The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin (33 page)

She then turned her attention to the war in Iraq. “Pray for this country, that our leaders are sending our military men and women out on a task that is from God,” she said. “That’s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”

In closing, Sarah recalled the blessing she’d received from Thomas Muthee three years earlier: “You know how he speaks,” she said, “and he’s so bold. And he was prayin’, ‘Lord make a way, Lord make a way.’ And I’m thinkin’, ‘This guy’s really bold. He doesn’t even know what
I’m gonna do, he doesn’t know what my plans are.’ And he’s prayin’ not ‘Oh Lord if it be your will may she become governor.’ No, he just prayed for it. He said, ‘Lord make a way and let her do this next step.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

SARAH’S NEXT STEP, on July 11, 2008, was to fire Walt Monegan. All hell broke loose. At the time, Alaskans knew nothing of Todd and Sarah’s years-long attempt to take away Mike Wooten’s badge.

Monegan said his dismissal “came out of the blue. If the governor was upset with me for one thing or another, it had never been communicated to me.” At first, even he could not believe that Sarah would fire him because he’d said he couldn’t fire Wooten.

Sarah’s spokespeople offered some mumbo-jumbo about wanting to move the department of public safety “in a new direction,” but were unable to say what direction.

On July 17, Halcro reported on his blog what Alaska newspapers had not: that Sarah had axed Monegan because he would not fire a trooper who “was being maliciously hounded by Palin’s family. Walt Monegan got fired because he had the audacity to tell Governor Palin no, when apparently nobody is allowed to say no to Governor Palin.”

Halcro also disclosed that “confidential material in Wooten’s Administrative Investigation file had been released to his ex-wife and her attorney. AI files are strictly confidential and can only be released with the written signature of the trooper … no one could explain how the detailed confidential information was released.”

At first Sarah denied everything. In a prepared statement, she said, “To allege that I, or any member of my family, requested, received or released confidential personnel information on an Alaska state trooper, or directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous.”

Outrageous, but also true. The next day, Monegan confirmed the allegations in Halcro’s blog, saying that not only Todd but also members
of Sarah’s administration had pressured him. “The new assertions from Monegan … conflict with what the Republican governor said earlier in the week,” the
Daily News
reported.

On July 21, Sarah said she would welcome an investigation. “I’ve said all along, hold me accountable. And I’m telling the truth when I say there was never pressure put on Commissioner Monegan.” Had anyone in her administration ever tried to make Monegan do her bidding in regard to Wooten? “No, no, absolutely not. No,” she said.

She got a brief respite the next day when the statehouse voted 24–16 to approve the state’s exclusive contract with and $500 million subsidy to TransCanada. But it was a mark of how far she’d fallen that fifteen house members who had originally voted in favor of AGIA were now against it. One of them, Mike Hawker, an Anchorage Republican, said, “AGIA—I’m a little bit afraid it stands for ‘Alaska Goofs It Again.’ ”

On the same day, Monegan’s replacement, Chuck Kopp, acknowledged that a sexual harassment complaint had been filed against him in 2005 and that he’d received an official reprimand from Kenai city officials. He said he’d hugged the female employee in question “three or four times, friend-to-friend,” but “I did not kiss her.” This contradicted his earlier statement that “There is no history of these types of complaints” and that he’d never received a reprimand.

On July 24 one of Sarah’s spokespeople said she’d known about the complaint when she appointed Kopp, but had been told it was unsubstantiated. She had not been aware of the reprimand. “She is concerned, and she’s also disappointed,” the spokeswoman said. After meeting with Sarah the next day, Kopp resigned.

On July 28 a twelve-member bipartisan panel of legislators voted unanimously to hire an independent investigator to look into “the circumstances and events surrounding the termination of former Public Safety Commissioner Monegan, and potential abuses of power and/or improper actions by members of the executive branch.”

A week earlier Sarah had said, “Hold me accountable.” Now a spokeswoman said that the governor “doesn’t see a need” for the investigation. A
Wall Street Journal
story quoted state senator Hollis French as saying, “This is a governor who was almost impervious to error. Now she could face impeachment.”

On August 1 the state senate approved the TransCanada license by a vote of 14–5. In both houses of the legislature, it was Democratic support that allowed Sarah to prevail.

But the same day, legislators hired Steve Branchflower, a lawyer with twenty-eight years of experience as a prosecutor in the Anchorage District Attorney’s office, to investigate what was becoming known as Troopergate. In response, Sarah said she would conduct her own investigation, led by her attorney general, Talis Colberg.

Then it got worse. Branchflower had just begun his investigation when Sarah called a press conference on August 13 to admit that, contrary to her earlier denials, one of her aides had called a state police official in February in an attempt to have Wooten fired. It was the worst public moment she’d ever endured.

Talis Colberg, digging through the dirt before Branchflower arrived, had discovered that the state police had recorded the call from Frank Bailey, a longtime loyalist whom Sarah had appointed as director of boards and commissions.

“I do now have to tell Alaskans that pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it,” she said, with scant regard for the truth. She admitted that in addition to the Bailey call, members of her staff—including her then chief of staff, Mike Tibbles, and Attorney General Colberg—had contacted public safety officials more than twenty times in regard to Wooten. “The serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction,” she said.

She released a recording of Bailey’s call to state police Lieutenant Rodney Dial. In it, Bailey said, “The Palins can’t figure out why nothing
is going on. Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads. Why on earth hasn’t this—why is this guy still representing the department? From their perspective, everybody’s protecting him.”

Bailey also told Dial, “My understanding is, you know, Walt has been very reluctant to take any action … She really likes Walt a lot, but on this issue she feels like it’s, she doesn’t know why there is absolutely no action for a year on this issue. It’s very, very troubling to her and the family.”

Sarah denied knowing anything about anything and dragged Bailey out so he could fall on his sword. He had to tell the press that no one had asked him to make the call and that he didn’t know why he’d indicated he was speaking on behalf of Sarah and Todd.

Andrew Halcro wrote, “In Wooten’s eight-year career, the only complaints that have been filed against him came from people associated with Governor Palin during a divorce and child custody fight in which they were trying to get him fired so he wouldn’t be able to get custody of his children.”

Jesse Griffin wrote in his Immoral Minority blog, “I think it is well past time for Alaskans to not allow themselves to be seduced by Palin’s dewy eyes and to realize they are dealing with nothing more then [
sic
] another politician who will use her influence to circumvent rules she feels should not apply to her … The bottom line is that Sarah let her desire for revenge get the best of her, and punished an honorable man for not doing what he knew was wrong.”

As August waned and Branchflower continued his investigation, Sarah found herself at the low point of her political career. Former supporters, both Democrats and Republicans, turned against her. After promising honesty, transparency, and the highest ethical standards, she found herself accused of lying, cover-up, and actions that seemed, at the least, a grievous ethical breach.

Autumn is a mere blink of an eye in Alaska, and looking beyond it, Sarah would not have been able to see anything other than a long, dark winter of turmoil, acrimony, and discontent. Then, like an
angel on a personal mission from her Heavenly Father, John McCain swooped down to tap her with his magic wand.

SARAH BECAME a national sensation overnight. Her September 3 speech to the Republican convention in Minneapolis was hailed as “dazzling” and “electrifying” by a national media that had at first viewed her with skepticism.

In the weeks that followed, she carried the momentum of Minneapolis with her across the country. John McCain’s previously moribund campaign pulsed with Sarah’s energy. With Todd at her side and her children—especially Trig, the Down syndrome baby—much in evidence, she created a sensation wherever she went. Adoring crowds flocked to her appearances.

Democratic attacks on her lack of knowledge and experience and her inability to answer simple questions were widely viewed as attempts by a panicky East Coast elite establishment to undermine this plainspoken “hockey mom” who personified “real” American values.

Even many in the liberal media were stupefied. For example, while noting that she was a born-again Christian, mainstream media largely ignored Sarah’s religious extremism, even after her blessing by Thomas Muthee went viral on YouTube.

Max Blumenthal, writing in
Salon
, The Huffington Post, and elsewhere, and Bruce Wilson, on the Talk to Action website, exposed with penetrating clarity Sarah’s close ties to the radical fringe of the Pentecostal movement. Old-line print media, however, seemed to view Sarah’s picaresque religious beliefs as a private matter best left unexplored. (In the same way, they shied from reporting on her children, even after Sarah dragged them with her into the limelight and put them to work serving as props for her political career.)

Later in the campaign, Sarah would excoriate Barack Obama for having been a member of a Chicago congregation presided over by the incendiary reverend Jeremiah Wright. But only a week before
McCain chose her, Sarah attended a Wasilla Bible Church service at which the evangelical preacher who’d founded Jews for Jesus said that terrorist attacks in Israel were nothing more than a manifestation of God’s displeasure with the Jewish state.

As governor, Sarah worshipped at the Juneau Christian Center, an Assembly of God affiliate whose pastor railed against evolution, saying, “Believe the word of God—you are not a descendant of a chimpanzee.” In Wasilla, in addition to Assembly of God and the Wasilla Bible Church, she’d also attended services at Church on the Rock, whose pastor preached, “This nation is a Christian nation! God will not be mocked! Judgment Day is coming. Where do you stand?”

That pastor, David Pepper, described Sarah as “a Spirit-filled believer.” He said, “She was very comfortable in the environment of our church. She is very genuine, very authentic.” He also said her involvement in the church went “beyond being just an attender” and that “There is definitely a sense of destiny over her life. There’s a sense that she is here for a time such as this.”

Many evangelicals thought Sarah was the Esther of modern times, comparing her to the Old Testament queen chosen by God to save the Jews from genocide. One of them, Mark Arnold, of Life Covenant Church of Monroe, Ohio, had the chance to meet her during the 2008 campaign and tell her so, an experience he described on his website, Agree in Prayer.

“I got to talk to Sarah Palin,” he wrote. “What an awesome time we had … I confirmed to her that ‘
MILLIONS
were praying for her and that she was to stand strong and be courageous … Be strong … stand strong … know people are praying … be like a bull-dog and don’t stop … stand strong!’ Each time I would say the above information to her … she would wink at me and say, ‘…
THANK YOU
and
THANK
those who are praying for us …’
WOW
 … 
OH GOD
 … 
YOU ARE AWESOME!
”

Arnold believed that the Holy Spirit had called him to deliver a message to Sarah about being Esther. As he approached her, he said in
an interview published by
Charisma
magazine in February 2009, “She spun around, looking right at me, and I told her: ‘God wants me to tell you that you are a present-day Esther.’ She began to cry and shake my hand in an affirming way. She said, ‘Yes, I receive that.’ ”

On September 22, in the midst of the campaign, Mary Glazier prophesied the election of John McCain, but also his death in a terrorist attack that would make Sarah president. Glazier sent out a “
WARNING OF IMMINENT ATTACK.
” She said two of her “trusted intercessors” had received warnings of a terrorist attack that “would cause national mourning.” One of them, Glazier wrote, “received the scripture Gen. 50:3, ‘A period of
NATIONAL MOURNING.
’ She then saw Sarah Palin standing alone and she was mantled with the American flag … I knew she was stepping into an office that she was mantled for.”

In mid-October, Sarah did a twenty-minute telephone interview with James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs–based evangelical group Focus on the Family. Dobson told her that not only was he praying for her but that he’d just hosted a gathering of more than four hundred “prayer warriors” and that “We were sure asking for God’s intervention” in the campaign.

“Well, it is that intercession that is so needed,” Sarah said. “And I can feel it, too, Dr. Dobson. I can feel the power of prayer and that strength that is provided through our prayer warriors across this nation … We hear along the rope lines that people are interceding for us and praying for us. It’s our reminder to do the same, to seek His perfect will for this nation, and to of course seek His wisdom and guidance in putting this nation back on the right track … I have to have faith that our message will get out there minus the filter of the mainstream media … I have to have that faith that God’s going to help us get that message out there.”