Damn. It’s 9:21 p.m. on a Friday night. Nobody’s reading blogs right now, but I gotta run with this.

Palin Unlawfully Abused Power

Not just abuse of power, but unlawful abuse of power. Well, what can I say?

A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state’s public safety commissioner.

The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn’t the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely was a contributing factor.

The Republican vice presidential nominee has been accused of firing the commissioner to settle a family dispute. Palin supporters have called the investigation politically motivated.

Monegan says he was dismissed as retribution for resisting pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor’s sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

The legislative panel met for six hours before making a unanimous decision to release the so-called “Troopergate” report. The vote was 12-0 to release the report, except for certain parts they consider confidential.

So, for your reading pleasure, here is the full report.

I don’t know, but I’m guessing this nudges Connecticut out of the headlines. Granted, it’s released on a Friday night before a holiday weekend. Normally that’s a great way to bury a story. But this is an election year, and the report concerns a VP candidate readiness for the job is in question, and who’s sharing the ticket with a running mate of questionable physical and mental health.

So, we’re talking about someone who could very likely end up being president.

We’ve already had a president whose favorite pastime is abuse of power. We’ve already had a president who embodies two of the worst qualities possible qualities in a leader: ignorance and vindictiveness.

Dare we risk another?

Think about what a Palin administration could do with the PATRIOT Act, NSA, Plamegate, Attorneygate, and just about any other scandal you can think of.

It’s also troubling that this investigation began before McCain picked her as his VP. So, the campaign had to at least know an investigation was underway. But they say she was vetted, and he was likely pissed because he couldn’t have Lieberman.

We’ve already had a president whose rash, uninformed decisions have cost Americans dearly.

And, finally, this would almost be funny if it weren’t so sad.

In an effort to head off the report, McCain campaign spokesman Taylor Griffin released the campaign’s own version of events. That report, which Griffin said was written by campaign staffers, says the Legislature has taken a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and one of her commissioners, and portrayed it as something inappropriate.