The Meaning of Troopergate

Nathan Thornburgh of Time nails the meaning of the Troopergate scandal involving Alaska governor and GOP Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

But the Branchflower report still makes for good reading, if only because it convincingly answers a question nobody had even thought to ask: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish? Yes, it is. Disturbingly so.

A harsh verdict? Consider the report's findings. Not only did people at almost every level of the Palin administration engage in repeated inappropriate contact with Walt Monegan and other high-ranking officials at the Department of Public Safety, but Monegan and his peers constantly warned these Palin disciples that the contact was inappropriate and probably unlawful. Still, the emails and calls continued — in at least one instance on recorded state trooper phone lines.

Monegan consistently emerges as the adult in these conversations, while the Palin camp displays a childish impetuousness and sense of entitlement...But even though she won't likely face any legal repercussions, the amateurism and cronyism of her brief administration hardly leaves Palin sitting pretty. Troopergate's final verdict may be even more damaging than a rebuke: her administration was, at least in this regard, just as self-motivated as the Washington fat cats and lobbyists she hopes to unseat.

Hasn't our country suffered enough harm over the past eight years at the hands of charming, incompetent and entitled amateurs?

--Ballard Burgher