WHEN IS AN AUTHORIZED TRIP UNAUTHORIZED?

ANSWER: When it's politically expedient. The Palin-Troopergate soap opera continues with another inconsistency in Palin's story about why she fired Monegan, the Public Safety Commissioner. According to Palin, the last straw was his unauthorized trip to DC but according to state documents obtained by ABC News, the trip was authorized.

Exclusive: New Doubts Over Palin's Troopergate Claims
Internal Government Document Contradicts Sarah Palin, Campaign
By JUSTIN ROOD
Sept. 19, 2008
ABC News

The McCain-Palin campaign echoed the charge in a press release it distributed Monday, concurrent with Palin's legal filing. "Mr. Monegan persisted in planning to make the unauthorized lobbying trip to D.C.," the release stated.

But the governor's staff authorized the trip, according to an internal travel document from the Department of Public Safety, released Friday in response to an open records request.

The document, a state travel authorization form, shows that Palin's chief of staff, Mike Nizich, approved Monegan's trip to Washington, D.C., "to attend meeting with Senator Murkowski." The date next to Nizich's signature reads June 18.