And the world
continues to turn! During the past week’s media reports I
am confident that many, if not all, of you became aware of
Mike Wooten’s entanglements with the Palin and Heath
families. I have received some correspondence from our
membership expressing concern about Mike’s actions and his
decision to make his AI and court documents public. I
understand the concern and feel the need to give a little
background.
Firstly, I
think it is important to remember that it was not Wooten who
started this ball rolling. Clearly, the Governor’s actions
toward Commissioner Monegan created quite a stir in and out
of the Department. Questions were immediately posed to
which the Governor gave little or no attention. She then
appointed Commissioner Kopp and more questions were asked.
Again, a lot of duck and weave and no substantive answers
were given. Enter Andrew Halcro’s blog on why Monegan was
fired followed by flat denials by Palin and her
administration.
As a result
of Halcro’s blog both the PSEA office and Wooten were
bombarded with calls from the media and requests for
interviews. Prior to that time Wooten had done everything
in his power to avoid the media and searched for ways to
help the attention get diverted from him. It is important
that we all remember that if Wooten were motivated to settle
a score he could have moved on this at any time in the last
5 years – and he has not. His decision to release the
records came after much deliberation and consultation and
the realization that the Governor’s statements seemed
inconsistent. So, recognizing that the files did not shed
the best light he decided to be open and transparent as the
Governor promised she would be. This has caused a few of
our members to feel that this has damaged DPS and AST. I
think none of us are or have been as damaged as Wooten has
been by this.
We all
understand that “unsustained” makes no finding of guilt or
innocence; and, we, most of all, should understand that to
treat one as guilty simply because of an unsustained
determination is as unsavory as the alleged acts. I also
think it is important to remember that on some level we have
all erred in some degree and tarnished the reputation of the
Troopers. Some of us have been fortunate enough not to have
our actions/decisions hung out for public view. But, just
because we've been lucky enough to have avoided it doesn't
mean we haven't made mistakes - its part of being human. We
will all err, we will make mistakes, and sometimes we will
even intentionally make poor or wrong decisions. I believe
the real goal here isn't to try hiring only perfect people
(and there are none) but to help identify failings, provide
support, stand by those who err, pick them up and brush them
off when they fall, and help them be all that they can and
want to be all the while recognizing that with some this is
not possible. I find it unfortunate that some folks quickly
conclude that Mike doesn't deserve to be a Trooper without
full knowledge of the circumstances. Additionally, I
believe it is clear that Ron Wall performed a thorough and
complete administrative investigation into allegations
against Wooten and his conclusions were well founded; yet,
Colonel Grimes took the unprecedented step of
re-interviewing a number of witnesses and reversing several
unsustained allegations based wholly on her opinion that the
witnesses were credible.
While
Wooten's AI file doesn’t help the DPS reputation, I don’t
believe it will prove to be the most damaging thing to the
Department and the Troops. Keeping the behavior of the
Commissioner and the Governor under wraps will prove much
more damaging. It may not be as immediately apparent but it
will continue to erode morale, training, equipment, and
manpower until CRF's and the like are the norm. I have seen
this Department slowly erode over the past 17 years all
while "our dirty little secrets" are kept from view "in the
interest of the DPS reputation". It saddens me and I think
Monegan and Holloway were diligently working to correct
this. Unfortunately, the Governor's actions have set off a
chain of events that undermine their efforts. Please
continue to ask the tough questions and demand truthful
answers. Thank you!
