The BBC link is here, click the image to enlarge and read the main part, as excerpted.
If someone challenged your ethics, wouldn't you want to clear your name rather than try to convince people that the question is somehow tainted? It seems the straightforward thing to do is to confront things, and not to sneak away with excuses given.
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A moose hunter like Palin claims she is should know when tracks are left in the mud they lead somewhere and will be followed. To me, the key paragraph is next to the picture of the guy who Palin fired, saying:
A bipartisan panel of the Alaska state legislature voted to authorise an inquiry and in July appointed retired prosecutor Stephen Branchflower to lead it.
Italics emphasis added, British spelling, "authorise," is their way, and not a typo.