ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The McCain-Palin campaign is “moving on many fronts” to stall an investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused the power of her office by firing her public safety commissioner, Alaska lawmakers claimed in a court filing Thursday.
The filing is in response to a lawsuit by five Republican state legislators seeking to halt the investigation into whether Palin abused her power when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan this summer. The legislators call the investigation by the Legislative Council biased, a violation of due process and a violation of the separation of powers between Alaska’s legislative and executive branches.
They want a judge to order the Legislative Council to cease investigating Palin or remove the leaders of the probe: Sen. Hollis French, the Democratic project manager of the investigation; Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, the Legislative Council investigator; and Stephen Branchflower, the retired attorney the council hired as the investigator.
Palin had agreed to cooperate until she became Sen. John McCain’s running mate. Then, through the McCain campaign, she claimed that French, Elton and Branchflower were manipulating the report to be a potentially damaging “October surprise” before Election Day.
The attorney defending French, Elton, Branchflower and the Legislative Council said in the response filed Wednesday that the suit is one of several tactics the McCain campaign is using to stall the investigation.
