UPDATE MAY 2014: Mentioned below are all our posts in which we reported the details of the new custody proceedings between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin concerning their son Tripp. We published the complete legal exchanges between the parties, including the new affidavits and court orders. Almost all of these documents have never been published elsewhere.
Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston: The custody trial, part 2, is taking shape. While the new proceedings have been ignored by the media this time around, in sharp contrast to 2009/2010, when the media was all over it, we here at Politicalgates kept a watchful eye and published all the new exchanges between the attorneys.
Levi's lawyer Darryl L. Thompson presented three new motions, and Bristol's lawyer John J. Tiemessen (who also is Sarah Palin's lawyer) responded to them, with both parties presenting new affidavits. We reported about the new proceedings in great detail and published all the documents HERE, HERE and HERE.
Being challenged with facts and hard-hitting legal arguments in court is obviously not the favourite activity of the Palin-camp, and that's probably why, in a rather bizarre move and apparent "pre-emptive strike", the Palin-camp in January this year leaked the false fact to the media that Levi "lost" the custody case - at a time when the newly opened case hadn't even begun.
But now things are under way, as they should be. Superior Court Judge Eric Smith scheduled a trial setting conference on May 2, 2014 and made clear in his new court order from March 31st, 2014 that all of Levi's motions have legal validity, but as the facts are disputed, an "evidentiary hearing" on all the issues is required.
A very inconvenient fact for Bristol Palin, explained at the end of the order: A "best interest finding" in regard to Tripp's custody has never been made in the previous custody trial! There is also another interesting, and rather inconvenient remark: "The court also notes that the parties entered into the stipulation nearly four years ago when the parties' son was one year old, and it appears that they have not adhered to the agreement since its inception."
Well, that's only too true, as Levi could call himself lucky if Bristol allowed him to Tripp.
For example, during the last six months, while Bristol was in Arizona, Levi hardly saw Tripp less than a handful of times.
In the voluntary stipulation from August 2010, it was agreed that Levi should get access to Tripp twice a week.
But the court now also notes: "The court never approved this agreement."
So from this new court order it is more than obvious that things will now start over again. At the end of the proceedings, there should be a solution that really is in the best interests of Tripp. This is all that matters.
Things are looking good for Levi, and this comes as no surprise. What did surprise us however is the fact that the media not only published false facts before the trial even begun, but that up until now, virtually keeps total silence about it.
Therefore, we will continue to keep a watchful eye on the proceedings.
Here is the new court order from March 31st, 2014:
UPDATE MAY 2014: Mentioned below are all our posts in which we reported the details of the new custody proceedings between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin concerning their son Tripp. We published the complete legal exchanges between the parties, including the new affidavits and court orders. Almost all of these documents have never been published elsewhere.
It's the next round in the newly opened custody trial between Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston, a case that the media chooses to ignore - for reasons we can only speculate about. However, here at Politicalgates we are still more than happy to inform the public about the details of the legal proceedings, and the contents of the exchanged documents. After all, the trial could become far more exciting than some people might expect.
Being challenged with facts and hard-hitting legal arguments in court is obviously not the favourite activity of the Palin-camp, and that's probably why, in a rather bizarre move and apparent "pre-emptive strike", the Palin-camp in January this year leaked the false fact to the media that Levi lost the custody case - at a time when the newly opened case hadn't even begun.
However, now the new case is truly underway, and in two previous posts (here and here), we published the complete legal documents and the affidavits which have been submitted by Levi and Bristol so far. It has become more and more obvious that Bristol is now in a rather unfavourable situation, as Levi finally has excellent representation, a lawyer who really cares for Levi's interests, and who has discovered the weak points of Bristol Palin's legal argumentation.
The latest filing by Levi's lawyer Darryl L. Thompson is the most hard-hitting yet, and he really tears Bristol Palin's legal argumentation apart. The Palin-camp will not like that, as they don't really believe that laws apply to them. So far, Bristol's actions have made it abundantly clear that she regards Tripp as her private property.
But that's not what the law says. Only the "best interests of the child" are what matters.
As Mr. Thompson explains in the last paragraph:
"Equal access to both of his parents in the interim would be practical and not detrimental to his best interests. Both parents are willing and capable of meeting all of Tripp's needs, there is mutual love between the child and both his parents, and he is too young to express a preference. Levi is now married and Tripp has a half sibling, and the case law requires the court to consider the desirability of fostering his relationship with Breeze, and the court by entering an order can cure the problems of lack of stable and consistent contact with his father and opens the door fully to fostering that loving relationship with his father and child."
In the real world, anyone would understand that. In the world of the Palins, such words are treacherous, as there is a world out there which is divided into friends and enemies, and Levi doesn't belong to the first category. But that's what courts are for, after all - bringing the parties back to the realities of the situation.
but now Levi wants to make sure that Tripp has a father as well
By Kathleen
UPDATE MAY 2014: Mentioned below are all our posts in which we reported the details of the new custody proceedings between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin concerning their son Tripp. We published the complete legal exchanges between the parties, including the new affidavits and court orders. Almost all of these documents have never been published elsewhere.
It has been a long wait, but now things are getting serious: Levi Johnston wants Tripp to have a father who is able to see him on a regular basis. In addition, he wants to stop Bristol taking Tripp away, often for months, whenever it pleases her.
A court battle against a member of Palin family is not something which most people would fancy. You don't just fight against Bristol and her lawyer. You also fight against Sarah, who doesn't like to be challenged and also hasn't hesitated to call Levi a "deadbeat dad" in public, and you also fight against Sarah Palin's propaganda machine with lots of fake "grassroots" blogs and a group of fanatic, rabid fans who are willing to trash anyone in posts and comments on the internet who dares to challenge their Queen.
But Levi doesn't care. He is not a coward, and he's fighting for his child, as any good father would do.
The motions are now available in the public court records. To see the filing, one has to visit the website for the court records, then click on "Search Cases Since About 1990", then give in Levi Johnston's name in the search mask, then click on case number "3PA-09-02261CI", and the scroll down to see these latest filings:
The Palin-family has an atrocious track record when it comes to custody trials. After Sarah Palin became the Republican nominee for Vice President, the media discovered court records which put members of the Palin-family, and Sarah Palin in particular, in an awful light - as well as their lawyers. A judge went so far as too severely criticize the members of the Palin-family for their terrible behaviour during the trial.
An Anchorage judge three years ago warned Sarah Palin and members of her family to stop "disparaging" the reputation of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten, who at the time was undergoing a bitter separation and divorce from Palin's sister Molly.
Allegations that Palin, her husband Todd, and at least one top gubernatorial aide continued to vilify Wooten—after Palin became Alaska's governor and pressured state police officials to take action against him—are at the center of "Troopergate," a political and ethical controversy which has embroiled Palin's administration and is currently the subject of an official inquiry by a special investigator hired by the state legislature.
Court records obtained by NEWSWEEK show that during the course of divorce hearings three years ago, Judge John Suddock heard testimony from an official of the Alaska State Troopers' union about how Sarah Palin—then a private citizen—and members of her family, including her father and daughter, lodged up to a dozen complaints against Wooten with the state police. The union official told the judge that he had never before been asked to appear as a divorce-case witness, that the union believed family complaints against Wooten were "not job-related," and that Wooten was being "harassed" by Palin and other family members.
Court documents show that Judge Suddock was disturbed by the alleged attacks by Palin and her family members on Wooten's behavior and character. "Disparaging will not be tolerated—it is a form of child abuse," the judge told a settlement hearing in October 2005, according to typed notes of the proceedings. The judge added: "Relatives cannot disparage either. If occurs [sic] the parent needs to set boundaries for their relatives."
(...)
In a press release issued last week by her new lawyer, Palin continued to attack the character of Wooten—still serving as a state trooper in Palin's hometown of Wasilla. The release repeats allegations that Wooten had threatened members of her family, including her father, with violence; that Wooten had threatened to "bring" Palin and members of her family "down;" and that Wooten had once been the subject of a court-imposed domestic-violence protection order. A court filing by Wooten's lawyer indicates that within months of being issued, the violence protection order was dismissed.
There was a court-imposed domestic-violence protection order against Wooten in place, Sarah Palin's lawyer claimed in September 2008?
A very bold claim indeed! We at Politicalgates reported about this particular chapter of Sarah Palin's history already in a detailed post from June 2012. It turned out that the judge dissolved the order immediately after he discovered that he had been lied to, and even scolded Sarah Palin's sister Molly for keeping Wooten's kids away from him.
In a statement released on September 2 through her attorney Thomas Van Flein, Palin once again shows how her propensity for a misrepresentation of the facts got her into trouble to begin with.
Palin is attempting to get the investigation moved into the executive branch so it is reviewed by the personnel board.
In her statement, Palin writes, "In 2005 and early 2006, State Trooper Mike Wooten was the subject of a court-imposed Domestic Violence Protective Order."
As has been the governor's history with this issue, she offers up another twisted fact.
In 2005, Palin and her sister Molly went to the Palmer Courthouse while Mike Wooten was in Portland with his stepson. They convinced a judge to grant Molly a domestic violence restraining order against Wooten. This was done so Molly could retain full custody of the children.
When Wooten returned from Portland, he realized that there was a order prohibiting him from seeing his kids. Three weeks later, Wooten was granted an appearance in front of the couple's divorce judge.
In front of Judge Suddock, Molly testified that Wooten never hit her or never physically abused her or ever touched the children. She told the judge she was feeling pressure from her family to file the order. Suddock immediately dissolved the order because there was no proof of any domestic violence and called the order an abuse of the legal system. He then scolded Palin's sister for keeping Wooten's kids away from him.
This appears to be Palin's classic approach to deflecting attention away from situations she has created; blame the other person.
Money quote:
"In front of Judge Suddock, Molly testified that Wooten
never hit her or never physically abused her or ever touched the children.
She told the judge she was feeling pressure from her family to file the order."
+++
So we do hope that Levi Johnston will not be subjected to the same type of awful treatment, but that the Palin-family finally will have the best interests of Tripp in their minds. One can only hope!
+++
UPDATE:
The gossip-website "TMZ" today published a very short piece about the new motions filed by Levi Johnston's attorney, however, the accusations by Levi Johnston against Bristol Palin are much more serious than it appears from this short article at "TMZ."
First, let's correct some false information which was recently spread around the media: Levi Johnston did not "lose his custody case." I don't know if Bristol and Sarah Palin wanted to believe this, and therefore leaked this false piece of information to the media, but the facts are as follows: Levi Johnston filed for custody on October 19, 2013. This case was closed, but only because this "new" case was consolidated by the Alaska court with the "old" custody case, which was started in April 2009 and was closed due to "lack of prosecution" in July 2012. The 2009 case has now been reopened.
Screenshots from the Alaska Court Records website:
So clearly there was a good deal of "wishful thinking" involved on the part of the Palin-family or people close to them. In addition, they were clearly caught completely "off-guard" by Levi Johnston new filings. Levi has finally found a lawyer who truly represents his interests, which unfortunately appears to have not been the case in the past. Now the time has come to correct mistakes - and the new court filings show that Levi means business! He's fighting for the right to see his son, and rightfully so.
There are two separate motions which were filed by Levi Johnston's attorney, Darryl L. Thompson in Anchorage:
- First, Levi's attorney asserts that Bristol Palin is in contempt of a court order, which does not put Bristol Palin in a good light, as she clearly completely ignored the order, and removed Tripp from Alaska without Levi's or the court's WRITTEN CONSENT, as she was obliged to do..
Let's take a look at this motion (the "first" motion, "Motion For Order Shortening Time") by Levi's attorney. "TMZ" rather surprisingly did not publish the original court filings by Levi's attorney, in contrast to 2009, when Bristol filed for custody. Fortunately we had already utilized our well developed network in Alaska to get hold of the original documents. (Many thanks!)
This first motion has already been granted by the Alaska court on February 25, 2014 (see the above screenshot)!
Bristol very conveniently overlooked this part of the order:
A. Neither party shall allow the removal of any child who is the subject of this action
from the State of Alaska without written consent of the other parties or an order from the
court.
As Levi's attorney explains in the second motion, Bristol Palin removed Tripp from Alaska after October 2013 against Levi's will (and of course also without his "written consent", we might add). Bristol not only took Tripp away from Alaska for days, but for several months!
Therefore Bristol Palin obviously "in contempt" of this court order, and that's why Levi's attorney asks in this motion that Bristol Palin should
"...appear in court and show cause why she should not be held in contempt and for sanctions for her failure to comply with the Court Domestic Relations Pretrial Order in Case No. SPA-13-0251 1 CI dated October 19, 2013 and for fees associated with having to file the motion as a sanction."
+++
So let's now take a look at the second motion which was filed by Levi Johnston's attorney.
This second motion, "Motion for Interim Custody Schedule", is much longer and includes an incredibly interesting and also very moving affidavit by Levi Johnston.
Screenshots of Levi Johnston's affidavit:
Levi's affidavit is self -explanatory and Levi explains at length why he is seeking joint custody of his son, Tripp. We believe that Levi has an excellent case, and we stand with him. He is a great father, and he has a right to see his son, just as any father has. As shown above in detail, fighting against a member of the Palin-family is not a very pleasant thing, but the law is on his side.
Bella is back! We
popped popcorn and are ready to go…
Cabin Fever
Willow tells Bristol she wants to do hair for the rest of
her life. She wants to check out a hair
school in Arizona. Bristol says that she
is proud of her for taking initiative, and is “actually a little jealous.”
Bristol asks if she can manage Willow’s salon, or be an investor. Willow says no, that she would never want to
work with Bristol because they don’t get along.
Willow goes to Andy’s house to tell him she is going to
Arizona to check out a school and she would be gone for 12 months. He asks if she wants him to go, and she
laughs and says no. Andy looks sad and
says he isn’t excited for her. Willow
calls him a “jackass” and leaves. In her
cut-away interview she says this change will be much harder for Andy than it is
for her, but “life moves on.” Apparently so.
She is now in a relationship with a different beau, Christopher Wyckoff.
Willow and Andy go out to eat with friends. Andy says he “can’t read the menu.” This
doesn’t mean he is illiterate (remember, he wrote love notes to Willow for
Valentine’s Day), it just means that he doesn’t understand the fancy verbiage
on the menu. He doesn’t know what
marinara sauce is – he just wants “spaghetti with sauce, with meat in it.” Willow gets mad at him and tells him to stop
being so stupid and he calls her a bitch.
He apologizes, but Willow gets up and leaves the restaurant. Bella says, “Willow is so mean!”
Bristol and Gino are driving to Fairbanks to stay in a cabin
before driving to the finish of the Iron Dog.
Gino says he misses Tripp. Bristol says “I love him so freakin’ much.” She says that having Tripp at such a young age
made her “instantly 45 years old.” I say
out loud, “no, all that plastic surgery made you instantly 45 years old!” Bella laughs.
Bristol asks Gino “Do you think we are going to get married?” He tries to avoid the question, but she
pushes him, so he says he can’t imagine being without her and Tripp. She immediately starts talking about a summer
wedding. In a cut-away interview,
Bristol says that “it would be nice to have him as Tripp’s dad.” OH. MY. GOD.
Now I know she remembers that Tripp HAS a biological father, because
Levi occupies her thoughts about 85% of the time. But how does she think it benefits her, or
Tripp, in any way to keep acting like he doesn’t have one?!
Willow visits Trendsetters, a hair school in Anchorage. The interviewer tells her that she would have
to go 9-5:30, Tuesday through Saturday.
She says she can’t imagine her Friday nights “being gone.” He tells her that success often comes
disguised as hard work. They make her practice
on a mannequin head and she says, among other things, “parting is kind of
tricky” and “this is so confusing already” and “this is harder than I thought
it was going to be.” She wonders what
she is getting herself into. Bella
laughs throughout this entire scene. She
could do better on a Barbie doll.
Somehow Tripp is now with Gino and Bristol at the
cabin. She says this is the first time
she has been away with “her little family.”
They say grace and eat dinner. At
midnight (!!), they tell Tripp it is bedtime.
He says no, so they tell him that midnight is when the wolves come out
to eat them. He believes them, and goes
to bed. Bristol says that she and Gino
never spend any “adult time together.” Ewwww. She tells him to “get his squishy face over
here,” and we cut to a commercial. Thank
God!
Bristol, Gino and Tripp play in the snow. Gino grabs Bristol in a playful way (they are
both laughing), when Tripp starts crying and says, “I don’t like you, you dumb…” Bristol thinks it is cute because he is so
protective of mommy.
At the finish of the Iron Dog, Sarah tells them all that
Todd is being towed by his partner because of clutch problems. Sarah is wearing a dead rabbit’s foot on her
zipper pull. Gross!
Willow, who is now driving Bristol’s old truck, goes to Andy’s
house. Andy tries to talk about their
relationship and says he is sorry, but that she has to realize she was treating
him poorly too. She refuses to apologize
to him because “he was being childish.”
He says she never thinks she does anything wrong, but she always
does. Willow says he isn’t being
sincere, so she leaves and says she is “over it” and it is time for them to “go
their separate ways.”
Bristol has a voice over about always setting goals and
working hard to reach them. God will
guide her steps, blah blah blah. Bella
and I both look at each other and roll our eyes.
New Beginnings
Bristol and Gino go to look at a piece of property as a
potential investment. Gino says they could build a house as partners, and for
every $100 she puts in, he will put in $1.
He says the disparity is because he will be doing all the work. She says that she is “not his sugar mama” and
she “doesn’t want be his business partner.”
In what might possibly be the very first smart thing I have ever heard
her say, she says, “I’m not going in on anything with you unless it is 50-50.” But then she reverts right back to
Bristol-ing him, and uses this conversation to prod him about getting
married. He tells her that he loves her
and he wants to do this with her, and that she should have some faith. She says, “this is a big huge chance-y thing”
and refuses.
Willow does Bristol’s hair while she whines because she it
hurts. Willow says “I am going to punch you in the face” for like the millionth
time since this series started. Sarah
comes in and says she needs her roots touched up. They talk about which school she should go
to and Sarah tells her that first she has to learn to be “polite and social and
gracious.” Ha! Good luck!
Gino and Andy go bowling.
Andy says he will miss Willow when she goes. Andy reminds me of Keanu Reeves, but much sadder. Gino tells Andy about the potential
investment with Bristol and Andy teases him about having to get married. Bella actually pays attention when these two
are on screen.
Apropos
Bristol and Willow go to Phoenix and stay at the Valley Ho
hotel. HAHAHAHA. How perfect for the two Valley Hos. Bristol says, “look at that pool outside, Tripp.”
Then when he wants to go swimming, Bristol says no, because “there are a bunch
of drunk kids down there.” So
mean!! She tells him he has to go to bed
instead. He says he “hates that.” Bristol says, “that’s really nice Sunshine. Just sit down and be a good boy.” He answers, “No!
I’m not! I hate you guys!” They laugh at him tell him that God is
watching him, but Bristol literally cracks up halfway through saying it. Now, admittedly, I laughed out loud when he
said it too – his face was very cute and he was trying hard to act
serious. But I would have followed it up
with a serious talk about how we don’t treat people that way and that now he
has to lose a priviledge. Bristol
literally has ZERO follow-through.
They warn him he will be put into time out if he says it
again, and tell him he is “not cute.” “YOU’RE
not cute!” he answers. “I hate you!!” Willow says she is going to put soap in his
mouth and he says, according to the subtitles, “Go away, you f***.” But to me, after watching it 25 times, it
sounds like, “I don’t like you! F*** it!”
Bristol and Willow laugh. Bristol
says, “I am doing a terrible job of disciplining Tripp.” Willow tells him to go sit in the chair for
time out and he just says, “NO!”
Now I know you are wondering why Bristol would leave that
scene in. Easy – she wants her show to
be like Keeping up with the Kardashians. The Kardashians swear a lot on their reality
show – so Bristol would want to mimic that, the same way she tries to mimic the
way Kim talks. The difference is, the Kardashian sisters aren’t evil to the
core, so when they swear it comes off as funny.
They usually do it as a stress relief or a way to laugh at
themselves. They would NEVER do it in
front of small children, or as a way to hurt each other. The Kardashians are obviously a loving
family, so when they greet each other with “hey beyatch,” it is odd, but is clearly
meant as a term of endearment. Bristol
and Willow – not so much. The Palin
sisters obviously hate each other.
They go to visit the beauty school in Arizona, Penrose Academy,
where the interviewer tells them that communication skills are very
important. Bristol says, “Willow really
needs to work on that.” The lady says, “are
you being funny?” (BURN!) And Bristol
says, “no, I am being serious!” Who
brings their sister and her bratty toddler son to an interview, anyway?!
The interviewer says that she expects women to treat each
other well. Willow says the only thing
that she is worried about is “Liberals that hate her last name. Their views are
idiotic.” Bella says, “YOU are idiotic!”
and I shoot her a surprised and disapproving glance. She mouths the word, “sorry.” She knows I’m not really mad about that one.
Bristol goes to finalize the sale of her Arizona house, which
she says she “bought with her Dancing with the Stars money,” after she saw it
on Craig’s List. Gino calls, and Willow
says she hates him, “because he is a douchebag.”
Back in Alaska, she breaks the news to Andy that she is
going to Arizona for hair school. He
says, “So you are choosing Arizona over me?
You really want to make a living doing hair the rest of your life? What am I going to do?” Willow says, “Go to school!” He says, “why would I do that? Why would I
waste money?” She answers, “To get a
better career dude!” He says she is
being selfish and she says HE is being selfish.
He says she has no heart. No,
Andy, she just isn’t that into you.
Bristol drives Willow to the airport and says, “Now I
officially have zero friends.” LOL! They pray together in the truck and giggle
their way through it. Willow hugs
Bristol and says she will kind of miss her.
Bristol drives off into the snow.
Bristol and Tripp move out of the apartment and into their
new house across the lake. They have movers,
because all single moms can afford movers.
(Seriously, what does Todd DO?!)
Bristol tells Gino that any plans to invest in property together are
going to have to wait until they have something more concrete together. That girl REALLY wants to get married. Unfortunately, it isn’t really Gino she wants.
+++
By Patrick:
Leadfoot and Bella, thank you so much again for this brilliant review! We really appreciate it and know what you are going through! Watching Bristol's show is just another form of legal torture.
There was one scene in particular which our readers already hotly discussed in the comments of our last post - Tripp drops the "f"-word, or I should better say "a" not 100% clearly defined "f"-word. I am sure that the opinions will be divided here, but after listening very, very carefully, I came to the conclusion that Tripp actually says to Willow in this scene: "Go away, you faggot." This would also be entirely consistent with the language Willow used before in facebook comments, as TMZ reported in November 2010 (download the complete foul-mouthed facebook comments by Willow and Bristol HERE). After all, Tripp must have heard this language before somewhere!
Screenshot:
It's of course no surprise at all that Tripp shows these shocking manners - after all, his mother Bristol already behaved in public like a foul-mouthed brat as well, and she clearly has no clue how to teach Tripp not to use these words. But then, this really seems to be the usual language which is being used in the Palin-home, judging by this reality show - and judging by what we already know, for example by Bristol's nasty facebook comments from 2010:
"For what its worth having viewed the video we are quite sure that Tripp calls Willow a "faggot" which I believe is just as bad as his having dropped the F bomb. Maybe even a little more so because we know that Willow and Bristol are well acquainted with that particular word. It's perfectly clear then that he has heard that word used as a negative label by either his mom, Willow or perhaps even the both of them. And he must hear it on a fairly regular basis if he now uses it himself."
For Bristol and Willow Palin, life is not a "Tripp", but a series of swearwords which Tripp then picks up.
"I just wish anyone else could have been his dad."
Bristol Palin on her reality show "Life's a Tripp", in front of her son Tripp
When it comes to the Palin-family, one can always expect to discover a "new low." As far as Sarah Palin is concerned, the "new lows" are impossible to count. The national audience will probably remember best the disastrous and embarrassing Katie Couric interview (in addition to the bizarre fact that Sarah complained ever since how unfairly treated she was in the interview, despite Couric's softball questions), as well as Sarah's infamous "blood libel" statement.
The Alaskan audience, however, will maybe remember the "Troopergate" scandal best, because it rocked Alaskan politics and drastically exposed Sarah Palin's "vindictive streak", as I called it in a post at Palingates from October 2010. The bipartisan "Branchflower Report" (download here) exposed what many voters in Alaska were probably unaware of: That the Palin-family will use any dirty trick in the book to destroy people who they perceive as enemies, and in the case of "Troopergate", the target was not a stranger, but a former member of the family - State Trooper Mike Wooten, who was married to Sarah Palin's sister Molly McCann. Wooten and McCann have two children together.
In a "normal" family, the fact that a couple has children together would probably be reason enough to aim for an amicable solution after a divorce - at least for the sake of the children. The Palins, however, view things a little bit differently. They went on a crusade in order to destroy Mike Wooten and his career, a crusade which lasted for several years (roughly from 2005 to 2008) - explained for example in a very detailed "Wikipedia" entry.
1. The divorce between Sarah's sister Molly and Mike Wooten was finalized in January 2006. 2. The investigation against Trooper Wooten was closed in March 2006 after Wooten received a punishment.
So why did Sarah and Todd Palin continue to bother with the case after it was apparently a non-issue?
Well, according to the available, extensive documentation, the answer is obvious: Because they were simply obsessed with Trooper Mike Wooten, and tried everything they could to bring him down.
The divorce went to trial in the fall of 2005 while the state police internal investigation was pending. Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock reviewed the complaints filed by Palin and her family. At trial on Oct. 27, 2005, the judge expressed puzzlement about why the family was trying to get Wooten fired, since depriving the trooper of a job would harm his ability to pay family support to Palin's sister.
"It appears for the world that Ms. McCann and her family have decided to take off for the guy's livelihood -- that the bitterness of whatever who did what to whom has overridden good judgment," Suddock said in an audio recording from the trial on TV station KTUU's Web site. "Aesop told us not to slay the goose who lays the golden egg. For whatever reason, people are trying to slay the goose here and it tends to diminish his earning capacity."
Court records obtained by NEWSWEEK show that during the course of divorce hearings three years ago, Judge John Suddock heard testimony from an official of the Alaska State Troopers' union about how Sarah Palin—then a private citizen—and members of her family, including her father and daughter, lodged up to a dozen complaints against Wooten with the state police. The union official told the judge that he had never before been asked to appear as a divorce-case witness, that the union believed family complaints against Wooten were "not job-related," and that Wooten was being "harassed" by Palin and other family members.
Court documents show that Judge Suddock was disturbed by the alleged attacks by Palin and her family members on Wooten's behavior and character. "Disparaging will not be tolerated—it is a form of child abuse," the judge told a settlement hearing in October 2005, according to typed notes of the proceedings. The judge added: "Relatives cannot disparage either. If occurs [sic] the parent needs to set boundaries for their relatives."
(...)
As the divorce case dragged on, the judge's concern about family "disparagement" appeared to deepen. In an order signed Jan. 31, 2006, which granted Palin's sister and Wooten a final divorce decree, Judge Suddock continued to express concern about attacks by Palin's family on Wooten. The judge even threatened to curb Palin's sister's child custody rights if family criticism of Wooten continued.
In monitoring how a joint-custody arrangement worked out, the judge said in his order that he would pay particular attention to problems noted by a "custody investigator," specifically "the disparagement of the father [Wooten] by the mother [Molly Hackett, Sarah Palin's sister] and her family members."
"It is the mother's [Hackett's] responsibility to set boundaries for her relatives and insure [sic] they respect them, and the disparagement by either parent, or their surrogates is emotional child abuse," Judge Suddock wrote. He added that: "If the court finds it is necessary due to disparagement in the Mat-Su Valley [the area north of Anchorage where Palin and her extended family live], for the children's best interests, it [the court] will not hesitate to order custody to the father and a move into Anchorage." Cyr, the union official, said that to his knowledge, no such move was ever ordered.
Note this remark by the Judge Suddock:
"Disparaging will not be tolerated—it is a form of child abuse"
That's what can happen if the Palin-family is your enemy - from a post by AK Republican Andrew Halcro, September 2008 ("Why Walt Monegan got fired"):
The beginning of the divorce proceedings set off a chain of bizarre and chilling events that has continued through today. During that time it has resulted in the governor and her family trying to ruin the career of an eight year Alaska State Trooper that has served his state on the SERT Team, Motor Unit and DUI Team.
Beginning in spring of 2005 and for the next ten months, over 25 formal complaints were filed by Palin and Heath family members against Trooper Mike Wooten. From drinking while driving his patrol car to making threats to shooting a moose without a permit.
According to Trooper records, Sarah Palin said that in January and February of 2005, Wooten was drinking while driving. After investigating the complaint, the investigator found that Palin never actually saw what she reported.
In another complaint, Sarah's father said that Wooten made threatening remarks. Again, the investigator found there was no probable way that it could have happened.
In all cases except one, the charges were ruled unfounded after an internal investigation. And the one charge that was valid, Wooten immediately admitted to.
More than 25 complaints! Well, they didn't give up, that's for sure. Sarah Palin "never actually saw what she reported?" What a surprise.
But the "icing of the cake" as far as the custody trial with Mike Wooten is concerned was how the Palins deliberately lied to the judge in order to obtain a "domestic violence restraining order" against Wooten. As if that was not enough, Sarah Palin in September 2008 then even released a statement in which it was mentioned as a fact that Wooten was subject to a "court-imposed Domestic Violence Protective Order." But the truth was that the judge dissolved the order immediately after he discovered that he had been lied to, and even scolded Sarah Palin's sister Molly for keeping Wooten's kids away from him.
In a statement released on September 2 through her attorney Thomas Van Flein, Palin once again shows how her propensity for a misrepresentation of the facts got her into trouble to begin with.
Palin is attempting to get the investigation moved into the executive branch so it is reviewed by the personnel board.
In her statement, Palin writes, "In 2005 and early 2006, State Trooper Mike Wooten was the subject of a court-imposed Domestic Violence Protective Order."
As has been the governor's history with this issue, she offers up another twisted fact.
In 2005, Palin and her sister Molly went to the Palmer Courthouse while Mike Wooten was in Portland with his stepson. They convinced a judge to grant Molly a domestic violence restraining order against Wooten. This was done so Molly could retain full custody of the children.
When Wooten returned from Portland, he realized that there was a order prohibiting him from seeing his kids. Three weeks later, Wooten was granted an appearance in front of the couple's divorce judge.
In front of Judge Suddock, Molly testified that Wooten never hit her or never physically abused her or ever touched the children. She told the judge she was feeling pressure from her family to file the order.
Suddock immediately dissolved the order because there was no proof of any domestic violence and called the order an abuse of the legal system. He then scolded Palin's sister for keeping Wooten's kids away from him.
This appears to be Palin's classic approach to deflecting attention away from situations she has created; blame the other person.
Money quote:
"In front of Judge Suddock, Molly testified that Wooten
never hit her or never physically abused her or ever touched the children.
She told the judge she was feeling pressure from her family to file the order."
The Palins were very creative when it came to "inventing" new claims against Wooten, as the "Branchflower Report" noted (page 29):
The mafia-mentality of the Palin-clan was also beautifully exposed in the witness statement by Walt Monegan on pages 23 and 24 of the Branchflower-report, when the illegal "moose kill" was discussed:
So, Wooten's wife Molly was with him, and Sarah Palin's father chuck butchered the moose - but Sarah Palin was persistent about one particular point, according to Monegan:
"I only want Wooten charged."
I mention this "old" Wooten-story because it now appears that the "case of Levi Johnston" is quickly turning into "Wooten II" - and the Palins seem to have learned nothing from the past events (which is is probably not surprising, as it seems that they never received any kind of punishment in return for their malicious quest to destroy Mike Wooten).
In addition, Bristol Palin seems to turn into "Sarah II."
Newly released footage from Bristol Palin's new "reality" show on Lifetime called "Life's a Tripp" suggests that one main goal of this show is to destroy the reputation of Levi Johnston - including scenes where Bristol disparages Levi in the most terrible way right in front of their common son Tripp. Shocking as it is, at least for those people which grew up in "normal" families, it's even more shocking that Bristol and Willow seem to believe that this type of behaviour is not unusual at all. It's more looks like "standard procedure."
Remembering the colourful (or, let's say, rather "dark") history of the Palin-family, this new footage which even shocked the large majority of viewers at "E!Online", can be understood more easily. For the Palins, there are only "friends" or "enemies." The enemies have to be destroyed, no matter what. It's pure mafia-mentality.
CLICK HERE to watch the new shocking footage from Bristol's show (apparently from episode 3):
As some readers also pointed out in our previous post, "Lifetime" promotes this disgusting kind of child abuse as "entertainment." It's a new low for the Palin-family - as well as for the media, which happily continues to profit from the headlines the Palins create. In the case of "Lifetime", the producers should be punished for letting Bristol abuse her child in that manner. But will it happen? Sometimes it seems that the media has already decided to "believe" Bristol in everything she says and quietly supports her actions, while Levi Johnston is portrayed as the "deadbeat dad."
Maybe this time the Palins went too far. Bristol comes across in this footage as bitter and evil-spirited. Being aware that the Palins are persistent when they want to destroy an enemy, one should know that Bristol will continue to trash Levi in front of Tripp for years to come. The Palin-clan always seemed to be above the law in the past, and it's about time that Levi Johnston gets a top-notch lawyer and shows the Palins that their vindictive nature has no place in the US courts, and that Levi Johnston as the father of Tripp has rights as well.
This bizarre drama has to end. It's heartbreaking to think about what negative effects on Tripp Bristol's despicable behaviour might have.
It's disturbing to see that Bristol Palin is as warped as her mother and father, and that "Lifetime" has no hesitation to broadcast this shocking footage. But it probably will backfire on the Palins, and possibly on "Lifetime" as well. It might even help Levi Johnston in order to reclaim his legal rights.
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UPDATE:
Lifetime published more material from the third episode - and the Levi hate-fest continues with full force. The Palins are having fun while they literally shoot Levi's book with a rifle. I somehow feel that Bristol would rather shoot Levi himself...
Bristol apparently wants to make the world believe that her own fairy-tale autobiography is the real deal. Sorry, Bristol, you are just a liar, and you have been busted already.
This is not just the new low for the Palin-family, but possibly also a new low for US "reality TV."
Bristol comes across as a cold, soulless, artificial and bitter person. Just terrifying, these people, all of them, any of them.
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UPDATE 2 (by Patrick):
I was just looking into Bristol's autobiography again, which is called "Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far." Just like Sarah Palin's autobiography "Going Rogue", it's virtually unreadable, and I have never read much of it - however, it just struck me that Bristol's book is an even bigger "Levi-hate-fest" than this atrocious "reality show." In the book, Levi is slammed front, middle and center in the most terrible way (and Mercede of course as well), on almost every page. It seems that this is basically the main purpose of the book - to destroy Levi.
Bristol Palin: Definitely not afraid of publicly hating Levi Johnston
So what is it with the Palins? Such a bunch of mentally deeply disturbed people is almost unheard of. In addition to being mentally disturbed, they are also fanatic media whores, which I think makes them so unique. I really do hope that this reality series will backfire on them and will be a turning point.
Reading Bristol's book really is one of the most bizarre experiences ever. She starts to disparage Levi (and later his whole family) from page 2 onwards, I am not kidding!
Page 2: Bristol "never drank" and had also no idea that "girly flavored wine coolers" could make you drunk - but Levi, he of course had "lots of alcohol" in the "back of his truck."
Page 3: "Levi kept replacing my empty bottles from his large stash." Then, "unbeknownst to me", Bristol entered the "dark abyss of drunkenness."
(I am not making these quotes up!)
Page 4; Levi "wasn't even there to help" Bristol to "process" the shocking fact that she had lost her virginity the previous night (after having entered the "dark abyss of drunkenness"....)
Page 5: She calls Levi a "gnat" and says he was "constantly spreading false accusations against our family."
On page 5, she also says: "I wish I'd confessed my sin right then to God, accepted the full forgiveness of a heavenly father who loved me, and never spoken to Levi again."
On page 5, she also says that Levi "cheated on me about as frequently as he sharpened his hockey skates or as frequently as he filled up his old truck."
On page 6, she indirectly compares her own pregnancy with having "lung cancer."
On the same page, she also says: "In God's amazing providence, I played a role in saving a baby's life."
And at this point, 246 more pages, most of them filled with unrestrained hate against Levi and his family are waiting for the reader!
This is the same girl who was raving on Myspace in 2007 about the "fattest shit stash" she had ever seen, said that she "got in lots of trouble", complained that "tracks little bitch ass decited to tell my parents im a stoner", later joked that her mom Sarah Palin "now thinks I am pregnant" (but "ahaha, call me later if you'd like"), while she was heavily flirting with Wasilla-stud Johnny Chandler. Fittingly, her last know message on Myspace read "haha im a slut" (but she is virgin, right?).
These people are mentally ill, I don't know what else to say. The Palins shamelessly try to re-write history in their various "autobiographies", according to the motto: "Prove that we are lying."
The USA can thank the Lord that a strong anti-Palin movement prevented the worst, as far as Sarah Palin and her highly dysfunctional and vindictive family are concerned.
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A little history lesson - Bristol Palin's "lost" Myspace messages from 2007. Read our post about the messages HERE, and download the PDF with the full page screenshots and further explanations, which I compiled in 2009, HERE.
