18 Facts About Walt Monegan

Walter Carleton Monegan III was born on May 1951 and is an American politician and the former Police Chief of Anchorage, Alaska, and later Commissioner of Public Safety for the state of Alaska.

Walter Carleton Monegan III was born in Seattle, Washington in May 1951, the son of Elizabeth Hickling and Walter Carleton Monegan Jr.

Walt Monegan never knew his father, who died heroically in the Korean War on September 20,1950, at age 19.

The elder Walt Monegan would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Walt Monegan grew up in the small village of Nyac, between Aniak and Bethel in rural Southwest Alaska.

Walt Monegan has described himself as part Irish and part Alaska Native, with combined Tlingit and Yupik ancestry.

Walt Monegan worked in every division of the Anchorage Police Department, including Internal Affairs, Crime Prevention, Communications, and Detectives.

Walt Monegan attended the Traffic Institute at Northwestern University, as well as the National Crime Prevention Institute at the University of Louisville.

Walt Monegan earned a Bachelor of Arts in organizational administration from Alaska Pacific University.

In February 2001, Walt Monegan was appointed Chief of Police by Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch.

Walt Monegan held the latter position until his dismissal on July 11,2008.

Anchorage blogger Andrew Halcro broke the story that Walt Monegan was fired a week later after his refusal to fire Palin's ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper.

Walt Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from the Governor, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palin's ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palin's sister that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.

Walt Monegan stated he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others three years prior.

Walt Monegan told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed and Trooper Wooten had already been disciplined.

When contacted by the press for comment, Walt Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue; but as the governor's story changed, he came to believe that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.

Subsequent to Palin's VP pick, the McCain campaign claimed Walt Monegan was fired for insubordination and called him a "rogue" but gave no explanation why Walt Monegan had been offered the job of Director of the ABC Board if that were the case.

In December 2008, Walt Monegan announced his run for Mayor of Anchorage.