Anchorage (Alaska): Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's husband defended his role as a close adviser to his wife but was adamant that he didn't meddle in her administration to try to settle a family dispute.

The Republican vice presidential nominee and her husband, Todd, are the focus of an abuse-of-power investigation by a legislative panel. The investigation is scheduled to end Friday, the deadline for the release of a potentially embarrassing report into her firing of the state's public safety commissioner.

The enquiry has been a distraction for John McCain's presidential campaign, and the report could shed light on how his running mate Palin governs and what role her husband might have played in her administration. "I have heard criticism that I am too involved in my wife's administration," Todd Palin wrote in an affidavit yesterday that was provided to The Associated Press. "My wife and I are very close. We are each other's best friend. I have helped her in her career the best I can, and she has helped me."

The Palins are accused of pressuring Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan to fire a state trooper who had gone through a messy divorce with the governor's sister. When he resisted, Monegan says, Governor Palin fired him. Governor Palin has said she fired Monegan after a series of budget disputes, which McCain's campaign has documented in e-mails between Monegan and members of her administration.

Source : PTI