Testimony of Deputy Commissioner John D. Glass regarding a conversation in the spring of 2008 with Todd Palin about Trooper Mike Wooten
Deputy Commissioner Glass testified as follows about another conversation he had with Todd Palin about Trooper Mike Wooten:
MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Did there come a time in the spring of 2008 when you spoke to Todd Palin again about Mr. Wooten?
MR. GLASS: Yes, there was.
MR. BRANCHFLOWER: Can you explain what the circumstances were?
MR. GLASS: I was in Juneau working and talking with the Legislature concerning the proposed new State crime lab. As I was going up to or coming out of the third floor, I'm not sure which, but right at the top of the stairway, I ran into Todd Palin. I know the date was after the Iron Dog because I asked him about his injuries that he had received on the Iron Dog and he told me what that was. We started talking about Michael Wooten and that Todd was adamant that Wooten was a very poor example for a trooper and needed to be fired, that he shouldn't be a trooper, and I went through the same exact conversation basically that I had had with Mr. Bailey, in that Wooten had already been penalized for his actions that he had taken. It was two and a half/three years ago, we could not fire him. I had the wrongful discharge. I had the binding arbitration discussion with him, and I also warned him that it was going to cause some extreme amount of discomfort and embarrassment for the Governor if they continued to pursue this and it should never become public. That it would just be not good for the Governor if it continued, and that they needed to cease and desist. He persisted in telling me that Wooten needed to be fired, he should not be a trooper.
MR. BRANCHFLOWER: The conduct for which Trooper Wooten had already been disciplined was, I think, perhaps it was mentioned in either this interview or maybe not, but are we talking about the Tasering, the DWI, the moose hunting incident, and so forth?
MR. GLASS: The alleged DUI, the moose hunt poaching. Actually, it wasn't moose poaching, it was shooting his wife's moose on a permit that she had that she did not want to shoot the moose. His alleged drinking and driving, his Tasering of his 11 year old stepson, and the activity that had been earlier mentioned, yes.
|Branchflower Report, p. 144|
Pretty much speaks for itself. But let's contrast it with something else anyway:
I was not aware of the Grimes Report until July 2008, after Monegan left the government. The DPS never informed me or my wife that Wooten had been disciplined. All we knew is that Trooper Wooten would repeatedly tell Molly that no one would ever punish him because he was a trooper, and that Trooper Wooten continued to be assigned to patrol the neighborhood of my family, even after he had threatened to kill my father-in-law.
|Todd Palin's statement in response to subpoena, p. 3|
As I wrote before, it's hard to see how to read this as anything other than Todd Palin lying under oath.
Addendum: In weird coincidence news, CNN has a story up focused on the same passage. In weirder coincidence news, this was my second try at selecting a random page, because on the first try I came up with the same page Mudflats is talking about.
CNN sheds light on Todd Palin's perjury defense:
"I felt it was more of the same with troopers protecting a 'brother' officer," Todd Palin told Branchflower in written answers provided through his attorney. They were delivered on Wednesday, after he had resisted a subpoena for three weeks, and were not included in Friday's report.
Glass said Sarah Palin had been questioning the loyalty of state police officials before Monegan's firing. But Glass added: "I don't think there's anybody that would really question our loyalty to her, because we have been trying to avoid this whole situation." |CNN|
One thing that's striking here and elsewhere is that the defense of Todd Palin's actions almost always tends to make him look worse. The clear picture here is of an ally making a futile attempt to get Todd Palin to pull back from a dangerously self-destructive course of action. Rather than re-examining his preconceptions, or even understanding that they have been challenged, Todd Palin assumes bad faith on the part of anyone who raises objections and keeps going full stream ahead. Stupid, stubborn, and lacking any kind of ethical compass. Todd Palin sure is a piece of work.
No comments:
Post a Comment