Some Unanswered Troopergate Questions

Here are some unanswered -- and some of these were literally asked and left unanswered -- questions from the Branchflower Report that I think are... interesting.

1. In an interview with John Glass, then Wasilla's Chief of Police, investigator Steven Branchflower discovers that Todd Palin called the Chief just one day after Sarah had won the gubernatorial election, to ensure that Trooper Wooten never be considered for a job on Wasilla's municipal force. The unanswered question:

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Now, did the question ever come up about how Todd Palin even knew that Mike Wooten had applied for a position with the Wasilla Police Department?

   MR. GLASS: I did not ask him that.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Do you have any knowledge about how he
   knew that?

   MR. GLASS: I do not know. I have no personal knowledge of that.

   Yeah. How did Palin know Wooten had applied?

2. From Branchflower's interview with Monegan, regarding his conversation with Todd Palin in January 2007, in which Monegan delivers the news that his examination of the Wooten disciplinary action has turned up no new issues that would permit Wooten's firing:

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: And about how long did this conversation last?

   MR. MONEGAN: Oh, probably, I don't know, maybe five, ten minutes. I was trying to give him examples. And I even pointed out to him that if any of these acts were so heinous, then perhaps they should have been reported at the time they actually occurred and not be delayed for about a year or so, until such time as they were going through a divorce, and then these issues were brought up.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: And did he have an answer for that question?

   MR. MONEGAN: Not really. I mean, except that he had more frustration and -- but I tried to assure him that all complaints, no matt er what and who they're from, will be investigated and should be investigated. And I wasn't trying to dodge a complaint, but I got to let him know that that was my perception.

   Yeah. Why didn't the Palins report these things when they happened?

3. From Monegan's testimony regarding the propriety of continue inquiries from the Palin's about Wooten:

   Walt Monegan testified he felt that both Todd and Sarah Palin "should have
   known better" than to discuss the Wooten matter with him:

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Now, in your dealings with Todd Palin, are you aware of his occupation and whether he was involved with the union or is a union member?

   MR. MONEGAN: I believe someone once told me that Todd Palin was a shop steward in his union.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: And Michael Wooten is a member, and at all times that are material to our deposition this afternoon, he was a member of the Public Safety Employees Association, correct?

   MR. MONEGAN: Yes. That's the union.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Now, did it ever occur to you to wonder -- when you told Mr. Palin that the matter had been investigated, that discipline had been imposed and the matter was imposed, did it ever occur to you to ask him, or did you consider asking him something along the lines: Look, you're a union person. You know what the union procedures are, generally speaking, that once the discipline has been imposed, the matter is closed. Did that topic ever come up in your conversation with Todd Palin?

   MR. MONEGAN: No. I thought it, but I didn't discuss it. I thought that he should have known better. And I certainly thought the governor should have known better, as the mayor of Wasilla, handling personnel issues, as well.

   Yeah. Why didn't Todd Palin know better, if he was a shop steward? And Sarah, with all her "executive experience?"

4. From Monegan's discussion with Branchflower of Todd Palin's stalking of Wooten on his snow machine ride, which Palin incorrectly believed was evidence of Wooten's cheating on his worker's comp claims:

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: And I' m going to go back to this photograph. Did Mr. Palin tell you that this was sort of a chance meeting out in the wilderness somewhere, or what?

   MR. MONEGAN: You know, he just told me that he saw him out there. I didn't -- I didn't get the why he was out there, why out of all the directions or all the trails that they could have gone, why they were on the same one. I didn' t --

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: And the location of where this meeting occurred, did you get an impression from Mr. Palin where it occurred? Was it close to town or out (indiscernible) somewhere?

   MR. MONEGAN: No. He said about 100 miles out of town. So it's a long trip, a long snowmobile ride.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: And did the question come up about how it was that he had a camera and just happened to run into Mike Wooten?

   MR. MONEGAN: Not by --

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Did any of that come up?

   MR. MONEGAN: No. Not with me.

   Yeah. What was Todd doing 100 miles out of town, just coincidentally on the same trail as Wooten? And how did he happen to be armed with a camera?

5. From Monegan's discussion of a call from the governor's office, wanting Wooten removed from the role of wearing the "Safety Bear" costume at the State Fair, because Palin would be visiting. (No, I shit you not.)

   MR. MONEGAN: Well, Trooper Wooten, on light duty, had signed up for an overtime detail to work at the state fair in the costume of Safety Bear. And it's a -- it's a costume, much like a mascot kind of thing. He was going to be escorted around, walk the fair grounds, but mostly around the area of the trooper recruiting booth, and meeting kids, talking to them, that kind of stuff. And so he wouldn't have been recognizable inside a costume. But obviously the governor's office was aware that he was going to be there, and they were -- they did not want Wooten to be there.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: And did you learn from Kris Perry, or anyone for that matter, how they knew that --

   MR. MONEGAN: No. I --

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: -- Trooper Wooten was going to be there?

   MR. MONEGAN: I figured they had spies, honestly.

Yeah. How did Palin know Wooten was going to be in that costume? And who would care even if he was?

6. Yet another complaint call from Todd:

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Okay. Now, did there come a time after the kids returned to school that you received yet another call from Todd Palin?

   MR. MONEGAN : Yeah. I believe this one was directly to [Alaska State Troopers Colonel] Audie Holloway.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Okay. Tell us about that.

   MR. MONEGAN: Because Audie briefed me on it. And he said that Todd had called basically to say that Trooper Wooten was seen dropping off one of the kids -- or one of his kids at a school in a patrol car and the time -- and the date, and the time was 8:01, which I thought was unusual, because most people wouldn't note the exact minute of something that they're watching. Which kind of either told me it was somebody who was used to it, like a PI, or --

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: A person -- a --

   MR. MONEGAN: A private investigator.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: -- private investigator?

   MR. MONEGAN: Or somebody who just wanted to try to document things as tightly as possible.

   Yeah. What is with the 8:01 business? And were the Palins using a PI to hound Wooten? Were they tailing him themselves? Who are these creeps?

   (And by the way, it all checked out. Wooten had asked for and received special permission to drop the kids off in his patrol car beforehand. But apparently this possibility escaped Sherlock Palin, who didn't bother to check, and instead went crying immediately to Holloway.)

7. Monegan's recounting of his conversation with Alaksa Attorney General Talis Colberg, after Monegan reminds Colberg (as he had already reminded Todd, Sarah, Sarah's Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles and Department of Administration Commissioner Annette Kreitzer) that discussing the Wooten case in this manner creates liability both for the state and for them individually, and Colberg agrees that Monegan is correct:

   [MR. MONEGAN:] Well, then would you tell the boss -- it' s only going to spill out. The more people get involved in this, the more people are going to -- the more the chance this is going to come on out in the public. And he said, okay, I'll talk to them.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: I'll talk to "them," plural?

   MR. MONEGAN: Yeah.

   MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Did he tell you who he had been talking to earlier before calling you?

   MR. MONEGAN: No. Nor did I ask.

   Yeah. Just who did he mean by "them?"

Just a few of the unanswered questions raised by the Branchflower report. Wouldn't we like to know the answers to some of them? What kind of picture does this paint of the Palins, who obviously govern as a unit?