ABC News reports that Sarah Palin may have to temporarily suspend campaigning in order to be deposed by an investigation into her alleged actions regarding the firing of her ex-brother-in-law.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s surprise vice-presidential pick, is the subject of a legislative probe into claims that she abused her office by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper.
Palin is likely to be deposed soon in the case, according to State Sen. Hollis French, who leads the state Senate’s Legislative Counsel Committee.
French’s committee unanimously authorized an investigation into the dismissal of the state’s public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, who claims he balked at pressure to remove Trooper Mike Wooten, who had an acrimonious divorce from Palin’s sister.
“I saw e-mails from [independent investigator Stephen] Branchflower two days ago to the Department of Law saying it’s time to schedule a deposition of the governor, her chief of staff and the attorney general who had some contact with the case,” French tells ABCNews.com.
Let’s leave all questions about Palin’s qualifications to the side. Let’s also leave out any discussion over whether or not she actually committed the crimes she is alleged to have committed–I honestly do not know enough about the case one way or the other to make a judgment.
Okay, so leaving all that aside, doesn’t it just seem like a bad idea from a political standpoint to have your VP nominee investigated and deposed in an abuse-of-power scandal during the campaign? Didn’t McCain’s staff brief him on the fact that the American people might take a dim view of voting for a politician currently under investigation on such charges? What will McCain do if the (Republican, don’t forget) Alaskan legislature decides that the charges are legit and proceed to impeach her from office? This seems like an awfully big risk to take.
Image credit: Tricia Ward
