Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin did not violate state ethics rules as governor when she fired her state police commissioner and allegedly tried to engineer the firing of her brother-in-law from the Alaska State Troopers, an investigator for Alaska's State Personnel Board found in a report released on the eve of the election.

The exoneration by the State Personnel Board contradicts the findings of an Alaska state legislative investigator, who ruled last month that Palin abused executive power when she and her husband engaged in a campaign to oust Mike Wooten, her former brother-in-law, from the state trooper payroll.

The investigations began when Walter Monegan, the state police commissioner, alleged in July that Palin fired him for not ousting her former brother-in-law. Palin denies the firing had to do with the trooper.

Timothy Petumenos, investigator for the personnel board, said there was "no probable cause to believe that Governor Palin violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act" by firing Monegan or "in any other respect in connection with the employment of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten."

In an interview, Petumenos said his action ends the board's investigation. Petumenos, who called himself a "loyal Democrat," also said that he did not time the report's release to coincide with the election, and that he made it public as soon as it was done...