KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Termination unexpected and unexplained, Monegan says

Termination unexpected and unexplained, Monegan says

by Jill Burke
Sunday, July 13, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The governor has shown her top cop to the front door.

Just a year and a half after naming former Anchorage police chief Walt Monegan as the new Department of Public Safety commissioner, Sarah Palin asked him to take a demotion or leave.

According to a Palin spokesperson, the governor said she felt the department would be "better served under new management" but did not elaborate further.

Acting Palin staff chief Mike Nizich delivered the news personally Friday, Monegan said.

He wrote a letter to departmental employees saying he felt a deep sense of loss, equal to that he felt after nearly 33 years of service in the Anchorage Police Department.    

Monegan rose to the rank of chief of police, serving for five years before Mayor Mark Begich replaced him.   

Monegan's closing thought in his goodbye letter reads: "If you push yourself each day in the service of others, know that when your career is done, you may wish you had more time, as I do, but you will leave satisfied that you could not have given more."    

The longtime public safety officer says he remains puzzled as to the precise reason he was sacked. Monegan said he was not aware of any problems Palin may have had with him, personally, or with his performance.

He adds, though, that he harbors no hard feelings.

"I respect her -- I still do. She has a lot on her plate. She's a hell of a lady. If she found someone better to do a better job that's her authority to find them and I will gladly step aside," he said.

Monegan was offered a different position within the administration, as executive director of the Alcohol Beverage and Control Board, but turned it down.

On the way out Monegan says he's informed the administration of a few things that should not be ignored, including the current economic situation in Alaska's rural communities, where he believes poor fishing returns could potentially cause social unrest.

"Thefts increase. Domestic violence increases. When you apply a lot of stress on a situation, money and fuel oil are an absolute hope at some point.  And unless we band together as a government to address it head on it could be very bad," he said.

Palin's office says a new commissioner could be named as early as Monday. Deputy public safety commissioner John Glass will fill the job until a new chief is named.

Contact Jill Burke at jburke@ktuu.com