Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal The Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal, also known as Troopergate, involves the possibly illegal July 2008 dismissal of the Alaskan Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan by Governor Sarah Palin for not firing Alaskan State Trooper Mike Wooten, who was in a bitter divorce with Palin's Sister. On October 10, 2008, the twelve-member bipartisan Alaska Legislative Council hired investigator Stephen Branchflower to investigate the matter. The Legislative council voted unanimously to release the so called, Branchflower Report, which found that Palin had violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act covering state executive employees when she dismissed
Joe Miller (Alaska politician) seat in the Alaska House of Representatives, winning the Republican primary. He ran as a moderate Republican in the general election, but lost to Democratic incumbent David Guttenberg. In 2008, while serving as Interior regional chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, he unsuccessfully tried to oust Randy Ruedrich as the state Republican Party chairman. The "Alaska Dispatch" described Miller's effort as part of a power struggle between "the old guard versus the new Palin-led faction", reporting that Miller arrived at the state Republican Party convention accompanied by a security detail of four bodyguards. Miller resigned his regional chairmanship and temporarily