Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Alaska's fired public safety commissioner told an Anchorage newspaper that Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate, contacted him several times about a state trooper in a case now under investigation.

Palin dismissed the official, Walt Monegan, on July 11. Monegan said Palin took the action after he resisted pressure to fire trooper Mike Wooten, who was involved in a contentious divorce from the governor's sister. Palin has denied exerting any pressure on Monegan in the matter.

Monegan told the Anchorage Daily News yesterday that Palin discussed Wooten with him twice, once on the telephone after taking office in 2006 and again in person shortly after. Palin also sent Monegan two or three e-mails that referred to Wooten and his status with the troopers, Monegan said, adding that he couldn't release the messages because of the investigation.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, said yesterday he chose Palin in large part because of her record as a corruption fighter. Palin denied any wrongdoing in Monegan's firing. The governor said she wanted the department to move in a new direction.

Neither Palin nor her staff or husband ``ever said fire Wooten,'' Monegan said from Portland, according to the Daily News.

``What they said directly was more along the lines of `this isn't a person that we would want to be representing our state troopers,''' Monegan added.

Palin's Administration

Monegan has said before that pressure to dismiss Wooten came from three members of Palin's administration and from her husband, Todd Palin.

The Alaska Legislature voted last month to probe Palin's dismissal of Monegan, led by a former district attorney who must report his findings by Oct. 31, just before the Nov. 4 general election, according to state Senator Hollis French.

The vote by the Legislative Council to authorize the probe was unanimous, said French, a West Anchorage Democrat who is the liaison with the investigator, Stephen Branchflower. The council conducts state business when the Legislature isn't in formal session.

French said it ``remains to be seen'' whether the investigation embarrasses Palin. The important issue will be whether evidence emerges that ties Palin directly to efforts to pressure Monegan, he said. Wooten was involved in a child- custody battle with Palin's sister.

Gerald McBeath, a political scientist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, said he didn't regard the probe as a serious threat to the governor.

``This is small potatoes,'' he said. ``This isn't going to detract much from her candidacy.''

Ethics Probe

The governor's record includes leading an ethics investigation against a fellow Republican member of a state energy conservation body as well as a willingness to take on large oil companies over energy development.

``I found someone with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies; someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past,'' McCain said as he introduced his running mate at a campaign event in Dayton, Ohio.

Mark Salter, an adviser to the campaign, said today that the campaign isn't concerned about Palin's involvement with Monegan.

``I know the vetters looked'' at the Monegan case ``carefully,'' said Salter, speaking from Pittsburgh.

Phone Call

Palin revealed earlier this month that her director of boards and commissions, Frank Bailey, had made a phone call to a state trooper lieutenant in February complaining that Wooten still had his job. Palin said the call didn't amount to pressure for Wooten's dismissal.

``She's conceded that she had an aide that went off the reservation,'' Palin spokesman Bill McAllister told reporters yesterday. ``But she took no action to pressure Monegan.''

French said Wooten was ``no Sir Galahad'' and had at various times been accused of drinking on the job, shooting a moose out of season and using a Taser on a 10-year-old nephew. He said Monegan's position was that the trooper had already been disciplined for those offenses.

``As governor, I've stood up to the old politics as usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good-old-boy network,'' Palin said after McCain introduced her yesterday.

The legislative probe of the Monegan case isn't connected to a separate, four-year federal investigation of alleged political corruption in Alaska. The federal probe has resulted in convictions of or guilty pleas from three state legislators, the chief of staff of Palin's predecessor and two executives of an oil-services company, as well as the indictment of Senator Ted Stevens.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadine Elsibai in Washington at nelsibai@bloomberg.net; Ken Fireman in Washington at kfireman1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 30, 2008 16:30 EDT