ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The state trooper at the center of abuse-of-power investigations of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is no longer with the force.
The state Division of Personnel and Labor Relations says Trooper Mike Wooten’s state employment ended on Wednesday, the Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday (https://bit.ly/1ijEmza ). The reason for his departure was not disclosed.
Limited information about state employees is public under state law. Officials cannot say why he left, said Kate Sheehan, deputy director of labor relations. The state calls an employee leaving a “separation,” which can include resignation, termination or retirement, she said.
Wooten went through a bitter divorce with Palin’s sister and was the target of complaints from the former U.S. vice presidential nominee and her family starting in 2005. After she was elected in 2006, Palin’s husband, Todd, and her aides urged her public safety commissioner and others to fire Wooten.
Palin fired her public safety commissioner when Wooten stayed on the job, prompting two investigations into whether Palin abused her power. One inquiry found she did, and the other said she didn’t.
During the investigations, Wooten allowed his union to release his personnel files, which included findings that he had used a stun gun on his stepson, illegally shot a moose, drank beer in his patrol car and made a threat against his father-in-law.
The newspaper’s efforts to reach Wooten on Friday through the Public Safety Employees Association were unsuccessful. The Associated Press was unable to locate a phone number for Wooten on Saturday.
His last post was in the western Alaska village of Emmonak, 10 miles from the Bering Sea at the mouth of the Yukon River.
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Information from: Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, https://www.adn.com
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