Ousted Alaskan commissioner says Palin's image damaged by 'Trooper Gate'

Washington, Oct 14 : Former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan has said that he feels relieved by a legislative report concluding that Governor Sarah Palin abused her authority by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state police officer.

"I've never contested my firing. My firing was completely lawful. It wasn't that I was fired that I asked any questions. It was, what were the reasons for the firing," Monegan said in a nationally broadcast interview.

"I think that we're more concerned about our Governor and I think she took a big blow to her credibility and more significantly to her promises of being open and transparent," he said.

In his report Friday to a bipartisan panel that looked into the matter, investigator Stephen Branchflower found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain, the Daily News reported.

Palin has said that Monegan's tenure as the state's lead law enforcement officer ended because of policy differences.

The inquiry looked into the dismissal of Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state police officer involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with the Governor's sister.

Monegan declined to say in the interview Monday with NBC's "Today" show what legal options, if any, he might be exploring in the wake of the findings announced late Friday in Alaska.

Monegan did say that he and his family were pleased with the report's conclusions.

ANI