Note: I should note that the intentions of Monegan could be on the up and up, pushing for more security. I let my experience of how some use their government jobs and legislative positions to line their pockets color my view of all this. The man did try to fight his boss the Governor and become prince of his little pond, bypassing the chain of command and the established points of contact to the legislature for budget issues. And I still have suspicions as to his motives and actions. But I will be fair and say my suspicions about the fact he has changed his story so many times (which means he is lying to the media some of the time) keeps pushing my suspicion meter pretty high. Changing stories and an attraction to the media in an effort to use lies and innuendo to cripple Governor Palin’s reputation are not the signs of some one who is of honorable character.

Major Update at end – It seems Walt Monegan and Sen Hollis French were trying to push through increases changes to the Village Public Security Officer’s (VPSO) budget opposed by BOTH Governor Palin AND the State Senate VPSO Task force. Now why would they being doing that??? – end update

Well, this should be interesting:

Five Alaska Legislators, Rep. Wes Keller, Rep. Mike Kelly, Rep. Bob Lynn, Sen. Fred Dyson, and Sen. Tom Wagoner, will file suit in state superior court in Anchorage tomorrow morning (9/16/08) at 9:00 am (Superior courthouse 4th Avenue) against Sen. French, Sen. Kim Elton, Stephen Branchflower and the Alaska Legislative Council in order to halt the investigation of Governor Sarah Palin and others because the investigators have lost the appearance of impartiality required under the Alaska Constitution. The Legislators will ask for declaratory and injunctive relief in the investigation, stating that it is an attempt to use the Alaska Legislative Council to further partisan politics.

…

The investigation, which began after Monegan’s dismissal in July 2008, is being led by outspoken supporters of Barack Obama and members of the Democratic Party. Sen. Elton, the Chair of the Legislative Council donated $2,000 to the Obama campaign but has failed to disclose this to the Legislative Council and he continues to preside over the Council with respect to the investigation, refusing to convene meetings of the Council at the request of a majority of the Council’s membership. Sen. French the investigation “project manager” failed to disclose to the Legislative Council the comments he made on a radio program criticizing the Governor’s conduct regarding the termination of Monegan as “criminal” prior to being appointed as the investigation “project manager” and even prior to a vote to investigate at all. Sen. French also failed to disclose to the Legislative Council that he had a personal bone to pick with the Governor over the Monegan firing because Monegan was a friend and because he had worked closely with Monegan during the 2008 legislative session regarding attempts to include in the state budget items that Governor Palin had vetoed.

Since the lead Democrat in the Witch Hunt (French) has promised an “October Surprise” for Palin, it would seem there is plenty of evidence to stop it.  Will be watching this one!

Update: Seems we will be seeing The Barracuda out in force on this one. Apparenly French and Monegan were resisting the budgetary guidance laid down by the Governor, and Monegan was working behind her back with the opposition.

Walt Monegan lost his job as public safety director because he resisted Gov. Sarah Palin’s budget policies and showed “outright insubordination,” say papers the governor’s lawyer filed Monday with the state Personnel Board.

Along with the papers filed Monday were a slew of e-mails from the governor’s office purporting to show Monegan’s “rogue mentality” as a member of Palin’s Cabinet.

In one message, the governor’s budget director, Karen Rehfeld, wrote that she was “stunned and amazed” that Monegan appeared to be working with a powerful state legislator, Anchorage Republican Rep. Kevin Meyer, to seek funding for a project Palin previously had vetoed.

…

In pursuing his own goals for the Department of Public Safety, Monegan “sought out the governor’s political opponents behind her back,” Van Flein wrote, and in December 2007 he “unilaterally orchestrated a press conference” on his budget with state Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat who is leading the Troopergate investigation.

That is a firing offense all right, when you serve at the discretion of the Governor – and this is why so many fail to reign in out of control government. So the media, liberal left and Obama camp are going to side with the old cronies trying to milk the taxpayer, and side with the degenerate ex brother-in-law who tasered is step-son and threatened to kill the Governor’s father.

Yeah – that will work just fine!

Update: Ed Morrissey looked at the papers and discovered a continued pattern of insubordination – Monegan wanted to play the corrupt ol’ boys network for pet projects. Well, we all know these projects are for the good of the people, so my bet is the next shoe to drop is Monegan and/or accomplices were positioned to get rich off these programs.

And that would cement Palin’s image as the slayer of corruption, and Monegan (and his liberal media and democrat alliess) would becme the face of the very corruption America is fed up with. Monegan could be the silver bullet that destroys Obama. If he is the face of corruption and behind the scene deals with Democrat State Senators (just like Obama) then that should finish off Obama.

Here is the link to the filing

Major Update: So here’s the possible financial connection. Remember, Walt Monegan was in cahoots with Sen Hollis French (D) on pushing changes in the Alaskan budget. The focus of the budget changes were in the funding for VPSO’s or Village Public Safety Officers.  Turns out these VPSOs are not civil servants on the government pay roll, but hired by non-profits/corporations – per one of the emails in the Palin filing linked above from the director of Alaska’s Office of Management & Budget:

VPSO’s don’t show up in our budget, they are hired by the non-profit/coporations.

This is VERY interesting, because this means someone with connections could get a nice cushy executive job with a golden parachute if they won the contract for staffing the VSPOs. So is there a connection?

Well guess whose Senate Committee runs the VPSO Task Force? That’s right: the head of the Palin witch hunt Sen Hollis French. Guess who is on the task force? Walt Monegan. 

Chair Senator Donny Olson                         Members Senator Hollis French  Senator Fred Dyson  Commissioner Walt Monegan  AG Talis Colberg Public Members Loretta Bullard, President of Kawerak, Inc. Myron Naneng, President of the Association of Village Council Presidents

So, where else does this lead? Well, the plan was to double the size of the VSPO force according to this news report from last January. Strangely, Monegan actually opposed increasing pay for the VPSOs as late as Feb 2008:

As it stands, the VPSO system is based on a solid premise, that of providing a uniformed presence in a community to keep small problems from festering, said Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, a member of the task force.

But the program can be improved with increased support from the communities and other law-enforcement agencies, said Monegan, a former Anchorage police chief.

The task force initially proposed raising the hourly base pay to $22, but Monegan opposed that amount, although he voted in favor of the $21 pay raise being recommended.

He said high pay would approach trooper salaries and would create a program that was unsustainable.

A better retention tool, he said, would be to offer emotional relief to VPSOs after a traumatic call such as a drowning, akin to the debriefing sessions, available to police in larger cities.

“[VPSOs] knew what their pay was going to be when they hired on,” Monegan said. “I think that over the long haul you can’t be paid enough money to do and see some of the things you have to do and see. I think it’s that ability to turn around and reach out and get a steadying hand on your shoulder or whatnot — that is an area that we could bring a fairly long-term stabilizing effect if we could provide each VPSO with that support.”

Moreover, Monegan’s proposal he tried to push around Palin’s back were not even supported by the VPSO task force:

Ultimately, Monegan would like to see VPSOs become state employees under the authority of the Department of Public Safety, a steppingstone for those who want to become troopers.

That idea is not among the task-force recommendations, although the report mentions that the issue should be studied further at a later time.

So why were French and Monegan pushing this end around both the Senate Task Force and Governor Palin?

Update:  There are 6 non-profit corporations managing the VPSO program:

The Kodiak Area Native Association, or KANA, took over the VPSO program in the Northwest Arctic after the NANA Corp.-affiliated Manillaq Manpower closed its doors in 2004. 

Other non-profits that manage the VPSOs are Kawarak Inc., Bristol Bay Native Association, Association of Village Councils presidents out of the Bethel region, Tanana Chief Conference for the Interior and the Aleutian-Pribilof Island Association. 

Now, are there any donations going from these non-profits or their leaders back to French? Hopefully my fellow bloggers will be able to help ferret this out.

Update: OK, here is one element of the Monegan VPSO plan that could be quite profitable:

Other possible solutions included broadening therapeutic efforts by putting long-term residential care facilities in rural hubs such as Kotzebue …

Yeah, medical facilities can be money makers (recall Monegan pushed for therapy for VPSOs).  I doubt Google or Yahoo will solve this for me.  But I’ll keep looking.

Update: One thing struck me in reviewing this sordid path. We have Monagen and French trying to double the funds for the VPSO program, but resisting adding to the VPSO salaries? If the additional funds don’t go to VPSOs, and recruitment is the barrier to expanding the force (low pay, high stress, preference to join the military after 9-11) then what bucket was all this new money to go into? Monegan is in the record opposing increased pay AND doubling the funds. And both he and Sen French seem to be working in opposition to not only Palin but the Senate VPSP Task Force. As they say – follow the money.

Tags: 2008 Election, Palin, Troopergate