TPR: Alaska's 'Troopergate' probe turning up troubling evidence involving Palin.

These people said Branchflower has documentary evidence and information from witnesses showing that individuals in Palin’s camp may have illegally tried to deny trooper Wooten worker’s compensation benefits for a back injury that he suffered last year when he slipped on icy pavement while pulling a body from a wrecked automobile.

As Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin works to derail a legislative inquiry into her firing of the public safety commissioner, state officials are vowing to finish a report on the controversy by Oct. 10 and to weigh contempt proceedings against Palin’s husband early next year.

Palin, who initially welcomed the investigation into her dismissal of commissioner Walt Monegan in July, now appears determined to block completion of the inquiry before the Nov. 4 election when she hopes to become the next Vice President of the United States.

But her delaying tactics may extend the controversy into the start of John McCain’s presidency should he win. That could create a distraction for the new administration, especially if Palin’s husband Todd faces possible arrest for ignoring a subpoena from the state legislature.

Palin’s handling of the case also raises more questions about her credibility as a “reformer” who says no one is above the law. She now seems to be counting on her new-found celebrity and the hardball tactics of national Republican operatives to shield her from legislative oversight.

Further, Palin’s resistance to the investigation may remind some voters of the disdain that President George W. Bush has shown toward congressional oversight, including a similar pattern of ignoring subpoenas issued to Bush’s top aides who were involved in the 2006 firing of nine federal prosecutors deemed not “loyal Bushies.”

With the McCain campaign battling Democratic accusations that a McCain presidency would mean “more of the same,” the image of Palin and her husband refusing to answer questions about an alleged abuse of power might recall the troubling image of Bush stonewalling congressional oversight.

Read on from The Public Record.