Palin aides ignore subpoenas

JUNEAU, Alaska, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- While Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has met with foreign leaders in New York and fans in Philadelphia her staff has been ignoring subpoenas at home, officials said.

Mike Nizich, Palin's chief of staff in Juneau, and six other aides were no-shows Friday before the state Senate Judiciary Committee, the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News reported. Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg, who filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the subpoenas, said he advised the governor's staff they did not have to testify.

The committee is investigating Palin's firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan following his refusal to fire her former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

The scandal, nicknamed Troopergate, has complicated Palin's role as Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate.

Democrats and Republicans in the Alaska Legislature condemned Colberg, a Palin appointee. Rep. Jay Ramras, a Fairbanks Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said Colberg had indulged in "likely very irresponsible behavior coming from the attorney general."