The husband of Governor Sarah Palin will ignore a subpoena from Alaska lawmakers investigating whether the Republican vice presidential nominee’s firing of a state commissioner constituted an abuse of power, officials from her campaign said on Thursday.
Todd Palin was among 13 people, including several Palin administration staffers, subpoenaed by a legislative committee to testify in private or at a hearing scheduled for yesterday.
The governor’s husband, however, refused to answer questions to a panel that he believed was politically motivated, campaign officials for Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Palin said.
“The objections boil down to the fact that the legislative council investigation is no longer a legitimate investigation because it has been subjected to complete partisanship,” campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan said.
Todd Palin could be found in contempt of the legislature for failing to comply, but the whole body would have to be in session to do so, and it is not scheduled to reconvene until January.
O’Callaghan, a former federal prosecutor who has traveled to Alaska to advise the Palins, argue that supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama are controlling the investigation.
The abuse-of-power investigation is seeking to determine whether Governor Palin dismissed former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because he declined to fire a state trooper involved in a contentious divorce from the governor’s sister.
Meanwhile, a key lawmaker said delays that were stalling the investigation could last until after the November election.
Senator Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat from Anchorage, said on Thursday that subpoenaed witnesses who were refusing to testify could continue to do so for months without penalty.
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