Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has denied claims that she and several of her senior staffers illegally accessed the personnel file of her ex-brother-in-law, Trooper Mike Wooten, and disseminated confidential information about the law enforcement official to his superiors.

Palin, Sen. John McCain’s running mate, her private attorney Thomas Van Flein, and McCain campaign officials, said the confidential medical and employment records became part of the public record during divorce proceedings between Wooten and Palin’s sister, Molly McCann.

Palin is under investigation by an independent counsel appointed by Alaska’s Legislative Council. The probe centers on whether Palin abused her power when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in July because he allegedly refused to fire Wooten. The investigation also centers on claims that the governor’s office peeked at Wooten’s personnel records illegally. The McCain campaign said Monday Palin is “unlikely” to cooperate with the investigation.Palin’s husband, Todd Palin, and 12 other people were subpoenaed Friday by a committee made up of three Republicans and two Democrats.

In defending Palin, the McCain campaign and Palin’s attorney have said Wooten’s employment and medical files are public documents. But that assertion is untrue.

In fact, the judge who presided over the divorce proceedings and the custody hearings that took place over the course of three years never saw Wooten’s records because the trooper entered into a settlement agreement with his ex-wife over custody of their young children before the confidential information was discussed in court, according to Palin’s sister’s attorney, Roberta Erwin.

“It doesn’t become part of the court record unless you file exhibits. We never got that far,” Erwin said in an interview in response to a question as to whether Wooten’s personnel files were discussed in open court or were part of the court record. “Once it goes into discovery it is a matter of public record if the documents become exhibits in the divorce trial. In this case those documents were present in a court hearing and was then settled so it never made it into the trial.

Wooten’s attorney, Robin Taylor, did not return numerous calls for comment.

The court clerk at the Alaska courthouse in Anchorage explained that the contents of Wooten and McCann’s divorce records do not contain any of Wooten’s personnel, medical, or financial records, other than statements made by witnesses during the trial.

Erwin gained access to Wooten’s personnel records after the trooper filed for additional custody of his children in November 2007. Presumably she shared that information with McCann, Palin’s sister.

“Under Alaska state law when you reopen a custody and divorce case you have to do initial disclosure,” Erwin said. “That means we are entitled to three different releases: his employment, medical, and financial documents. [Wooten] signed the releases in open court and the releases were exercised.”

Wooten signed a release on Feb. 7 granting his ex-wife access to his confidential files. Three weeks later, Palin’s director of state boards and commissions, Frank Bailey, telephoned police Lt. Rodney Dial and told him Wooten had filed for bankruptcy, used a taser on his stepson, illegally shot a cow moose, drove his patrol car while drunk, and applied for worker’s compensation benefits for an injury that did not exist. Bailey wanted to know why Wooten hadn’t been fired.

Yet, how Bailey learned about the trooper’s investigation into Wooten and the state of his finances is a matter of debate. Bailey claims Palin’s husband, Todd, told him. Whether the disclosures by Bailey or Todd Palin amount to a violation of state privacy laws are unclear. That’s something independent counsel Steve Branchflower is investigating.

Before the audio recording of Bailey’s telephone call surfaced in July after Palin had insisted she and her staff did not pressure Monegan to fire Wooten nor made inquiries about the trooper rumors circulated on a blog maintained by a political rival of the Palin’s alleging that Palin had gained access to Wooten’s personnel files in violation of state privacy laws.

Rumors that Palin’s office gained unauthorized access to Wooten’s files prompted Erwin to draft a “To Whom It May Concern” letter stating on July 17 stating “the governor’s office, and particularly Governor Sarah Palin, has at no time had any involvement in this litigation.”

“All records relevant to the litigation were obtained through the standard discovery process involved in every court case, as governed by the Alaska Rules of Court,” Erwin wrote.

Erwin said she “wanted to make it very clear that the file was obtained through a release that Michael Wooten signed.

“The original allegations were couched that [Palin] inappropriately accessed Wooten’s files,” Erwin said. “It did not come from the governor’s office. I tried at the onset to put that rumor to rest..”

Erwin said she did not share any information in the files with Palin or her staffers. However, she said she is sure Palin’s sister disclosed the information to her family and perhaps Palin decided to act upon it.

Palin’s office promptly posted Erwin’s letter on the governor’s website along with a copy of the form that Wooten had signed authorizing his records to be released to his ex-wife’s attorney. In addition, Palin issued a prepared statement. The posted documents suggested that Palin obtained information about Wooten’s personnel file through the discovery process related to the divorce/custody battle with her sister.

“As governor, I expect a certain amount of criticism. When I took the oath of office, I even encouraged Alaskans to ask me questions, to hold me accountable,” Palin said. “But some critics have taken this to ridiculous extremes that threaten to distract from the vital business currently facing the state and its residents.

“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. Any information regarding personnel records came from the trooper himself. I question the timing of these false allegations. It is unfortunate, as we seek to address a growing energy crisis in this state, that this matter has been raised now.”

John Cyr, the executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association, the union that represents Alaska State Troopers, said he believes the governor’s office posted documents on her Web site saying state officials were not trying to illegally gain access to Wooten’s files to “inoculate themselves from the fact that they used the resources of the governor’s office to obtain highly confidential information about Trooper Wooten from his personnel file without authorization.”

Last Thursday, Palin’s office removed the two documents, including Wooten’s release form, from her official Web site without explanation. Spokespeople for the governor have refused to comment.

The same day Palin’s office posted the documents sent to her office by Erwin, Cyr held a news conference and with Wooten’s permission released 482-pages of documents related to an internal investigation trooper’s launched against Wooten in 2005 based on more than three-dozen complaints Palin, her father, and other members of her family had filed against the trooper.

When the audio recording of Bailey’s conversation with Dial surfaced the Public Safety Employees Association undertook an internal inquiry and determined that the information Bailey disclosed to Dial could only have been obtained by unlawfully accessing Wooten’s personnel files because the contents never became part of the public record.  

Palin filed several formal complaints against her ex-brother-in-law over the course of three years alleging he engaged in illegal behavior while on duty. But her complaints relied heavily on second-hand information, some of which was later determined to be suspect and unverifiable.

According to Erwin, Alaska State Troopers were still investigating complaints the Palin family leveled against Wooten during the couple’s divorce proceedings in 2005 and 2006 so the findings of that investigation were not introduced in court and neither she nor the Palin family were aware what action had been taken against Wooten, or for that matter that a probe was being conducted, until she obtained the personnel files in February 2008.

“The reason we didn’t have [Wooten's] file in 2005 is because the matters were under investigation and the files could not be released,” Erwin said. “When Mr. Wooten changed his motion for custody we were able to see what the investigation into his behavior determined and the first question we asked was why does this trooper still have a job?”

But even though Palin said she didn’t peek into Wooten’s files, she could if she wanted to.

In a letter dated Sept. 9 written by Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg and sent to Kim Elton, the chair of Alaska’s Legislative Council, Palin has the right to access confidential files of any state employee she chooses to so any attempt to probe allegations of unauthorized access to personnel records is moot.

“It does not violate the State Personnel Act for Department of Administration Staff to provide confidential personnel information to the governor or her staff-or for the governor or her staff to receive that information-in the course and scope of their official duties,” Colberg wrote. “The governor has supervisory authority over all executive branch employees. As the supervisory chief of the executive branch, the governor has a right of access to information in the personnel files of employees in the branch she supervises. Her right of access extends also to the staff members who assist and advise her, including heads of the principal departments.

“The governor or her staff may, in the course and scope of their official duties, review a confidential personnel file to ensure, for example, that an employee is adequately supervised, appropriately evaluated, and appropriately disciplined. In appropriate cases, the governor may also direct the termination of a state employee.”

This legal analysis appears to be an attempt to provide Palin and her staffers with legal cover for disseminating confidential information about Wooten..

Cyr, who testified at Wooten’s divorce trial that the Palin family had launched a vendetta against the trooper, said his legal counsel objects to the interpretation of the law.

“It is illegal to access employee medical and personnel files unless it’s on a “need to know basis,” Cyr said. “This is outrageous.”

Meanwhile, however, Palin’s private attorney, Thomas Van Flein, has deposed two senior officials with the goal of discrediting suspicions that Palin abused her power in the firing of Monegan.

In an Aug. 26 deposition, Van Flein questioned Bailey why he had made damaging statements against Trooper Wooten in the call to Lt. Dial.

Bailey responded that he was genuinely concerned not only about the governor but for “the safety of their family, their kids, their nieces, nephews, her father, regarding Trooper Wooten.”

Van Flein then used a line of questioning that appeared to be leading Bailey to a response favorable to Palin.

“You weren’t doing it because the governor asked you to, correct?” Van Flein asked Bailey.

“Correct,” Bailey responded.

However, Bailey said he obtained information about Wooten’s medical and employment history from Todd Palin.

On Aug. 28, Van Flein deposed Michael Mongale, a state manager with the workers’ compensation division. Monagle said there was no truth to rumors that the governor or her office had requested Wooten’s workers’ comp file.

“Absolutely not,” said Monagle, who said that the file is “in my office in a locked file cabinet” for safekeeping.

However, John Cyr, executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association, the union that represents Wooten and other state troopers, disclosed a document that appears to contradict Monagle’s sworn deposition.
 
A routing slip dated Aug. 21 from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development shows Wooten’s workers comp file was pulled and sent to the attention of Mongale.  

“Wooten, as requested,” the routing slip says, which was made out to the attention of “Mike Mongale.”

“A request came in to return all of Wooten’s [worker's comp] files to Juneau [the state capital],” according to a note and routing slip faxed to Cyr from the worker’s compensation division. “The person who asked to route the files was told the files were being copied for the governor.”