Investigating Sarah Palin

John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate is somewhat baffling given that Palin is currently the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Alaska state Legislature for improper use of her office, and as recently as two weeks ago was forced to change her tune after the emergence of a potentially incriminating audiotape.

It's inconceivable the McCain's team was not aware of the investigation, so they must have concluded that it's not a political liability for Palin—or McCain himself.

But that determination seems somewhat hasty considering that the probe is ongoing as we speak.

Palin has been accused of firing Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in July after he refused to dismiss state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law, who had been involved in a messy divorce and custody battle with her sister, Molly McCann.

Palin has denied the charge.

"I don't have anything to hide and I didn't do anything wrong," Palin told CNBC's Larry Kudlow last month. (When Kudlow asked her if the investigation could disqualify her from becoming McCain's running made, Palin said it shouldn't disqualify her from anything because she had done nothing wrong, adding, "As for all that VP talk, I can't answer that question until someone answers for me: 'What is it that a exactly that the VP does every day?'")

But after initially denying that her staff put pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten, Palin was forced to backtrack two weeks ago, and acknowledged that her staff had in fact made at least 20 calls to the Department of Public Safety about Wooten.

"I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist although I have only now become aware of it," Palin told the Anchorage Daily News, which has had comprehensive coverage of the matter.

In an audio-taped call, one of Palin's staffers, Frank Bailey, is heard saying that Palin and her husband don't understand why Wooten isn't fired.

"Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads, 'Why on earth hasn't this, why is this guy still representing the department?' He's a horrible recruiting tool, you know," Bailey told a state trooper. "I'm telling you honestly, you know, she really likes Walt [Monegan] a lot, but on this issue, she feels like it's, she doesn't know why there is absolutely no action for a year on this issue. It's very, very troubling to her and the family. I could definitely relay that."

Last week, Palin put Bailey on leave.

All of this could turn out to be nothing—that Palin really wasn't aware of her staffers' pressure on Monegan, and that her firing of him had nothing to do with his refusal to take action against Wooten.

John McCain had better hope there's nothing to this, because he can rest assured that dozens of reporters are now making travel plans to Alaska to find out.

Sam Gustin

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