14 thoughts on “Troopergate”

  3. Because that’s not what “Troopergate” is about and it’s just there to elicit an emotional response. It’s right out the the Brady Bunch playbook.

  6. The whole “Troopergate” nonsense strikes me as a non-issue, because it’s my understanding that Monegan served at Palin’s pleasure–she, as I understand it, is under no obligation to articulate any reason at all for the firing.

    Am I wrong, or is the whole controversy little more than a fabrication?

  7. Wiki citations are certainly permitted, but what was in there was basically my understanding of it. I’m with Kurt. This whole thing seems like a non-issue. She fired a guy who pretty clearly seems to be the kind of cop David Codrea’s “Only Ones” file is made up of.

  8. I don’t think it’s a non-issue precisely because if he a) engaged in abusive behavior and b) protected his employees who engaged in abusive behavior, it’s a damn good thing she fired him. If these are the types of folks she’s willing to push out, I’m quite happy she did.

    It’s not an emotional argument. If she came to find out about the behaviors because of her sister’s marriage, it’s still evidence that’s pretty damning. If he was shielded by anyone higher up, then they deserve to be punished as well. There’s no room for this kind of abuse in law enforcement. These are the guys who give every other officer a bad name.

  9. No no no….don’t get me wrong. I live in an at will state. You can be fired because there was a mustard stain on your tie if your boss wants. I’m fine with that. It just seemed inappropriately framed in the post; implying that Dems approve of wife beating . That was my point.

  10. I don’t think I was suggesting that they were sticking up for wife beating, per se. But in their attempt to try to make hay out of Palin doing something that I actually commend her for, they would appear to be sticking up for a wife beater.

  11. Seems to me demos certainly approve of beating up OTHER peoples’ wives -c.f.Sarah Palin, heh.

  12. I don’t think it’s a non-issue precisely because if he a) engaged in abusive behavior and b) protected his employees who engaged in abusive behavior, it’s a damn good thing she fired him. If these are the types of folks she’s willing to push out, I’m quite happy she did.

    I stand corrected. Really, it was more a case of sloppy wording on my part. What I meant was that whether her reason for firing Monegan was fabulous (and I agree that it was), or utterly nonexistent does nothing to change the fact that she was well within her rights to do so.

  13. I have a few issues with this:

    Cops seem to be able to get away with a lot of stuff that normal people can’t. So, while some people may be thinking that Monegan should be prohibited from owning a gun (and thus from being a cop) if these allegations are true. Same with Wooten. Palin stressed that point in her e-mails to Monegan, that cops should be subject to the same gun prohibitions as ordinary people.

    However, I’m not one to believe allegations of spousal abuse automatically. I have acquaintances who’s girlfriends were very aggressive and violent and you could probably dislocate a woman’s shoulder just trying to restrain her when she’s in fact the one trying to hit you with everything she’s got. And even if she’s the one throwing all the punches, she’s still the one who’s going to end up calling the cops and saying that you attacked her.

    So, yeah, maybe Monegan is a wife-beater, or maybe Monegan’s ex-wife was a nutcase that he had trouble restraining when she went on a rampage. Wooten made a really stupid mistake in tasering his step-son. A 5-day suspension was way too little. If he really threatened to kill his father in-law, there’s no way he should still be a cop.

    However, Palin claims to have personally heard the threat on her father’s life. If her alleged crusade against Wooten is because of that, I am totally behind her. I think she has clearly shown that she puts citizens’ rights right up there with the police officers. She reportedly even told the troopers that she didn’t want them to be her bodyguards because I think there’s a lot of enmity between her and the union. She probably carries her own gun around, anyway (though, of course, she doesn’t have the same personal issues with the Secret Service). I don’t think that she would go to such lengths over false allegations thrown at Wooten, but you never know. So I’m inclined to believe that the death threats are true, but I’m never going to label someone a wife-beater or an abusive husband based entirely on the word of the woman’s family.

  14. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.

    ANY governor who hears about a trooper like Wooten should, if that governor believes the accusations have merit, be investigating why the trooper still has a job.

    ANY governor who hears about a trooper tasering his minor stepson should be demanding to know why the trooper was only suspended for ten days.

    ANY governor should be demanding to know why the suspension was reduced to five days “because the union complained.”

    ANY governor who hears credible accusations that a trooper has threatened to kill a relative because of a domestic dispute should be demanding to know why that trooper is not in JAIL.

    The only reason this is an issue is because Gov. Palin was related to the trooper in question. It didn’t even look like it was going to be a real issue until McCain chose her as his running mate. As far as firing Monegan, she could have fired him because she didn’t like his living room curtains, and it would have been legal.

    And here’s a funny thought. Is Wooten still a trooper? If so, have any of Monegan’s successors felt any pressure to fire Wooten? You’d think one of them would have come forward by now if he has.

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