Her transgression may sound trivial and Palin’s denials certainly parse words, but abuse of power is never trivial.
She says that the report did not show that she violated the ethics rules by firing the Public Safety Commissioner. That is true. She goes on to say that she looks forward to working with the Personnel Board. What she fails to say is why she has to work with the board. She doesn’t tell you that because if she did she would have to admit that the report finds that she violated Alaskan law. Specifically the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
Her supporters will no doubt attempt to trivialize this. It is abuse of power and it is serious. Why? Because she and others used her power as Governor and her position as Governor for a personal vendetta (whether Wooten deserved it is truly irrelevant). What if she were VP and used the power she has to have the IRS audit Wooten or have the Secret Service or FBI investigate him. Would we condone that? I hope not because that is a very dangerous precedent to set. That is corruption. Condoning that condones other personal abuses for personal gain. Maybe she gets mad at somebody and sicks the IRS on them. Maybe all of a sudden she doesn’t like how Tina Fey portrays her so she has the IRS Audit her every year and the FBI investigates her and she has someone trump up accusations against her. Can you say Joe McCarthy?
We might change the “sir” to “madam” and apply Welch’s famous quote -"Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" – to Palin.
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