In her resignation speech she mentions the lawsuits but doesn't give that as the reason for her resignation.
From the resignation speech of Sarah Palin™:
And so as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn’t run for re-election and what it means for Alaska, I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks… travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade – as so many politicians do. And then I thought – that’s what’s wrong – many just accept that lame duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck, and “milk it”. I’m not putting Alaska through that – I promised efficiencies and effectiveness! ? That’s not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old “politics as usual.” I promised that four years ago – and I meant it.
You can read the full transcript here and watch the speech here: Part1 Part2
I don't know how you can claim lame duck (def. 3) status when you have 16 months left in your term.
A few months later with Bill O'Reilly, she again cited the "lame duck" status as her reason for quitting.
She was a “lame duck” because there was NOTHING SHE COULD DO ANYMORE!!! She was essentially shut out and isolated...with the exception of C4P in the lower 48 states, not a single upper-tier RNC leader or influencer came to her aid.
When you’re fending off complaint after complaint after complaint, have the legislature shut you out, spend most of your time answering bogus ethics charges and go through countless hit jobs damaging your reputation, then you’re essentially a lame duck.
What do you propose, stay there and rack up more legal debt? Waste the voters time doing nothing? Tell us, when the legislature was blocking her, and defending bogus complaint after complain what should she had done?
As for the Palin “trademark”....do I sense a whiff of jealousy?
AK267 is correct. Under the book “Rules For Radicals” it’s called “making your enemy live by it’s own rules”. Some would call it “a thumpin”. It was more than just the ethics complaints, it was a strategy to essentially destroy her finances are reputation. The purpose of the ethics complaints, FOIA requests, legislature shutting her out, hit pieces was to make her situation so unbearable and hostile that she would have no desire to finish out her term.
Being neutralized as governor, she was essentially a lame duck. Worse, a lame duck with legal debt issues and with no one willing to help her. Heck, they even went after her legal defense fund.
Now Palin could of just hunkered down and bided her time....racked up more debt, rack up more expenses to the state (who had to investigate the ethics charges) and have a meme of having “ethics problems”, but that’s not just her style. By resigning, and helping in the elctions in 2010, she proved to be a game changer and a real supporter for the conservative cause. When she endorsed, checkbooks opened for said candidate. When she stumped, the crowds increased. When she spoke at events, the placed was packed.
If she made some money along the way so what? She’s got bills to pay and trust funds to set up for her children, especially Trig.