folo

Though we marveled yesterday at Sarah Palin’s Orwellian denial of the Branchflower Report’s conclusion that she abused her power as governor, a lot of folks — including some foloers — seem convinced that we’ve heard the end of Troopergate (as may be best, some say).

Not just yet. In Newsweek, Michael Isikoff relates:

McCain campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton dismissed the report as the product of “a partisan-led inquiry run by Obama supporters.” But there could be more land mines ahead. Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry into whether she fired Monegan because he refused to fire Wooten, who had been involved in a messy custody battle with her sister. Some Democrats ridiculed the move, noting that the personnel board answered to Palin. But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin’s 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel’s report could be released soon after. “We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board,” said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin “has nothing to hide,” it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.

Now get a load of the Anchorage Daily News:

The state Personnel Board investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of Walt Monegan has broadened to include other ethics complaints against the governor and examination of actions by other state employees, according to the independent counsel handling the case.

The investigator, Tim Petumenos, did not say who else is under scrutiny. But in two recent letters describing his inquiry, he cited the consolidation of complaints and the involvement of other officials as a reason for not going along with Palin’s request to make the examination of her activities more public.

Petumenos has not spoken to the press, in keeping with the secrecy of the state process. But he gave a rough description of the investigation’s course in two letters to an Anchorage attorney threatening a lawsuit over Palin’s effort to waive confidentiality. …

At the end of its long article, ADN quotes from one of those letters:

“… (I)t has become clear that the conduct of other state employees or officials besides the governor will be the subject of inquiry. The Independent Counsel, while investigating a matter referred to it, must necessarily follow all investigatory leads, and consider the conduct of any person involved in matters referred to it. Moreover, the statute requires referral to other agencies of pertinent matters and advice to the State government where practices or procedures merit review. Thus, the inquiry is not necessarily strictly limited to the Disclosure filed before it, and in any case, this matter has been consolidated with another complaint.”

– Tim Petumenos, state Personnel Board independent counsel, in a Sept. 29 letter to Meg Simonian

The Personnel Board’s doings are so secret, ADN says, no outsider can tell how long Petumenos’ probe may last, though the board does have meetings set for October 20 and November 3, and their agendas do mention “confidential ethics matters to be handled in executive session.” But whether those refer to this investigation or something else entirely — who knows. However, Andrew Halcro has this news:

In a bold move, former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan filed a request with the personnel board on Monday for a "Due Process Hearing To Address Reputational Harm", inflicted by Governor Sarah Palin.Monegan’s attorney Jeff Feldman wrote in his filing that while Monegan does not contest the [governor’s] right to discharge him from his position as commissioner, the governor is not entitled to make untrue and defamatory statements about her reasons for discharging him.

Here’s Monegan’s request (pdf).

Okay, while we await developments, enjoy the high-noon drawdown in Mudflats’ Stapleton, This Town Ain’t Big Enough….