Billy Dale, Meet Walter Monegan

Something is rotten in the State of Alaska.

[Walter] Monegan, 57, a respected former chief of the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview with The Washington Post's James V. Grimaldi on Friday that the governor repeatedly brought up the topic of her ex-brother-in-law, Michael Wooten, after Monegan became the state's commissioner of public safety in December 2006. Palin's husband, Todd, met with Monegan and presented a dossier of information about Wooten, who was going through a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly. Monegan also said Sarah Palin sent him e-mails on the subject, but Monegan declined to disclose them, saying he planned to give them to a legislative investigator looking into the matter.

Palin initially denied that she or anyone in her administration had ever pressured Monegan to fire the trooper, but this summer acknowledged more than a half a dozen contacts over the matter, including one phone call from a Palin administration official to a state police lieutenant.

Monegan didn't fire Wooten; Palin gave Monegan the chop.

The Anchorage Daily News also says:

Todd Palin called a meeting with Monegan to specifically talk about Wooten shortly after his wife took office in December 2006, Todd Palin said on Friday.

Monegan says Todd Palin talked to him several times after that about Wooten. Todd Palin said, though, he couldn't recall if he had any conversations with the commissioner about his ex-brother-in-law outside of that initial meeting.

"But I know I've never told him to fire trooper Wooten," Todd Palin said.

The meeting occurred in the governor's office, but the governor was not there, Monegan said

And why in the hell is Todd Flanders even talking to the Commissioner of Public Safety? Does just any schmuck in Alaska stroll into the governor's office and "call a meeting" with the Commissioner of Public Safety? 'Cause he's got a hard-on for his brother-in-law? Is the Commissioner the personal flunky of the Governor's spouse?

Even on Countdown they were calling this a non-starter -- with only a tenuous grasp of the facts -- because the trooper was allegedly an abusive asshole. No dice. If someone is accused of a crime, the Governor doesn't order someone to fucking fire that person. The alleged victim makes a report to law enforcement and law enforcement does its job. Due process. Rule of law. Trial. Right of confrontation. Presumption of innocence. I could go on.

Of course, if the allegations against Trooper Wooten are true, the John McCain Administration would likely hire him and put him in charge at Gitmo.

More: Here's my uniformed speculation of how this unfolds -- Palin steps down as Governor, ostensibly to devote herself to the McCain campaign full-time, but actually to avoid the embarassment of the investigation, testifying under oath, etc. Once out of office, she and her allies claim there's no need for an investigation, and pretend that she was the victim of a partisan witch-hunt.