Sarah Palin got a very big, bruising, purple slap on the wrist yesterday when 12 members of the Alaska Legislative Council voted unanimously to release the “Troopergate” report to the public. The report, which had been prepared for the past several months by Special Investigator Branchflower. The report is almost 300 pages long, but there are four basic findings:

1. “For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I [Special Investigator Branchflower] find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statue 39.59.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statue 39.52.110(a) provides:

“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”

2. I find that, although Walt Mongegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.

3. Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Willkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim properly and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Willkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled.

4. The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of emails.

So for those of you who have been waiting with baited breath (like me), there it is. Sarah Palin did very, very bad, and behaved unethically, but not illegally.