In campaign pause, Palin to testify on Troopergate

A deposition by Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin over the firing of her state's public safety commissioner would be the first time the Alaska governor has spoken at length or under oath about the lingering controversy.

Known in Alaska as "Troopergate," the episode has been a distraction during her campaign as Republican John McCain's running mate. Palin and her husband, Todd, were scheduled to give separate depositions to an investigator on Friday.

"She's been looking forward to this day," said Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein. "She would like to tell her story and she'd like people to know the truth."

Whether that will happen remains uncertain. Investigations by the Alaska Personnel Board are normally secret and, though Palin has waived her privacy rights, others in her administration have not and the lead investigator has sought to keep the matter from playing out in the media.

Van Flein said Palin would like to release a transcript of her deposition. But producing one typically takes days and it's unclear whether the investigator, Timothy Petumenos, will allow it.

The controversy surrounds Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan. Monegan says he was dismissed for resisting pressure to fire Palin's former brother-in-law, a state trooper involved in a messy divorce with the governor's sister.

A legislative investigation found that Palin had every right to fire Monegan but that she violated state ethics laws by trying to get her former family member kicked off the force. Palin and her husband say the trooper, Mike Wooten, was unstable and had made threats against their family. Wooten had also used an electric stun gun on his stepson.

"I make no apologies for wanting to protect my family and wanting to publicize the injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge," Todd Palin said in an affidavit submitted to legislative investigators.

Sarah Palin was not subpoenaed in that investigation.

Although the legislative report issued a stinging rebuke of Palin's conduct, it was largely toothless. It's up to the personnel board to decide whether Palin violated the law.

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Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo reported from Washington.