SEATTLE — The investigation that has dogged Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's campaign for vice president took a dramatic, election-eve about-face Monday when the state personnel board concluded Palin did not breach state ethics laws when she fired her public safety commissioner.
The report, released hours before Palin was to return to Alaska to cast her ballot in her hometown of Wasilla, differs sharply with a legislative inquiry last month that found Palin had abused her office by allowing her husband to pressure the commissioner, Walt Monegan, to fire the Palins' former brother-in-law.
Monegan has said he felt pressure to fire trooper Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a messy divorce from Palin's sister. The governor fired Monegan in July.
Separately, in another election-eve disclosure, the McCain-Palin campaign released a two-page summary of Palin's medical records, which showed her to be in "excellent health."
The reports gave a last-minute boost to the campaign, especially since the personnel board's findings appear to undercut one of the most damaging allegations about Palin's governorship: that she abused her office in a campaign against Wooten and fired Monegan in part because he did not fire Wooten.
In a sharply worded rebuke, the new report from independent investigator Timothy J. Petumenos accused the investigator for the state Legislative Council of using the wrong statute to evaluate Palin's conduct, misconstruing the available evidence and failing to obtain all the "material" evidence needed to "properly" evaluate the case.
"There is no probable cause to believe that Gov. Palin violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act by making the decision to dismiss . . . Monegan," concluded the new investigation, with which Palin cooperated fully. She had refused to cooperate with the earlier probe once she was chosen as Republican John McCain's running mate, saying it was biased.
The Legislative Council's investigator, attorney Stephen Branchflower, found that Palin violated the ethics statute's prohibition against using her office to advance a personal interest when she failed to stop her husband from pushing Monegan to fire Wooten. Branchflower also documented a number of other contacts between administration employees and Monegan in which they were said to have urged Wooten's ouster.
