scoreman

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.



Anne Kilkenny



August 31, 2008

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