Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Palin gets lawyer in trooper probe

|
|
 
  
Republican President and Vice Presidential candidates Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin wave to the crowds during a rally at the T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Missouri on August 31, 2008. (UPI Photo/Bill Greenblatt) 
License photo
Published: Sept. 1, 2008 at 10:59 PM

JUNEAU, Alaska, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- An Alaskan law firm confirms it is representing Gov. Sarah Palin in a probe into the firing of the state's top public safety official.

Walt Monegan was fired in July as Public Safety Commissioner. Palin has said neither she nor anyone in her administration pressured Monegan to fire Trooper Michael Wooten, her ex-bother-in-law. Monegan told The Washington Post Palin repeatedly talked with him about Wooten after Monegan was named commissioner in December 2006.

Monegan said the governor's husband, Todd Palin, gave him information about Wooten, who engaged in a child-custody battle with Palin's sister. Monegan also said Gov. Palin sent him e-mails on the matter.

Attorney Thomas Van Flein said in a letter to the Alaska Legislature that his firm has been retained "to represent the Governor and the Governor's Office relative to the Legislative Council's investigation," the Anchorage Daily News reported Monday.

State Sen. Hollis French, project director for the legislative investigation, rejected Van Fein's request for witness statements, documents and other materials, citing Gov. Palin's statement that she would cooperate with the investigation.

"I think you will agree that it would be highly unusual for an investigator to share information with one of the targets of the investigation," French wrote.

Gov. Palin was named Friday as likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate.

Topics: Michael Wooten, Todd Palin
Recommended Stories
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Traveling to the U.S.? If invited to a dinner party, bring a gift of wine, but not cash or toiletries...
Man turns dead pet cat into remote-controlled helicopter, calls it art (w/WTF pics)
"Good News" clubs teach children in public schools the Biblical importance of killing all nonbelievers...
Five arrested in prostitution sting. Article lists their names, ages and distance from a church
Photoshop this power tower technician
Driving drunk and unlicensed, with a kid not even buckled let alone in a safety seat, en route to...