Palin Hires Lawyer; Campaign Asks Friends to Shun Reporters

Jim Carlton and Michael M. Phillips report from Alaska on the presidential race. Going into sudden damage control, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has retained private counsel in the probe into the firing of her state trooper chief — while the McCain campaign tightened the reins on dealings with the media by her friends and family. Alaska legislators were notified Friday that an Anchorage law firm had been retained to represent the Republican vice presidential candidate and her office in a state investigation into Palin’s July 11 firing of Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan . Monegan said afterwards that Palin and her husband, Todd , had pressured him to remove a state trooper who was a former brother-in-law she and her family had feuded with. Palin denies that, saying she removed the commissioner she appointed 18 months earlier because she wanted “a new direction,” and offered him a job as liquor board director which he turned down. Officials with Sen.  ... (link)