Report clears Palin in Troopergate

? Gov. Sarah Palin violated no ethics laws when she fired her public safety commissioner, the state personnel board concluded in a report released Monday.

“There is no probable cause to believe that the governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters,” the report says.

“Governor Palin is pleased that the independent investigator for the Personnel Board has concluded that she acted properly in the reassignment of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan,” her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said in a statement.

An earlier, separate investigation by the Legislature found that Palin had abused her office.

Monegan said he felt pressure from Palin, her husband and her staff to fire a state trooper who had gone through a nasty divorce from Palin’s sister. Palin denied the claim, and said Monegan was fired last July because she wanted the department to head in a new direction.

Monegan told The Associated Press he was “perplexed and disappointed” by the report. It was prepared by Timothy Petumenos, an independent investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board.

“It conflicts with the first investigation and then casts doubts on both of them. So, it doesn’t really resolve anything,” he said. “If it did, then I could walk away. It does seem to fly in the face of circumstantial evidence.”

The separate investigation by the Legislative Council recently concluded that Palin – the Republican vice presidential nominee – abused her office by allowing her husband and staffers to pressure Monegan to fire the trooper, Mike Wooten. However, it upheld the firing because Monegan was an at-will employee.