Spiro T. Palin
 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- A former ethics adviser to Alaska Gov. Sarah
Palin warned in July that firing her public safety commissioner would
become a "grave concern" for her administration.
Gov. Sarah Palin is fighting allegations she improperly tried to force
the firing of her then brother-in-law.

Gov. Sarah Palin is fighting allegations she improperly tried to force
the firing of her then brother-in-law.

Wevley Shea, a former U.S. attorney and fellow Republican, urged Palin
to apologize to former Commissioner Walt Monegan and fire anyone on her
staff who discussed her former brother-in-law, state Trooper Mike
Wooten, with the commissioner.

"Your 'political advisers' have given you poor counsel; the situation is
now grave," Shea wrote in a July 24 letter to the governor. "I recommend
the following action 'now' to restore your credibility and Alaska's
bright future with you."

Palin, now the Republican nominee for vice president, is battling
allegations that she and her advisers pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.
Palin has said she fired Monegan over budget issues and denies any
wrongdoing, calling Wooten a "rogue trooper" who threatened her family
during his divorce from the governor's sister.

Shea, who says he's an admirer of Palin's, said Thursday that the
governor's aides are trying to stall an investigation into Monegan's
dismissal by the state Legislature.

"The problem, in my opinion, is that there has been out-and-out cover-up
and misleading statements by staffers in the governor's office," he
said. "And the parallel that I tried to draw is, you know, the problem
with the firing or terminating of the U.S. attorneys."

The governor has not publicly answered questions since Republican
presidential nominee John McCain picked her as his running mate August
29, and her representatives did not immediately return phone calls
seeking comment Thursday.

Shea had acted as an informal ethics adviser to Palin, but he told CNN
that his advice on the Monegan firing was unsolicited.

"If they would have done what I said, I think it would have been over,"
he said.

He also recommended that Palin and her husband apologize "for any
overreaching or perceived overreaching" regarding Wooten, who was
involved in a child custody dispute with the governor's sister.