Republican says Palin probe should go on

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) - The legislative investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner needs to go ahead despite the increasingly heated opposition of the McCain-Palin campaign, a leading Republican said Tuesday.

Since becoming the Republican vice presidential candidate in August, Palin has halted her previously promised cooperation with the Legislature's probe of the July dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Campaign aides have attacked the state senator managing the investigation, Hollis French, as a Democratic partisan running a "tainted" inquiry, and Palin's husband Todd and several top aides have refused to comply with subpoenas from French's committee.

But Rep. Jay Ramras, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that he still has confidence in the Legislature's investigation and said the probe should go forward.