Palin VP Pick Brings Ethical Complications

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s reputation as a crusading reformer after pushing through higher taxes on oil companies has been tarnished by revelations that members of her staff tried to have her former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper. State lawmakers have launched a $100,000 investigation to determine if Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan last month because Monegan wouldn’t fire a state trooper involved in a messy custody battle with her sister. She also is under fire from environmentalists for opposing the Bush administration’s decision in May to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act because global warming is melting the polar ice cap. Palin said the decision could damage the state’s and nation’s economy. Palin’s rapid ascent in politics followed her appointment in 2003 by then-Gov. Frank Murkowski to Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. From that post, she ... (link)