Sarah Palin seems to have problems keeping her Department of Public Safety well manned. It appears that after only two weeks in his job, Chuck Kopp, Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan's replacement, has given his resignation.
His resignation came after it was discovered that Kopp was issued a Letter of Reprimand for sexual harrasment in 2005 from his previous employer, the City of Kenai.
Obviously, on the heels of the Monegan scandal and investigation, the media attention in Alaska was tremendous and his resignation after only two weeks in his job may seem like the appropriate thing to do.
However, unlike Monegan, he was given $10,000 for his resignation and in return, he signed a Severance Agreement and Release. The release to any future claims against the State of Alaska and its employees. Now the question is Why? Monegan, after 74 weeks in this position, got nothing and they didn't see the need to have him sign anything even though, in his case, he wasn't accused on doing anything wrong. And oh, by the way, who do you think announced Kopp's resignation? Answer: Todd Palin, co-Governor.
Governor Palin said she knew nothing of the Letter of Reprimand in Chuck Kopp's file. She did admidt that she knew of the sexual harrasment case against him, but her understanding was that it wasn't credible. She goes on to state that if she did believe it then "she wouldn't have hired him." But it turns out that she knew more then she is letting on. It turns out that Kopp's victim sent Palin a copy of a letter sent to her by the City of Kenai regarding the resolution of her complaint along with an email explaining what happened - the night before Kopp's appointment.
The email and the news report regarding the email can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/...
The salient parts of the email are:
My employment at Kenai Police Department ended after my sexual harrasment complaint against Chief Kopp was acknowledged and validated, but ultimately dealt with ineffectively by the City of Kenai...I have put this dreadful period of my life behind me, but feel it is my responsiblity to make this information available to you.
She, the victim, also invited Governor Palin to contact her with any questions she might have. Governor Palin never contacted with woman. She did, however, claim that her "vetting" of Kopp was thorough.
At worst, this is a case of another Palin lying scandal, at best, this is a case of the utter incompentence of a Palin administration to perform due-dilligence admists her ongoing scandal with Monegan.
The money paid to Kopp upon his resignation was not disclosed by Palin or her office until it was discovered by a fellow Alaskan blogger Andrew Halcro.
Until we broke the story, the severance agreement was never mentioned by the Palin administration. In fact it was not publicly known until the Attorney General was questioned about it at a later press conference.
Attorney General Talis Colberg defended the severance pay by claiming that Kopp left a comfortable 19-year career on the Kenai Peninsula and took a job that lasted less than two weeks.
Again, I ask why wasn't Monegan given a hansom severance package, as he did not depart under scandal rather, according to Palin, she wanted to go in a different direction. Why if this man lied to the Palin administration and withheld information from them was he rewarded with $10,000.
It is also interesting that in the Separation Agreement the $10,000 is not listed as severence pay. Intriguing questions surround this as Andrew Halcro points out.
Colberg's explanation raises some questions.
First, the governor stated in the press on August 1 that she was surprised and disappointed to find out that Kopp had in fact been issued a letter of reprimand. Before it came out in the media, Palin stood firmly behind Kopp. So why, if this whole downfall was caused by Kopp being less than forthcoming about the letter, would the state pay him 10k as a severance?
Second, hasn't the governor been defending her firing Monegan for the last four weeks by saying that commissioners are at will employees and can be fired for any reason? So if she can fire a commissioner for any reason without paying them severance, why would she feel obligated to cut Kopp a check for $10k when he quit.
To put this into perspective; Monegan was on the job for 74 weeks and received no severance pay. Kopp was on the job 2 weeks and received $10,000 in severance pay.
Third, the agreement specifically states that the $10,000 is "not compensation for lost wages." So if it's not based on lost income, why is Colberg leaning on the argument that it's necessary because he gave up a good career for a job that only lasted two weeks?
Furthermore, Colberg had no logical explanation when he was asked about how they arrived at the $10,000 figure.
Here's a copy of Kopp's Separation Agreement: http://www.andrewhalcro.com/...
Here is the conclusion Andrew Halcro comes to:
The only reasonable answer could be that the Palin administration recognized that Kopp had significant grounds for future claims surrounding his hiring, short tenure in office and subsequent resignation. Or it could have been just old fashion payola to get him to go quietly into the night.
You can find Andrew's blog regarding this here: http://www.andrewhalcro.com/...
Are you wondering what Kopp's relationship with the Palin family is? Are they friends? Why the elaborate severence/non-severence pay? The Anchorage Daily News covers this story here:
http://www.adn.com/...
I am not sure what is really going on in the Palin administration: corruption, nepitism, payola. I am not sure who's in charge here. This is definitely a three ring circus.
One thing I am absolutely certain of is this woman should not and cannot become Vice President and a heartbeat away from President of the United States.