Hollis French's letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 19 requesting Todd Palin be held in contempt.
Alaska Sen. Hollis French recommended Friday that Gov. Sarah Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and two state officials, be held in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena involving a state sanctioned investigation into allegations the governor improperly fired her top law enforcement official in July.
The way in which the McCain-Palin campaign has managed the two-month-old investigation is reminiscent of the stonewalling tactics the Bush administration has employed for nearly two years with regard to a congressional investigation into the White House’s role in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, which appears to have been carried out because the federal prosecutors were disloyal to the president.
French, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter earlier in the day to Senate President Lyda Green, stating Todd Palin's refusal to respond to the subpoena requires the Alaska Legislature to decide whether to impose fines against the First Spouse or pursue contempt charges, which could lead to Todd Palin's arrest.
A Judiciary Committee hearing was scheduled Friday morning for witnesses who were subpoenaed. But none of the seven witnesses who received a summons showed up.
The probe centers on whether the Palins and several of the governor's senior aides pressured Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper who was engaged in an ugly divorce and child custody dispute with Gov. Palin's sister.
People involved directly with the investigation said Friday that the independent counsel appointed to conduct the probe has already gathered enough evidence to release a report by Oct. 10. Currently, these people said, the independent counsel has obtained documentary evidence and received information from witnesses that shows individuals in Palin’s camp may have illegally tried to deny Wooten worker’s compensation benefits for a back injury Wooten suffered last year when he slipped on icy pavement while pulling a body from a wrecked automobile.
Additionally, these people said that, based on interviews with law enforcement officials, they expect the trooper to file a civil suit against Palin and members of her administration once the report is released in three weeks.
Other witnesses who refused to comply with subpoenas issued last week by Alaska’s Senate Judiciary Committee are Ivy Frye, an assistant to Gov. Palin, and Randy Ruaro, Palin’s deputy chief of staff, according to French's letter.
“The full senate will decide what action to take,” an aide to French, who has been overseeing the Palin investigation, said Friday. “Provisions in the statute range from fines to arrest. But that will be at the discretion of the legislative committee.”
However, the senate does not convene until January.
Read more from The Public Record.
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