Alyssum
New member
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
> Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
> first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
> father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
> first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
> City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
> residents of the city.
> She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular
> girl
> in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't
> vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a
> "babe".
> It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
> kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
> for seven months.
> She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby.
> There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
> She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
> She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out
> there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
> Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
> champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly
> sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work
> schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in
> summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
> major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
> like that of native Alaskans.
> Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
> She's smart.
> Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
> (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
> 670,000 residents.
> During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
> this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
> pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
> gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
> given rise to a recall campaign.
> Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6
> years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
> 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
> City
> increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
> (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
> regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
> promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
> benefited residents.
> The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
> weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
> money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
> with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
> the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
> she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
> new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
> multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
> of
> property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still
> in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The
> sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge
> money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also
> supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done
> in
> 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
> While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
> redecorated more than once.
> These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
> As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
> in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make
> us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed
> distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
> In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
> recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
> she
> proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus,
> borrow for needs.
> She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
> or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her
> or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis
> of who proposed them.
> While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
> City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
> the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
> rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's
> attempt
> at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her
> termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian
> are on her enemies list to this day.
> Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for
> Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin
> fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
> Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
> creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
> grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power
> to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
> case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
> As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated"
> her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top
> cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and
> she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an
> important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't
> fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation
> for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
> contacts
> were made between her staff and family to the person that she later
> fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to
> replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded
> for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
> her
> support.
> She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
> help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
> introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
> became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
> abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't
> like
> the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
> Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
> publicly about her.
> When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
> the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
> of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
> background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job
> which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high
> salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured
> hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission
> (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
> engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
> undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
> her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
> garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
> gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit,
> exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).
> As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
> Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
> politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to
> nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
> As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
> guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
> projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
> action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply
> because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant
> she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".
> She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
> leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
> them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
> fiscal conservative.
> Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
> They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and
> predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
> stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
> point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's
> mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
> experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
> As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
> of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march
> to
> the beat of her drum.
> Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
> Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
> global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state
> initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
> pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
> state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's
> lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar
> bears
> as threatened species.
> McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
> heartbeat away from being President.
> There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
> knowledgeable and experienced than she.
> However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
> regretting it.
>
> CLAIM VS FACT
> *"Hockey mom": true for a few years
> *"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
> school, not since
> *"NRA supporter": absolutely true
> *social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
> that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
> (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
> *pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
> promote it.
> *"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby
> BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
> legislation
> *"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
> residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
> No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
> supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
> administrator to run town of about 5,000.
> *political maverick: not at all
> *gutsy: absolutely!
> *open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
> explaining actions.
> *has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
> *"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
> and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
> *fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
> *pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
> without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
> streets to early 20th century standards.
> *pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
> residents
> *pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
> government in Wasilla's history.
> *pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
> doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
> that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
> WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
> First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
> voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
> programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
> Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
> government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
> Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen
> when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because
> few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
> Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out
> of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
> fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
> cost me somehow in the future: that's life.
> Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
> or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's
> attempt at censorship.
> Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
> say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
> CAVEATS
> I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
> spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
> from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
> Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
> for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
> for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are
> swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
> You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
> population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The
> day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the
> current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
> 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
> 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
> Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
> first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
> father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
> first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
> City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
> residents of the city.
> She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular
> girl
> in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't
> vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a
> "babe".
> It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
> kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
> for seven months.
> She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby.
> There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
> She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
> She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out
> there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
> Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
> champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly
> sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work
> schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in
> summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
> major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
> like that of native Alaskans.
> Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
> She's smart.
> Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
> (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
> 670,000 residents.
> During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
> this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
> pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
> gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
> given rise to a recall campaign.
> Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6
> years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
> 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
> City
> increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
> (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
> regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
> promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
> benefited residents.
> The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
> weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
> money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
> with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
> the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
> she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
> new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
> multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
> of
> property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still
> in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The
> sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge
> money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also
> supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done
> in
> 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
> While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
> redecorated more than once.
> These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
> As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
> in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make
> us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed
> distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
> In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
> recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
> she
> proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus,
> borrow for needs.
> She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
> or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her
> or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis
> of who proposed them.
> While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
> City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
> the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
> rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's
> attempt
> at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her
> termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian
> are on her enemies list to this day.
> Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for
> Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin
> fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
> Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
> creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
> grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power
> to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
> case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
> As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated"
> her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top
> cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and
> she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an
> important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't
> fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation
> for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
> contacts
> were made between her staff and family to the person that she later
> fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to
> replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded
> for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
> her
> support.
> She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
> help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
> introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
> became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
> abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't
> like
> the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
> Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
> publicly about her.
> When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
> the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
> of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
> background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job
> which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high
> salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured
> hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission
> (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
> engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
> undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
> her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
> garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
> gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit,
> exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).
> As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
> Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
> politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to
> nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
> As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
> guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
> projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
> action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply
> because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant
> she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".
> She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
> leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
> them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
> fiscal conservative.
> Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
> They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and
> predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
> stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
> point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's
> mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
> experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
> As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
> of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march
> to
> the beat of her drum.
> Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
> Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
> global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state
> initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
> pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
> state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's
> lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar
> bears
> as threatened species.
> McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
> heartbeat away from being President.
> There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
> knowledgeable and experienced than she.
> However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
> regretting it.
>
> CLAIM VS FACT
> *"Hockey mom": true for a few years
> *"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
> school, not since
> *"NRA supporter": absolutely true
> *social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
> that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
> (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
> *pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
> promote it.
> *"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby
> BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
> legislation
> *"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
> residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
> No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
> supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
> administrator to run town of about 5,000.
> *political maverick: not at all
> *gutsy: absolutely!
> *open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
> explaining actions.
> *has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
> *"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
> and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
> *fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
> *pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
> without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
> streets to early 20th century standards.
> *pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
> residents
> *pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
> government in Wasilla's history.
> *pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
> doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
> that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
> WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
> First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
> voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
> programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
> Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
> government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
> Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen
> when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because
> few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
> Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out
> of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
> fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
> cost me somehow in the future: that's life.
> Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
> or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's
> attempt at censorship.
> Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
> say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
> CAVEATS
> I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
> spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
> from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
> Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
> for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
> for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are
> swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
> You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
> population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The
> day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the
> current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
> 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
> 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
