Troopergate papers (Updated)

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: September 26, 2008 - 10:32 am

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From David Hulen in Anchorage --

Troopergate-related documents are piling up. Here are a few that we haven't posted:

> The complaint filed yesterday by the the attorney general and Department of Law to kill the legislative subpoenas issued to members of the Palin administration. Story here.

> A letter sent today from Jan Hart DeYoung, the chief assistant attorney general, to Sen. Hollis French describing the complaint above.

...They regret that they felt it necessary to take this action, but they strongly believe that the legislative investigation is an unwarranted intrusion on the governor's authority to dismiss a comissioner under article III, section 25 of the Alaska Constitution; and that the conduct of the investigation has not been marked by the fairness and impartiality so essential in such an endeavor.

> The request for a temporary restraining order filed in court yesterday by six pro-Palin lawmakers seeking to derail the Branchflower investigation.

> The motion filed by Palin's lawyer last week to the state personnel board arguing there were no violations of the Ethics Act in the "replacement of" Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. This includes a stack of supplemental material - including administration e-mails - to bolster the Palin camp's contention that Monegan wasn't a team player.

> A Sept. 16 letter from Attorney Gen. Talis Colberg to Sen. Hollis French, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, explaining the reluctance of administration officials to cooperate with legislative subpoenas, and asking that the subpoenas be withdrawn.

As state employees, our clients have taken an oath to uphold the Alaska Constitution and for that reason they respect the legislature's desire to carry out an investigation in support of its law-making powers. However, our clients are also loyal employees subject to the supervision of the Governor. Your subpoena places them in the difficult position of choosing either to support the Governor's decision to cooperate only with the Personnel Board investigation or to voluntarily comply with the subpoenas issued by the committee.

> A Sept. 19 letter from Colberg to Sen. Kim Elton, chairman of the Legislative Council, asking Elton to withdraw the subpoenas against administration officials.

...A new circumstance intervened -- supporting the Governor's decision to cooperate only with the Personnel Board investigation. Our September 16 letter to Senator French was an effort to communicate the difficult position this places our clients in -- having to choose between supporting the Governor's position and voluntarily complying with the subpoenas. Withdrawing those subpoenas (and the demand for the interviews) would relieve our clients of that difficult choice...

> Elton's response, also on Sept. 19.

My short response is: 1) I hope you are not asserting that being a loyal employee subject to the supervision of the governor is of equal weight to the constitution or the rule of law; 2) I trust you really don't want to suggest to folks who are subject to the Department of Law's power to subpoena that response to any subpoena is voluntary in nature; and 3) I hope you have weighed the consequences of cancelling this written agreement and its potential chilling effect upon the willingness of other parties in the vast array of complex civil and criminal matters you deal with (if you can break this deal, can you break their deals?).

> A Sept. 19 letter from French to Senate President Lyda Green, explaining developments.

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