[Editor’s note: Senior frontier correspondent, awc, sends along the following dispatch from the wilds of Alaska’s history. Please be aware that this post likely will be updated and edited when awc’s team of intrepid sled dogs, carrying in their intrepid maws more history, arrives later today at EotAW world headquarters.]
One of the most amusing storylines being floated by Republicans is the idea that Sarah Palin is a maverick. Certainly, she appears less corrupt than her peers, no hard feat in the nation’s most crooked state. And she has diverged from party orthodoxy on a few issues.
The most obvious theme, however, that emerges from Palin’s bio is a Bush-esque obsession with loyalty. We all now know about her alleged attempts to pressure the state police to fire her former brother in-law. Less well known are her actions as mayor of the city of Wasilla.
Shortly after her election in October 1996, she asked the police chief, librarian, public works director, and finance director to resign. In addition, she eliminated the position of city historian. Her critics charged the directors were dismissed for supporting her opponent, John Stein, in the preceding election. Palin further rankled city employees by issuing a gag order, forbidding them to speak to the media without her permission. Her controversial behavior led to demands for her recall. The press characterized the situation like this:
Four months of turmoil have followed in which almost every move by Palin has been questioned, from firing the museum director to hiring a deputy administrator at a cost of $50,000 a year to a short-lived proposal to move the city’s historic buildings from downtown. Critics argue the decisions are politically motivated. Palin says people voted for a change and she’s only trying to streamline government.
Daily Sitka Sentinel, 2/11/1997, 13.
The matter was only resolved three years later, when a federal judge upheld her right as mayor to remove the chief without cause.
Palin claimed she was trying to streamline government, and we might believe her were it not for the trooper incident. But the pattern of evidence suggests that she believes public employees should be politically, ideologically, and personally faithful to her. And if anything has been discredited by this administration, it’s the idea that loyalty is more important than ability.
Heckuva VP choice, Johnny!
18 comments
August 30, 2008 at 11:21 am
Matt W
In addition, she eliminated the position of city historian.
OK, you guys needed to highlight this more. Suggested illustrative clips:
one
two
August 30, 2008 at 11:23 am
Matt W
Um, while link one is pretty awesome, what I meant was this. Google video always gives me linking issues.
August 30, 2008 at 11:32 am
Ahistoricality
she eliminated the position of city historian
Matt W. beat me to it: If we could get the local history and genealogy community mobilized against them….
August 30, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Adam A
What the hell? I mean, I get the corrupting influence of power and all, but getting control of a town of 8000 suddenly turns you into a little fascist? She fired the librarian? The freaking librarian? That’s about as far from a political job as possible. I guess I could see some of this happening if she had been mayor of a city of any significance whatsoever. I mean, Chicago is run by a complex net of political alliances, but Chicago is also something like 500 times bigger than her town. There aren’t enough people for that sort of intrigue!
August 30, 2008 at 4:41 pm
teofilo
God damn it, ari.
August 30, 2008 at 8:01 pm
ari
I didn’t title the post, Teo. You’ll note it’s a guest post. That said, as editor, I suppose I should take some responsibility. But I don’t. It’s actually your fault — for not catching this sooner.
August 30, 2008 at 8:01 pm
ari
Also: fixed. And thanks.
August 30, 2008 at 9:02 pm
teofilo
I figured guest posts were like wire services: they provide the article, you give it a headline.
August 30, 2008 at 9:02 pm
teofilo
And you’re welcome.
August 31, 2008 at 3:16 am
awc
It is indeed my error, as Ari implies. Many apologies, teofilo, and thanks for the catch.
August 31, 2008 at 8:52 am
Sarah Palin « Crazy Raspberry Aunt
[…] I know enough about Sarah Palin yet to have a considered opinion. But some of the details in this post, forwarded to me by a friend, give me pause. Regrettably, there are a few museum directors, […]
August 31, 2008 at 7:15 pm
More From Palinland : Politics - Sharpy News
[…] Ari and Eric have have dug up some fun details about Sarah Palin’s first few months as mayor of Wasilla. Elected to bestow “change” upon the town, Palin instead went on a rampage, demanding — a la Jimmy Carter — that her stable of city managers resign and then re-apply for their positions as a test of loyalty. She drove three septuagenarian museum curators into disgruntled retirement, and she canned the librarian and police chief, both of whom had supported her opponent, a three-term incumbent. […]
August 31, 2008 at 8:25 pm
More From Palinland - Palin (r, Alaska) : Sarah Palin - Sharpy News
[…] Ari and Eric have have dug up some fun details about Sarah Palin’s first few months as mayor of Wasilla. Elected to bestow “change” upon the town, Palin instead went on a rampage, demanding — a la Jimmy Carter — that her stable of city managers resign and then re-apply for their positions as a test of loyalty. She drove three septuagenarian museum curators into disgruntled retirement, and she canned the librarian and police chief, both of whom had supported her opponent, a three-term incumbent. […]
September 1, 2008 at 6:15 am
The Art of the Possible » Blog Archive » Off The Fence
[…] charge than the mayoralty of many mid-sized towns; whereas Palin, for her part, seems to have been a staggeringly poor mayor of a tiny hamlet who failed upwards in virtue of her being relatively less corrupt than the […]
September 2, 2008 at 9:59 am
Fred
btw, when Sarah was part-time mayor, Wasilla only had 4600 (!) people. For a photo of the townhall: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/211961.php
It appears the town does not have a schoolsystem either.
September 2, 2008 at 10:24 am
Please stop concern trolling. « The Edge of the American West
[…] wants to wrestle a polar bear and drill to the center of the earth, a mavericky Mugwump who demands absolute loyalty from her subordinates, a fiscal conservative who can’t balance a budget and loves traife, a […]
September 2, 2008 at 12:41 pm
jame
If you don’t think the town librarian is a political job, then you don’t know much about how small towns work. If you’re not in and of them, you don’t work there.
September 2, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Sarah Palin’s “executive experience” round-up. « The Edge of the American West
[…] Firings include elimination of position of city historian and sacking of museum staff. […]