Sarah Palin, McCain's VP Pick, Under Investigation For Abuse Of Power

McCain picks Alaska's governor for vice presidential slot

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RAW STORY
Published: Friday August 29, 2008

"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a self-styled 'hockey mom' who has only been governor for a little over a year, is GOP Presidential candidate John McCain's choice for Vice President," CNBC reported early Friday.

Palin later appeared side by side with a beaming McCain to offer her first remarks as his vice presidential selection. She told the audience, "In a dangerous world, it is John McCain who will lead America's friends and allies in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons" -- pronouncing the word "nucyular" in the style of George W. Bush. "It was John McCain that cautioned long ago about the harm that Russian aggression could do to Georgia ... and to the world oil markets. It was Senator McCain who refused to hedge his support for our troops in Iraq, regardless of those political costs."

Palin also made an explicit appeal to disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters, saying, "It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America, but it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."

Palin, 44, is younger than Sen. Barack Obama and has bucked her own party on some issues, such as pork-barrel spending. According to Marketwatch, she's "taken a keen issue in energy and environmental issues."

"A former Miss Alaska runner-up, Palin holds a degree in journalism and has five children, including one with Down Syndrome."

Among Palin's major backers has been New York Times columnist and Fox News contributor Bill Kristol. Writing of Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and Palin, Kristol wrote Aug. 4: "They’re very popular with conservatives, especially social conservatives. And they’re real reformers. They’ve begun to do in Baton Rouge and Juneau what many voters would like to see done in Washington. Principled conservatism and vigorous reform could be a winning combination."

"McCain himself... is intrigued by the bolder possibilities of youth or bipartisanship," Kristol added. "And he could be especially intrigued by Sarah Palin and Meg Whitman. I run into plenty of moderate and conservative women who don’t consider themselves feminists but would be pleased to see a qualified woman on the ticket."

[B]Palin currently being investigated for abuse of office[B]
The Associated Press reports, "More recently, she has come under the scrutiny of an investigation by the Republican-controlled legislature into the possibility that she ordered the dismissal of Alaska's public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper."

The commissioner, Walt Monegan, was fired on July 11, because Palin "wanted to take the department in a new direction," according to Bloomberg. "Monegan than alleged that he had been pressured to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, who was married to Palin's sister and was involved in a contentious divorce, according to the Anchorage Daily News."

The Bloomberg story continues, "Palin has denied any wrongdoing. The state Legislature voted on July 28 to hire an independent investigator to probe whether Palin, her family or members of her administration had pressured Monegan to fire Wooten, according to the Daily News."

"Palin hasn't been implicated in the four-year-old federal corruption investigation, which has resulted in convictions of or guilty pleas from three state legislators, Murkowski's former chief of staff and two executives of an oil-services company, as well as the indictment of Senator Ted Stevens," Bloomberg's report concludes.

Last month a Democratic official told the Wall Street Journal that Palin was facing possible impeachment.

"This is a governor who was almost impervious to error," Hollis French, a Democratic state senator told the Journal. "Now she could face impeachment, in a worst-case scenario."

This video is from CNN.com, broadcast August 29, 2008.