Palin spouse gets brunt of inquiry

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A month after she became governor, Sarah Palin’s staff ushered Alaska’s public safety commissioner into her private office.

But Palin wasn’t there. Her husband, Todd, had called the meeting. He was frustrated his ex-brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, remained on the job as a trooper, and he prevailed upon the commissioner to get rid of him.

"I thought that was odd and made me a little uncomfortable,” said Walter Monegan, the commissioner, who later was fired.

The January 2007 meeting was part of a pattern of pressure that she and her husband applied on state officials to try to get the trooper fired, according to an Alaska legislative report. The report said those contacts amounted to an abuse of power and a violation of ethics laws.

But while the condemnation of now-vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was the conclusion, the nearly 300-page report was more about her husband. Todd Palin spent about 50 percent of his time in the governor’s office, making phone calls, participating in meetings or just hanging out, said Gary Wheeler of Gov. Palin’s security detail.

"Any time I needed to get information to the governor, I would always go through Todd,” Wheeler told investigators.

But in an affidavit he provided to investigators, he made no apologies: "We are each other’s best friend. I have helped her in her career the best I can, and she has helped me.”