Palin in Comparison: Experience [Guest Post by Grace Davis]

MOMocrats are please to welcome guest blogger Grace Davis who shares her thoughts on Sarah Palin's special brand of "experience." Or lack there of.

Oh, how we loved Northern Exposure, didn’t we? It was an Emmy nominated show from the 90s, chronicling the life and times of the wacky but wise citizenry of Cicely Alaska. The show featured colorful locals such as town elder Ruth Ann of the general store and Holling Van Coeur, proprietor of the town watering hole and café, Native Americans Marilyn Whirlwind and Ed Chigliak and ambitious conservative ex-astronaut Maurice Minnifield. We adored these cheerful, eccentric Cicely folks even if the character of the New Yorker physician assigned to the town, Joel Fleischman, spent each and every episode expressing utter dismay and incredulity at the often backwoods attitudes and practices of the community. When Joel kicked the interior of the cab of a truck in frenzied frustration (the excellent pilot episode), we chuckled at Dr. Fleischman and admonished him, “Oh, Joel, that’s just the way they are up there, don’t get your neurotic Jewish Ivy League button down shirt in a twist!”

You didn’t see the show? Then, I highly recommend the DVD version of the entire series. Or, better yet, you can save your money and simply review some of the controversies surrounding the mayoral term of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin.  You’ll kick your vehicle’s dashboard in frustration and annoyance, just like Dr. Fleischman! And, you won’t explain away Mayor Palin’s term as that’s just the way things work up there. Rather, you will be appalled that the Republicans think this type of leadership experience is good enough for the country, if not for the world.

So called “maverick” Mayor Palin demonstrated her own version of cronyism, appointing partisan connections to office who were not qualified for the job.

From the Anchorage Daily News

Palin hired a public works director with no engineering background, Cindy Roberts, who had been a Commerce Department official in the administration for former Gov. Wally Hickel. The wife of longtime Hickel aide Malcolm Roberts, she lasted a year in the job.

Apparently, Mayor Palin would fire staff not because of incompetence, but that they disagreed with her:

From the Seattle Times

Back in February 1997, Sarah Palin, the 32-year-old mayor of this south-central Alaska town, fired the police chief in a move that foreshadowed the type of tough actions that would propel the political career of the woman who will be nominated this week as the Republican vice-presidential candidate.

The drama splashed out across the front pages of the local newspaper, with the fallen police chief filing a lawsuit accusing Palin of canning him after he exercised his free-speech rights. Palin, a staunch supporter of the National Rifle Association, was unhappy that her police chief had spoken against a state bill to ease restrictions on Alaskans who carried concealed weapons, he said. And Palin, who had gained the backing of Wasilla bar owners in her mayoral campaign, also disliked the chief's proposal to roll back tavern closing hours from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m.

"She wanted to show that she was the boss, and could get rid of people," said Irl Stambaugh, the former Wasilla police chief. "She kept calling it the good-old-boy network." Within her first year, she had dismissed three other department heads, roiling city politics and spurring talk of recalling the first-year mayor. Palin survived the backlash, serving six years as mayor and then winning election to Alaska's statehouse in 2006.

It also turns out that Stambaugh opposed the state bill on gun restrictions to save the lives of women:

(from the above link)

Stambaugh said he did not regret speaking out against legislation that would make it possible to carry concealed weapons into domestic-violence shelters and other public buildings.

"It was an enormous common-sense issue," Stambaugh said. "I thought it [the bill] was just nuts."

The move to fire Police Chief Stambaugh as well as the town’s library director led to the formation of a town group to recall Mayor Palin:

From the Anchorage Daily News  

A recall of Mayor Sarah Palin is off the table, at least for now, according to a group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Wasilla. The group of about 60 residents was formed Friday in response to Palin's controversial firing of Police Chief Irl Stambaugh. Members say they're concerned about the direction taken by Palin since her election last fall, and discussed a recall.

Police Chief Stambaugh also responded by filing a lawsuit that was later dismissed but not for reasons pertaining directly to Stambaugh’s actions or character:

From the blog, “Hat Thief”  

Three years later (via March 2nd, 2000's AP State and Local Wire), a federal judge ruled in favor of Palin. Not that she fired him for an ethical reason, though.

No, his ruling was that Alaska state law allows mayors to fire the chief of police for whatever reason he or she wanted.

“But Singleton said that under state law, police chiefs serve at the behest of the mayor unless otherwise specified by city ordinance. Stein, the former mayor, had worked out an agreement with Stambaugh forbidding termination without cause, but the city council never voted on it, Singleton ruled.”

Mayor Palin also committed a breach in ethics that she later dismissed as a mistake – she used her public office for private gain :

Public-record requests of the City of Wasilla revealed Palin campaigning for lieutenant governor in 2002 on city time. The records…showed Palin arranging campaign travel from the mayor's office and using her administrative assistant to write thank-yous to campaign donors.

Palin responded by calling the accusations exaggerated…She said she apologized for any mistakes. Mostly, she dismissed the charges as last-minute smears by desperate.

* * * *
MOMocrat readers, I’m certain there’s more, much more that would make you so Dr. Fleischman pissed, that you’ll kick in the glove compartment, but research into the former mayor is limited because the Republicans are worked very hard to scrub and clean Sarah Palin’s Wikipedia page.. London times.

It’s just as well, I really don’t want you to wreck your truck.

Let us close with a word from former Wasilla Police Chief Stambaugh:

From Black Star News  

Apparently, McCain, did not do a lot of vetting Palin’s political past prior to her last-minute selection. No one from McCain’s office called Stambaugh, who served a tour of duty in Vietnam following the Tet Offensive in 1968.

“Even Palin’s own mother-in-law, Faye Palin, said that she doesn’t agree with Sarah on anything and that the only reason McCain selected her is because she’s a woman,” Stambaugh noted. “I think that pretty much says it all. I certainly wouldn’t want her to have the nuclear codes to our country’s defense system.”

As for her administrative style working in the White House, Stambaugh observed: “I’m not sure if she’d be able to get away with it in Washington. There might be more exposure and scrutiny. But she’s certainly not one to change her ways.”

And why should she change? That’s just the way they do stuff up there!

(cue upbeat, harmonica-rich Northern Exposure theme song)

Comments

[Kris]

Wow. You're preaching to the choir here, but still....wow.

I can always count on you, dear Grace, to dig hard for the facts and put it all together in an eloquent way.

Personally, I don't care how she does during the veep debate (IF she's still on the ticket) because frankly she doesn't even belong there. I wish I were more excited by a woman being on either ticket, but I think that women everywhere should be pissed that McCain (or whoever really made the decision) put a woman like this on the ticket. Mr. McCain, you really blew this one. I just hope that the country doesn't have to pay dearly for your mistake.

[Kaza]

AWESOME post. I overuse that word, but srsly, AWESOME. I am new to Momocrats, and am loving this blog and just everything about it.

[Amy@UWM]

Oh, god. Scary, scary stuff. As if I wasn't scared enough...

[Glennia]

Excellent post.

[Donna]

Great research, Grace. Thanks for digging deep into this woman's background. (I'm also a big fan of anyone who remembers and recommends Northern Exposure.)