Huff Post: Palin's pattern of cronyism and vengeance firings = abuse of power

[pnwmom]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-schmeltzer/for-america-mccain-must-d_b_122912.html

SNIP

First, and almost immediately revealed, was "Troopergate" - Palin's attempt to pressure the Public Safety Commissioner to fire her ex-brother-in-law as a state trooper, lying about it, and then firing Walt Monegan, the Commissioner, when he tried to explain there was nothing he could do. Then, Palin replaced Mongegan (who had a very good record on the job) with someone who had to resign after two weeks, because he had sexual harassment problems in the past, which Palin was aware of when she appointed him.

Next, we found out as Mayor of Wasilla, Palin canned the Police Chief and the Library Director for not supporting her campaign for Mayor. . . .Palin faced a recall effort because of her decision, and eventually had to reinstate the Library Director, and came to an out of court settlement (a tacit admission of wrongdoing) with the Police Chief, basically paying him to go away.

Today, I discovered that Todd Palin, Sarah's husband, also had a say in hiring and firing decisions. A long-time aide to Sarah Palin, John Bitney, who was a childhood friend of hers, was unceremoniously dumped from his job. . . .Bitney was dating the soon-to-be ex-wife of a friend of Todd Palin's. Todd Palin didn't like that insult to his pal, so he had Sarah fire her old friend, and long-time aide. Again, Sarah Palin never even tried to contend that Bitney was doing a bad job, and no one had charged that he was doing a bad job.

SNIP

Another scandal involving Sarah Palin's tenure as Governor is Dairygate. . . .As Palin came into office, the state Creamery Board, after years of study, concluded that state-run Matanuska Maid Dairy was beyond saving, after years in the red despite heavy taxpayer subsidies. It recommended that the dairy be privatized, as the only way of rescuing the dairy, and saving Alaskans from giving tax dollars to a failing business that inflated dairy costs.

You would think that Palin, the so-called maverick cost cutter, would be thrilled. Nope. Instead, Palin fired the entire Board of Agriculture and Conservation, and replaced them with loyalists, who in turn installed themselves as the new Creamery Board. Palin contended that Mat Maid Dairy just needed better management, and these guys would do it. In short, like another person I know (hmmm...) Palin didn't like the expert's answers, so instead of dealing with the facts, she fired the experts to find "new facts."

SNIP