The Alaska Hillbillies

Come listen to a story 'bout a man named Kopp"
A young police chief who didn't get the word 'stop'
The woman he kept huggin' wanted him to go
So he came face-to-face with Alaska EEO
Complaint, that is...investigation...letter of reprimand

So a few years later the Guvner called him forth
She said, "Hey Chuck, we need you up North"
"I know you've had problems but I'm sure you'll fit the bill"
"Since I'm really in need of another "yes man" shill"
Commissioner..."Top Kopp"...over-his-head

News of his new job shocked the woman, don't you see
Because no one else would know due to Title 23
So she told her story to a couple in the press
And it turned his first conference into something of a mess
Evasive buffoon...obvious liar...couldn't say he "didn't do it."

So now he's denying even though we have the letter
From the City of Kenai meant to make it somewhat better
Between Monegan and Wooten and Mr. "Sex Harasser" new
The Guvner has put herself in quite a Hillbilly Stew
Family feud...nasty and unprofessional...bye bye VP hopes

The Press Conference and the huge stack-o-papers

*******UPDATE******

Thank God, KTVA did the scanning for us!

- Memorandum of Findings
- Memo of Complaint
- Transcription of Mike Wooten Interview
- Transcription of Sarah Palin Interview (1)
- Transcription of Sarah Palin Interview (2) 8/18/2005
- Memo Re: Suspension
- Sarah Palin email to Col. Julia Grimes

Photo: PSEA Executive Director John Cyr

"My purpose here is not to substantiate who did what or what happened. Officer Wooten has asked that we release the records around that investigation so that the press can take an open and honest look at what happened and you may draw your own conclusions."--John Cyr

The conference started out with an abundance of information...they gave us a huge stack-o-papers (about two inches) of all the complaints and investigations having to do with Mike Wooten...released by request of Mike Wooten. I've been reading them in parking lots, parked in the street, all over.

John Cyr also made it clear that this was about Mike Wooten. He was not going to discuss anything to do with Walt Monegan.

I'm not going to delve into all of the mostly "unfounded" (investigated and found to be not true) or "not substantiated" (investigated and can't be proven) charges. The best summary I can give is of the ones that were substantiated. However, a personal note: 1) the Heath Clan has a lot of involvement in this when (in my opinion) they have no business being there. 2) Mike Wooten is not perfect and in some instances is not the sharpest crayon in the box. He also has bad taste in mistresses (yes, there was infidelity involved...surprise! Can't have a woman/family scorned without infidelity!) 3) It seems that the family members may be using that lack-of-sharpness against him.

The charges that were substantiated:

- Molly Heath McCann's son from her previous marriage, Payton, was the "witness" who accused his step-father of drinking while driving. (The other "witnesses" were long time friends of the Heaths, Adrian and Marilyn Lane. Their testimony was rejected by the investigator because of that conflict of interest, but his decision was overthrown by retired Colonel Julia Grimes, who found them credible. It's good to note that Grimes was also the recipient of the email from Palin which had a "between-us-girls-I'm-gonna-make-your-life-difficult" feel.)

Amazingly, no one said anything at the time and this all came up when there was a custody fight.

- Payton was also the 10-year-old boy "dry tasered" by Wooten. To be clear, Wooten was an idiot to do this no matter what. However, his version of the event is that 10-year-old Payton wanted him to do it because he wanted to see what it was like...and that, as someone who trains people in the use of tasers, Wooten knew what he was doing. (He also should have known better.) The boy denied asking him to do it and Molly's version of events is worthy of a movie on the Lifetime Network.

- Sarah Palin's email stated that in Sept. 2003 Wooten illegally shot a cow moose. Wooten admits it and his story was that Molly begged him to come with her so they could "shut her father up" who wouldn't stop giving her a hard time because she hadn't used her tag. When they went out, the only hunting gun they had was his and when he asked her to shoot it, she didn't want to and wanted him to do it. He did, he brought it back where he and Chuck Heath (father-in-law) butchered it. Wooten took it to get it processed and the meat was shared with the Heath family. Two years later, they suddenly remembered it was illegal.

Again, it was stupid...very, very stupid. However, in his defense, many Alaskan married couples who do any kind of fishing or hunting have broken the law. We have because my arthritis makes it impossible to haul in a halibut by myself and my husband helps me...OK, a lot. I know it doesn't make ANY of it right and he has to maintain a higher standard because of his position...but COME ON!

The packet contains 270 pages of documents involved in this investigation. John Cyr explained that it was only partial...he showed us that he couldn't give the whole file to us as he held up two huge white binders. I'm going to try and scan some of it tomorrow...especially the email from pre-Governor Sarah Palin in 2005 to retired Colonel Julia Grimes.

(Note: In all of the craziness today, I never did thank the lovely Myster from "Own the Sidwalk" for alerting me to the post on Andrew Halcro's blog. I never would have made it to the press conference in time if she hadn't. Thank you, oh brilliant and fashionable one!)

BREAKING: Sarah Palin accused of abuse of power

Innuendo that has been kicking around the internet for days regarding Walt Monegan's firing have finally been made public through official allegations. Per Andrew Halcro's Blog:

Monegan said no, he couldn't cut his budget because his State Troopers were already being stretched to the limit and public safety suffering. He said no, he couldn't cut his budget because fuel costs for planes, boats and patrol vehicles soaring, while crime in rural Alaska was putting more demands on the Troopers transportation system.

But more alarming than any budget battle, Monegan said no to firing a State Trooper who had divorced Governor Palin's sister because the guy was being maliciously hounded by Palin's family.

And not just that; Monegan's firing came after his Colonel had to reprimand the governor's office for meddling in department personnel affairs.

This is real, kids. I've been getting emails and reading comments inferring this for days but have had no proof. Now, there is a press conference at 2:00 PM regarding the allegations of Palin's "ex" brother-in-law, Trooper Mike Wooten:

According to Trooper records, Sarah Palin said that in January and February of 2005, Wooten was drinking while driving. After investigating the complaint, the investigator found that Palin never actually saw what she reported.

In another complaint, Sarah's father said that Wooten made threatening remarks. Again, the investigator found there was no probable way that it could have happened.

In all cases except one, the charges were ruled unfounded after an internal investigation. And the one charge that was valid, Wooten immediately admitted to.

I'm going to the press conference so there will be more to come.