Interestingly, we always assumed that the State Personnel Board investigation would be a whitewash, maybe not:

Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry into whether she fired Monegan because he refused to fire Wooten, who had been involved in a messy custody battle with her sister. Some Democrats ridiculed the move, noting that the personnel board answered to Palin. But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin's 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel's report could be released soon after. "We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board," said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin "has nothing to hide," it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.

Michael Isikoff - Troopergate: Not Over Yet Newsweek 11 Oct 08

This will keep the story bubbling along awhile longer in the background and is a howlingly stupid unforced error if the findings are negative for Palin.

It's not even spin, it's flat-out lying. "Cleared of any legal wrongdoing" is simply, unequivocally untrue. It's simply a lie. Which, of course, no one in the media will dare suggest, because nothing McCain/Palin ever do can get the media to actually use the l-word.