29.0°

Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power by waging a campaign against a state trooper she has a personal grudge against, an investigator hired by the Alaska Legislature has found.

Special Counsel Steve Branchflower said that as a public officer, Palin holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust, according to the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. However, the report said firing former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was within her authority.

Palin's communications director Bill McAllister issued a statement Friday evening saying the report "vindicated" Palin because it acknowledged her right to fire commissioners for any reason.

Palin earlier had argued to the state Personnel Board, which is conducting a parallel investigation at her request, that because she did not benefit financially from the attempt to get her former brother-in-law fired, she violated no ethics rules.

Branchflower agreed the Alaska Constitution gave the governor power to fire commissioners for any reason or no reason at all. Still, he concluded that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda."

Palin's personal attorney, Thomas Van Flein, called the report "partisan" and said it was an attempt to "create a headline to smear the Governor" in a statement released after the report came out Friday.

Juneau Sen. Kim Elton said he was disappointed by Palin's reaction to the Branchflower report.

"My hope was once there was a fact-based report, we'd get beyond allegations of politics and start focusing on facts," he said.

The issue got controversial after Palin was selected at Sen. John McCain's vice presidental running mate, and then reversed a pledge to cooperate with the investigation. The Alaska Supreme Court last week dismissed a Republican effort to stop the report from being released.

Elton chairs the Legislative Council, the committee that authorized and funded the investigation. Elton is a Democrat who supports Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, while the council is made up of 10 Republicans and four Democrats and voted unanimously to undertake the investigation.

Branchflower made no recommendation in his report about what the Legislature shoud do with it, other than highlighting some weaknesses he identified in state laws.

"Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional," he wrote, but also said it was an individual responsibility and made no recommendations for further action involving Palin.

State Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, called the report "disturbing," in part because Palin had denied to her that she'd misused her power.

"I talked to the governor, and she said she hadn't done anything wrong," Kerttula said.

The firing of Monegan, which led to the investigation known as "Troopergate," was only one part of a broad campaign involving Palin, her family and numerous aides, to get Trooper Mike Wooten fired, it was revealed in the weeks since the investigation began. The investigation was set in motion by a unanimous, bipartisan vote of the Legislative Council, chaired by Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau.

The council met in Anchorage on Friday to receive the report, spent hours discussing it behind closed doors. It then met publicly late in the afternoon and voted unanimously to make it public.

Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law, had a bitter divorce from Palin's sister, after which Palin's family repeatedly sought to see Wooten fired. After Palin became governor in 2006, she used the resources of the office of the governor to continue the effort.

Branchflower, however, found that it was a "proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority" as governor to fire Monegan, but also found she knowingly let Todd Palin use her office to try to get Wooten fired, in violation of the state ethics act.

Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten was "likely a contributing factor" in his own firing, according to the report.

Palin attorney Van Flien said the only inappropriate action was by Branchflower when he said the governor's husband shouldn't have been involved.

"Mr. Branchflower single-handedly violated Mr. Palin's First Amendment rights," Van Flein said.

The legislative inquiry began as a bipartisan effort of the Legislative Council, the 14-member operating committee of the Legislature, but faced harsh attacks from some Republicans after Palin was nominated for vice president by the Republican Party.

Republican activists, including from the McCain-Palin campaign and in the Legislature itself, attacked the credibility of the investigation. They also resisted cooperating with Branchflower, including failing to honor subpoenas, and went to court in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the release of the report.

Branchflower said that resistance continued right up until the release of the report as the governor's office continued to refuse to provide records he needed.

Branchflower also concluded that Wooten received all the workers' compensation benefits to which he was entitled, and his claim had been handled properly. An inquiry to the state's outside claims adjustment agency was determined to be a routine administrative action, he said.

The Legislature did not attempt to force Gov. Palin to provide information to Branchflower, but he said it would have been helpful if she had agreed to an interview.

An interview, Branchflower said, would have helped "explain why she was so apparently intent upon getting Trooper Wooten fired."

He did conclude that her claim that she feared Wooten was not consistent with the evidence he developed. Not only did the Palins mention other reasons for trying to remove Wooten in their repeated contacts with state employees about him, but Sarah Palin also reduced the size of her security detail in both Anchorage and Juneau.

Branchflower's recommendations for legislators included a new requirement that government employees wanting to review confidential workers' compensation files have a valid reason to do so.

Further, Branchflower recommended that people who file complaints against police officers be told something of the outcome.

The results of the Wooten investigation initiated by the Palin in 2005 were kept secret from her and her family. That left them unaware they'd been taken seriously by the Troopers and had resulted in a reprimand and suspension of Wooten.

The Branchflower report also mentions one last reason why Monegan may have lost his job. Before the 2008 Police Memorial Day ceremony, Monegan sent Palin a photograph to sign and present at the event, but failed to realize that it was actually a picture of Wooten.

At the Legislative Council meeting several members praised the thoroughness of Branchflower's report, but some questioned his findings and conclusions.

"I had some differences with some of the conjecture," said Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak.

Sen. John Cowdery, R-Anchorage, said he was sympathetic to the Palins.

"I can't put a lot of fault on their trying to defend their family," he said. "I'm not sure they went about it in the right way."