizens of Alaska and my family," Kopp said. "While I have been portrayed in a negative light, my personal worth is now in the person of Jesus Christ."

Yeah, it's always a good idea to bring Jesus into these things.

Perhaps the fact that media folks and bloggers like myself have been getting all kinds of emails and comments had something to do with this? Perhaps we were calling and emailing the right people and it was only a matter of time before someone went on the record with information proving that you lied through that entire previous press conference on the nature of your harassment? Perhaps the idea of a FOIA requesting access to all of your non-case-related phone conversations with dispatchers (which are recorded) made you nervous about big trouble down the road?

Perhaps the reason you resigned wasn't because of the "media firestorm" that YOU created, but because there were more chickens that were about to roost on top of the other ones?

Buh bye...don't let the door hit ya--well, you know the rest...

***UPDATE***

HERE is the raw feed of Kopp's statement at the press conference.

HERE is the raw feed of the Governor's statement.