Troopergate report released

Jules Crittenden’s got the best link round-up and commentary about the report’s findings here. He writes:

The actual finding in the report linked above, by the way, is that she violated an Alaska statute that states any public official’s action that benefits a personal or financial interest is a violation of public trust with regard to the trooper.

Sounds like an ethics law you could use to indict a ham sandwich, though I didn’t notice any mention of penalties in the discussion of the law in the report. There’s also, of course, the question of whether a state trooper who is making threats and behaving erratically Ò€¦ you know, tasering children Ò€¦ is more than just a personal interest for someone who is ultimately responsible for the public safety of all Alaskans. Unclear whether the august panel mulled that.

[…]

Anyway, the hacks’ finding regarding the commissioner’s firing is that while the trooper issue played a role, so did other factors actually cited by Palin. It specifically states his firing was a “proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statuatory.”

He also notes that media outlets like the AP are distorting the reports of the finding, and provides examples.

Flopping Aces has a good write-up on this as well.

Basically, it sounds like Steve Branchflower, the investigator, really had to dig deep and stretch the findings to be able to conclude that Gov. Palin did anything wrong. I found the findings somewhat contradictory, as did Beldar. The bottom line is no matter how much of a dud this report actually is, the fact alone that it states that she “abused her power” is enough for the mediots and usual suspects to conclude that Gov. Palin is no better than some of the worst public office abusers in history, and as we all know, there have been some pretty bad ones.

And as any savvy politico would do, expect the OBiden campaign to – via their surrogates on their campaign and in the MSM – keep this news front and center for the next several weeks in an attempt to put the McCain campaign out of the running altogether. As Ed Morrissey notes, this will not affect her standing with the people who already support her, but the undecideds may be another story altogether.

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