Here are the four key findings taken directly from the report that was released:

• Finding Number One

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.

• Finding Number Two
  

  I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.

• Finding Number Three
  

  Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim property and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled.

• Finding Number Four
  

  The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for infomration about the case in the form of emails.

It was amusing to see the reaction yesterday evening. Within about an hour of the report’s release, every major news website (including Fox!) and every blog had variations of the headline “Palin Abused Power”, except for the conservative blogs which made no mention of Troopergate at all. Now, while all the liberals of the world eat this up since it’s something that has been anxiously awaited since the announcement by John McCain of Palin as his VP sidekick, it’s not all it seems to be at first glance.

The McCain/Palin campaign has said all along “we will comply in every way possible with the investigation” and then turned around and refused to do anything even remotely along those lines, including Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg suing to block 13 subpoenas of state employees and Todd Palin, the moose huntress’s husband. The court ruled that they were to comply with the subpoenas and they did, just in the past week or so. Todd Palin submitted a written testimony to the investigation. But yesterday, according to the Anchorage Daily News:

Branchflower said his report did not include late-arriving statements from state officials who, on the advice of Attorney General Talis Colberg, had resisted subpoenas. They, as well as Todd Palin, did provide written statements this week after a judge upheld the subpoenas. Their statements did not cause Branchflower to change his conclusions.

Um, yeah. So after all that, their statements weren’t even used in the final report, which, by the way, had been moved up from it’s initial release date of the end of October, which seemed to me to be a pure political stunt to get it here with plenty of time for the elections (not that I’m complaining). Todd Palin’s statements (which he refused to give under oath) were pretty much an admittance of guilt that it had been him all along, giving the orders to fire the trooper, etc. but it sounds like he was just trying to “take one for the team” and take some of the heat off of his wife.

So, what does all this mean? Well, it was a legislative inquiry which doesn’t have a fine, imprisonment, impeachment or any punishment at the end of the road. So all in all, it’s purely for informational purposes. The Attorney General (who is in the tank for Palin) or the state Personnel board are the ones who can force some sort of real consequences to happen. They are indeed conducting their own inquiry into these matters but I’m not holding my breath.

All in all, I don’t think it changes the course of the presidential campaigns too much. McCain/Palin will deny everything and continue onward, not admitting any guilt just like they have been doing on all of the questionable issues surrounding the choice of Palin (who was not vetted, by the way). Obama/Biden will play it cool by not mentioning the investigation and let the media stampede all over this as long as it wants to. Obama has no need to touch this issue due to his growing lead in the polls and the people’s focus on the failing world economies at the moment, which plays right into his hands. So the investigation took $75,000 of taxpayer money, created a lot of anxiety, and no actual changes/consequences happen as a result of it. Sounds like politics as usual.