Posted on 09/07/2008 8:40:33 AM PDT by airedale
While Gov. Palin is fairly new to the political scene nationwide, the Alaska native's stance on key topics may give clues into the policies she would support if she were elected Vice President.
[M.E.'s NOTE: BetaNews contacted the press office of Gov. Sarah Palin earlier this week, and received assurances that we would be receiving responses to our inquiries about the governor's position on critical technology issues, five of which we listed and explained in detail. This has been the week of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, so any number of reasons may have delayed the press office's final response to us. However, they were aware of our already-once-postponed deadline, so in the interest of absolute fairness -- especially since we already profiled Sen. Joe Biden last week -- we will proceed with as thorough an assessment as we possibly can of Gov. Palin, given the information we do have.]
John McCain shocked the political world with his choice of Sarah Palin, a woman who has only served as governor of Alaska for 19 months, and whose previous political experience was as Mayor of Wasilla -- a town of about 9,000 residents -- for eight years, and city council member for four years prior.
With such a short time on the national political scene on a level where technology issues are, if not paramount, then at least prominent, there hasn't been much of a technology record for Gov. Palin to run on yet. It's not her fault; it's just the fact. However, there have been a few instances where she has taken a stance, or her positions on other important matters could be used as a sort of template, to deduce her likely thoughts on parallel matters in the technology arena.
Worked to ensure students are properly skilled
In 2007, shortly after taking office as Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin took advantage of the Internet to create a online training program for workforce development. Called Work Ready/College Ready (since shortened to Alaska Career Ready), users can take a set of surveys to find out what skills they have or may need for a variety of desired jobs.
A user may select online courses for improvement in weak or under-skilled areas. Classes may be taken at the user's own pace, and are given in the context of a work environment to make them more relevant.
In recognition of completion of the courses teaching the skills necessary, a "Career Readiness Certificate" is issued. At least 40 other states also offer these certificates, which some businesses and educational institutions recognize as valid proof of a particular skill set.
Made health care transparent through the use of technology
Another part of Palin's record as governor included the Alaska Health Care Transparency Act, which helped state residents access affordable health care. This included tele-medicine and tele-health initiatives for providing care to the state's most remote municipalities.
Tele-medicine has often been lauded as a solution for providing individuals living in rural or hard-to-reach areas (and Alaska has plenty of those) with care and good judgment from a qualified doctor who would normally be easy to reach in town.
Actions on gas pipeline suggest balanced net neutrality approach
An action that defines Gov. Palin's stand on long-distance distribution of services, was her effort to rework the natural gas pipeline deal forged by her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski. The former governor had struck a deal with major oil companies, prior to commencing the actual pipeline construction project.
She didn't like that much, and just about everyone in Alaska knew it. So she scrapped the deal, replacing it with one that involves a bidding process. Already, TransCanada has secured a deal with Alaska to build this pipeline which could dramatically improve the state's economy.
The way Palin approached this particular problem suggests she may be in favor of not having any one provider be given preference to build out broadband pipes to a specific area. While one Internet service provider could end up owning the entire pipe -- an approach that would be copacetic with that of her would-be boss, Sen. McCain -- that provider would likely need to provide proof of how it would handle competitors.
Transfer the natural gas pipeline affair to the net neutrality debate, and it seems like Palin would not object to companies agreeing on their own about how to handle traffic of competitors.
Broadband speeds lag in Alaska...along with candidate Palin
It does not seem that Palin has taken any substantive broadband policy as governor of her state, and has actually declined to take a position when asked. That failure to formulate an opinion could be telling, especially considering Alaska has one of the lowest median data rates in the country.
According to a study by the Communications Workers of America, Alaskans connect to the Internet at a slow average of 800 Kbps, the worst in the nation. While geography is obviously a key issue here, there's a viable argument in favor of prioritizing an information pipeline -- whether it's on the ground or in the sky -- equally with respect to a natural gas pipeline.
Stateside Associates, a government analytics firm, attempted during the 2006 gubernatorial election to get both then-Mayor Palin and Democratic candidate Tony Knowles' positions on broadband access issues. Palin declined to respond, and the agency could not find anything that indicated what position she might have taken. So there's a big blank on her record, which remains today, even after BetaNews' direct invitation for her to fill it in.
Used the Internet to make Alaska government more transparent
Sen. Barack Obama has made government transparency part of his platform. Gov. Palin has indeed taken that a step further by actually taking action in Alaska government. Currently, any check written by the state government over $1,000 is posted to the Division of Finance Web site.
While the service is not yet a requirement under law, there have been attempts to codify this requirement, including an effort to make government information searchable through a Google-like Web site.
“Currently, any check written by the state government over $1,000 is posted to the Division of Finance Web site.”
Seems similar to McCain’s pledge that he’ll publicly name congress-critters and their earmarks.
Nothing like showing what sort of nonsense congress-critters actually spend our money on to shake up Washington...
“Currently, any check written by the state government over $1,000 is posted to the Division of Finance Web site.”
Now THAT is governmental transparency!
Sarah in 2012!
Key Palin Technology Position:
1) place drill in ground
2) turn drill on
3) remove oil from ground.
Although one difference is that Obama seems to think that all new technology innovations spring magically from massive government funding.
Frankly, until she’s willing to be interviewed, we won’t know where she stands.
The campaign better not wait too long to get her out there being interviewed.
This strategy might work for a little while, but it will backfire if we wait too long.
The libs are already starting the “if she’s afraid to talk to Larry King, how will she be able to face down Putin” meme.
She needs to do an unscripted appearance soon. The best place is probably on Fox with Chris Wallace.
But they need to get her out there. I think she’s strong enough to do VERY well, so I don’t know why the campaign is hiding her.
Sarah’s still trying to figure out what a nanobot is.
I agree, but I think the strategy will be to do some interviews and press availabilities to some smaller outlets that might be friendlier until the feeding frenzy dies down and to allow her to get her answers out without the Chirs Mathews approach that most of the pro Obama media would use. Once she’s answered most of the basic questions in a lower pressure media environment then she’ll be available. I think she’ll also go on Jay Leno’s show, but not Lettermans since he’s such a vocal Obama supporter. I know Leno’s a Democrat and an Obama supporter but he’s always been fairer and a genuine nice guy unlike my opinion of Letterman.
If you saw Larry King’s shows where she was discussed you know that Larry doesn’t like her and it probably wouldn’t be his usual softball interview. It would also probably be only part of the hour with the second part filled with Obama supporters.
I think there’s a difference between “hiding” and “prepping.” I know I’d sure like at least a day or two to immerse myself in my partner’s platform, and to shore up my views and efforts in my own state. She’s been in quite a whirlwind, going from state governor to VP candidate to national showcase in a matter of days, even hours. Certainly some ramping up time is appropriate.
You’re right, though. Too much time and it’ll LOOK like hiding. She’s just smartly preparing for ambushes from the MSM which will most assuredly be sprung, no matter when she subjects herself to the wolf-like environment of the self-aggrandizing press.
Folks in the sticks should not expect broadband. They moved out of civilization for a reason.
By way of contrast, in 1992, Al Gore, after disclosing that he was the one that invented the internet, made renewable energy development a centerpiece of the Clinton-Gore campaign. Sixteen years have passed, but wind and solar still constitute a negligible percentage of our energy output. With plenty of opportunity to do something constructive, the Democrats have only stymied oil exploration while disallowing the construction of new refineries or nuclear plants. Talk is cheap and the ONLY thing the Democrats want is a phony issue to blame on Republicans.
If Palin does nothing but help “Big Oil” to stick a drill in the ground it will be more than the Dems will ever do.
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