Filed under "Karma=3, McCain/Palin=0."
McCain/Palin's efforts to derail the troopergate investigation have failed. Despite their aggressive push to put a Cheney-like kibosh on the investigation, we can expect a full account on Friday.
According to the Anchorage Daily News:
With his Troopergate report due Friday, legislative investigator Steve Branchflower appears to have the makings of a fairly complete account, despite weeks of resistance from the Palin family and administration.
Branchflower has, or soon will have, answers from nearly all the people he'd hoped to question regarding Gov. Sarah Palin's firing in July of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
Some of the final witnesses include seven state employees, including the governor's chief of staff, who lost a court fight to kill subpoenas Branchflower obtained through the Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee to compel their testimony.
The seven this week are answering a list of questions known as interrogatories. The answers are submitted under oath.
Although Palin was for testifying before she was against it, in the end, she tried to Bush her way out of the investigation. Ultimately, though, this was an exercise in futility. As hard as Palin might try, there can only be one Dick Cheney.
Nonetheless, whatever unflattering revelations (that we already knew) are exposed on Friday, Palin and McCain deserve enormous credit for their remarkable imitation of the accountability-averse Bush administration. Their efforts to stymie the investigation and avoid responsibility for McCain's erratic, unresearched VP pick (and her slimy past) bore a striking resemblance to the current administration's disdain for justice. But, unfortunately for McCain/Palin, the Alaskan investigators successfully outmaneuvered their "shady executive" defense and are now expressing confidence that they have all the information they need:
The big exception is the governor herself, who had said initially she would cooperate but has since resisted. Legislators decided against hitting the governor with a subpoena, saying they wanted to "de-escalate" tensions between her and the Legislature.
"We tried to schedule a statement from her but it never worked out," French said.
By Friday, Branchflower is expected to have heard from at least 15 witnesses, including Mike Nizich, Palin's chief of staff, and Annette Kreitzer, Palin's commissioner of administration. He's also gathering e-mail and other documents
On Friday, we can expect a certain Hockey Mom and Joe 8-House to blame the investigation findings--that Sarah Palin did indeed abuse her power in Mobutu-like fashion--on "that one." And don't be surprised when they find a way work in Obama's refusal to attend their town-hall circus sideshows as they dismiss the findings as a "partisan witch hunt" (pun intended).