Anchorage Daily News

Gov. Palin is revealing her ugly side during this, her toughest political battle to date. As she continues to dig a deeper hole for herself day by day in the so-called Troopergate scandal, the more desperate she appears. Sarah Palin is not handling the pressure well.

On Thursday Gov. Palin kept digging at Walt Monegan for lying for saying he felt pressured by her administration to fire her former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten.

If Monegan felt pressured to ax the trooper, he would have said so, she said. "I'm sure Monegan would have come to me and said, 'Call off the dogs, I'm feeling pressure,' " Palin said.

Translation: If Walt didn't like my husband and several members of my administration hounding him relentlessly about firing my ex-brother-in-law, he should have said something. What was he worried about? Was he afraid if he didn't fire Wooten, I would fire him? What a crazy idea that is.

The governor should really just stop talking when it comes to Troopergate.

We'll probably never know for sure how much of a factor Monegan's inaction on Palin's brother-in-law played in her decision to fire the commissioner.

But in the recording of her right hand man Frank Bailey while lobbying a state trooper to fire Wooten, Bailey says something very revealing about how the governor feels about Monegan.

He says, "I am telling you honestly she really likes Walt a lot but on this issue (trooper Wooten) she feels like she doesn't know why there is absolutely no action for a year; it's very troubling for her and the family."

Even with that recording, the governor continues to insist Monegan's handling of the Wooten case played no role in his firing. And she continues to criticize Monegan when she should be apologizing to him.

You'll remember that shortly after his ouster, Monegan said he'd been pressured to fire the governor's ex-brother-in-law several times by Todd Palin and members of the governor's staff and even the governor herself.

Palin contradicted Monegan when asked by Channel 2's Jason Moore if she or anyone in her administration pressured the commissioner to fire Wooten. "No, no, absolutely not. No -- I've never," she said.

But then last week she changed her story, admitting members of her administration and/or Todd placed at least two dozen calls regarding Wooten, one of them caught on tape.

You would have thought at the press conference vindicating Monegan she would have publicly apologized to him. But instead she continues to criticize him.

And then, just when you thought she couldn't dig herself in any deeper, she said this about Alaska state troopers who felt pressured by her never-ending campaign to fire her ex-brother-in-law.

"If that's pressure, then (after) years in law enforcement, how do they do their job if that's perceived as pressure?"

Yeah, that's a good idea. Portray the brave men and women of the Alaska State Troopers as weak because they are afraid of losing their jobs and their ability to feed their families. What's wrong with these guys?

The governor seems to be saying: Hey, troopers who felt pressured, man up, help me break the state's personnel rules and stop your bellyaching.

Remember all the complaints the Palin family filed against Wooten have been investigated and punishment was rendered. The governor might not have liked the outcome, but it was taken before Monegan was commissioner. Demanding further action of Monegan is a clear violation of the state's personnel rules and something Monegan simply could not do.

But there is something in Sarah Palin's personality that prohibits her from saying, "I screwed up." She seems to obsess on something and will do almost anything to get her way.

The sad part of it is if she would at any point just come clean, Alaskans would forgive her. They love her.

But nobody likes someone who cannot admit when they are wrong.

Sarah Palin is a classic example of that.

Dan Fagan is a radio talk show host on KFQD 750 AM. E-mail, dan@kfqd.com.

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