The Mindset of VP Hopeful Sarah Palin
Since the republican party is afraid to let Sarah Palin answer questions, reporters, bloggers, and others have had to do their own research to find out what Sarah Palin is really like. I can understand why the republicans and John McCain do not want her out answering questions in public after watching the interviews she has done so far.
Like announcing she has foreign policy expertise because Alaska is next to Canada and that Putin flies over Alaska if he visits the US. She has also said it was possible that we might need to go to war with Russia to defend the country of Georgia. She hasn’t been outside of the US, except for one trip to visit the Alaska national Guard in Kuwait, but when asked about foreign policy and if she had ever negotiated with foriegn leaders, she dodged by saying that Alaska has sent trade delegations to other countries, implying that she had participated in those trade delegations, which she had not.
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Member Sarah Palin
According to wikipedia, The Commission is tasked to work in-hand with the oil industry to maximize production. Just what we need. Another person in the white house who works hand-in-hand with oil companies. The more oil that gets drilled in Alaska, the more moiney Alaskans receive just for being Alaskan citizens. No conflict oif interest there.
The commission also administers an underground injection program for enhanced oil recovery and underground disposal of oil field waste. As part of this injection process, oil corporations must obtain an Aquifer Exemption Order granted by the AOGCC in areas with deep groundwater supplies. Some environmental groups such as the Cook Inletkeeper as well as First Nation People have contested these Orders, fearing they may contaminate groundwater supplies.
The Commission also holds oversight of wastewater disposal known as “wastewater drain fields”; as such, oil corporations are permitted to dispose of wastewater in the soil when certain requirements are met. Additionally, the Commission adjudicates certain oil and gas disputes between owners, including disputes where the state is a party. It is designed to cooperate with the oil industry.
The Cook Inletkeeper website notes “2 billion gallons of toxic waste” are disposed of in the Cook Inlet waterway every year by oil corporations.
City Councilwoman Sarah Palin
According to Laura Chase of Wasilla, Palin as city councilwoman mentioned to her colleagues in 1995 that she saw the book Daddy’s Roommate in the library and did not think it belonged there.
Mayor Sarah Palin
The election was a nonpartisan blanket primary, the state Republican Party ran advertisements on her behalf. Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from top officials, including the police chief, public works director, finance director and librarian. Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.
She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration’s policies.
According to city librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, Palin inquired in October 1996 as to whether Emmons would object to library censorship.
Palin also joined with nearby communities in jointly hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The effort was led by Steven Silver, a former chief of staff for Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[53] The firm secured nearly $27 million in earmarked funds for public and private entities in the Wasilla valley area.
Before Governor Sarah Palin
From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of “Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.,” a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska. Yes, the same Ted Stevens that was indicted and facing criminal charges. I guess she was trained well.
Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as being “to make clear she had not abandoned him politically.”
Governor Sarah Palin
While running for governor, she lobbied for and supported the bridge to nowhere, promising voters she would stand behind it. Once elected and once the bridge to nowhere was in the public eye, she decided she was against the bridge to nowhere after all.
In 2005, a $442 million earmark for bridge construction was included in an early version of a 2006 omnibus spending bill, but generated strong criticism in Congress and was stripped from the bill before final passage in November 2005.
Congress instead gave unrestricted transportation money to Alaska. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a “build-the-bridge” plank in her platform, saying she would “not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project … into something that’s so negative.” She criticized the use of the word “nowhere” as insulting to local residents and urged speedy work on building the bridges “while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.”
In September 2007, Palin said that Congress had “little interest in spending any more money” on the Gravina Bridge due to what she called “inaccurate portrayals of the projects”. She directed Alaskan officials to look for an alternative way to connect Gravina Island with the mainland.
Palin opted not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds, and spent $25 million in federal funds on a Gravina Island access road to where the bridge would have gone so that, as state officials said, none of this sum would have to be returned to the federal government; Palin’s spokesperson said that the island road would also open territory for development. Palin continues to support the Knik Arm Bridge and ordered a funding and feasibility review in June 2008.
After being chosen for John McCain’s running mate, she now says she told the federal government, “Thanks but no thanks” to the bridge to nowhere. Yet as governor she still received the funds earmarked for that project and instead built a road to nowhere. The road literally goes to nowhere. It ends where the bridge to nowhere would have been built.
McCain and Palin have both said she sold the private jet the state owned on eBay. Actually, in August 2007, the jet WAS listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.
Alaska is still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over her two years as governor. Yet she claims that she is the right person to eliminate earmarks in bills if elected as VP.
For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Yes, again, that Ted Stevens.
Then there is troopergate, where she said she would cooperate fully . . . until John McCain called her his running mate. Now she refuses to cooperate with the investigation.
