An Alaska ethics inquiry has found that Governor Sarah Palin, the US Republican vice presidential candidate, abused her authority by pressuring subordinates to fire a state trooper involved in a feud with her family.
The finding, announced yesterday, cast a cloud over John McCain's controversial choice of running mate for the November 4th election.
The Alaska inquiry centred on whether Ms Palin's dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, was linked to her personal feud with a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce with the governor's sister.
The inquiry found that while it was within the governor's authority to dismiss Monegan, she violated the public trust by pressuring those who worked for her in a way that advanced her personal wishes.
"Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired," the report said.
The investigation was commissioned in July by Alaska's Legislative Council composed of 10 Republican lawmakers and four Democrats.
The McCain-Palin campaign dismissed the report, saying it was a "partisan-led inquiry run by Obama supporters," and that Ms Palin and her family had been justified to be concerned about the behaviour of the trooper.
Ms Palin "acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan," a campaign statement said.
Her communications director Bill McAllister said in a statement that the report "vindicated" the governor on the firing of Mr Monegan.
Mr McAllister questioned the finding that Ms Palin abused her power, saying, "That finding required speculation and assumptions'' by investigator Stephen Branchflower.
The investigator wrote that Ms Palin abused her power by violating a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which bars any official action to benefit a personal interest.
Violation of the ethics act could result in sanctions, including up to $5,000 in civil fines by a state ethics board, according to the law.
The scandal gained national attention after Ms Palin (44) who was little known outside of Alaska and has virtually no national or international experience, was selected to be McCain's running mate in August.
Agencies