Posted on 07/06/2011 7:27:38 AM PDT by ejdrapes
The Alaska governor you never knew Media outlets have shown Americans in 49 states a Sarah Palin that her fellow Alaskans would hardly recognize. And reality-adjusting her image in the run-up to 2012 could impact more declared (and potential) candidates than just the 2008 vice presidential nominee. The Palin most reporters have portrayed is almost completely aligned politically with Representative Michele Bachmann, who declared her candidacy for the GOP’s 2012 nomination last month. But Alaskans knew a Governor Palin who spread the wealth and raised taxes on big oil companies. She swept into office on a wave of public unhappiness over the old-boy network Gov. Frank Murkowski inhabited, and earned widespread support with a tacit campaign promise of making Alaska a more egalitarian state. The real Palin beat Murkowski in an incredible 2006 victory — incredible because it was completely unexpected. Murkowski had spent the previous 25 years as either a U.S. senator or Alaska’s governor. He served alongside the legendary Sen. Ted Stevens. Murkowski was not initially seen as a vulnerable incumbent, and it took Palin months to raise her first $100,000 as a gubernatorial candidate. But she campaigned as someone who wanted to quite literally spread the wealth around, though she never used those exact words. Palin argued that the Murkowski administration had been too easygoing with big oil companies, and criticized her rival for negotiating a complete overhaul of the state’s tax on oil producers, in private, with Exxon-Mobil, BP and ConocoPhillips. Palin also publicized the connection between these closed-door negotiations and those three oil companies receiving what was, in her mind, an exclusive state-subsidized deal to build a natural gas pipeline that would move stranded gas from the oil fields on Alaska’s North Slope to market. Fortune magazine theorized that this deal might be worth $1 billion in gross revenues per year to each of the big three producers, based on 2007 prices. After winning Alaska’s 2006 gubernatorial election, Palin proposed a new oil-producer tax. Its passage by the legislature in 2007 replaced much of the Murkowski administration’s previous overhaul. The new law increased taxes on oil companies operating in Alaska and included a progressive structure that increased tax rates as oil prices rose. If you’ve never imagined Sarah Palin as a corporate-taxing thorn in Big Oil’s side, it’s not your fault: National media outlets have buried these facts. In 2008 Palin also added a one-time bonus payout — a whopping $1,200 per citizen — to the “Permanent Fund Dividend” oil-related handout, an entitlement Alaskans receive every year just for being Alaskans. The governor and the legislature justified this extra largesse as a helping hand to Alaskans who were paying substantially for energy, but that argument made no sense. This special dividend was paid on top of was what already a record Permanent Fund Dividend. Including Palin’s bonus, every Alaskan received $3,269.00 that year from the state government. As governor of Alaska and as Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential nominee in 2008, Sarah Palin was fond of talking about reducing government waste. “I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere,’” she colorfully quipped on the campaign trail. True enough, Palin did reject a federal earmark for the construction of Ketchikan’s Gravina Island Bridge. But those federal dollars still came to Alaska: They were used for other transportation projects instead. It’s rare that commentators trashing her as an unreasonable conservative ever mention this inconvenient detail. Today it’s hard to find a national political broadcast that forecasts both Palin and Bachmann in the same neck-and-neck GOP presidential field. The typical narrative is that if Bachman is in, Palin must be out. Pundits and political handicappers seem to believe almost universally that the two women’s views are too similar to avoid splitting their votes. But if Palin’s time as Alaska’s governor were accurately chronicled, she just might be seen as — get this — a moderate. And how would that shake up the GOP field? We’ll never know unless talking heads in New York and Washington, D.C. stop rewriting Alaska’s political history. Kells Hetherington is The Daily Caller’s deputy editor. He lived in Alaska between 2006 and 2011.
By Kells Hetherington
Published: 1:17 PM 07/05/2011 | Updated: 1:23 PM 7/05/2011
It’s bull! Everybody knows that Sarah was a thorn to Big Oil, there has been books about it and Undefeated the movie has a big chunk of it about her fight - it’s no secret like this writer makes it out to be and the riverfront tax is a good thing for both the oil companies and Alaska - the tax lowers when oil is low and raises when oil is high
Obviously Sarah Palin has Palin Derangement Syndrome.
“But if Palin’s time as Alaska’s governor were accurately chronicled, she just might be seen as — get this — a moderate.
And how would that shake up the GOP field? We’ll never know...”
unless she gets off her cute little bum and actually, officially runs and campaigns for president. Some say the July 15 opening of her movie might be announcement day, but I ain’t holdin’ my breath.
No, I’m the DeMint supporter who is holding out for the real deal.
Mail.
Gettin' some of them windfall profits, huh? The article's right, despite her many sterling qualities, Palin was no conservative when it came to this.
Here is a republican more to his liking.
Obviously you're just a RINO who's afraid of SARAH! and who has Palin Derangement Syndrome.
Wasn’t she merely negotiating the bset deal she could get like any land owner would, remembering that the state owned the minerals?
You mean Mitt Romney’s man, the man that gave Mitt Romney to the nation.
Senator DeMint wrote, “We must elect a President in 2008 who is up to the task, and I need you to encourage Mitt to run. ...
Tuesday, Jan 09, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Boston, MA – Governor Mitt Romney announced today that Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) will serve as a senior adviser to the Romney for President Exploratory Committee.
Obama hates oil and wants to strip oil companies of everything, making out it would be "for the people".
In Alaska, big oil was really screwing the people and Murkowski (gov. and father of little Lisa) was in bed with them and the rest of the Good Ole Boys Club.
It seems to me that Sarah's deal to make them pay for past screwing and sharing it with the public was part of an overall plan to help the state. She sold the state jet, gave up the limousine, and, in general, cut government spending. Hold your breath for those free riders in the WH to cut back; do this in front of a mirror and watch yourself turn purple and black out because cutting back ain't happening with the bummer and the moocher.
Sarah was also fair to the oil companies, which she recognizes, rightly, as job creators and wealth builders. If she were President, gas would NOT be 3.50 per gal. and up.
vaudine
Are four year old arguments all you have?*
* - By this I mean, arguments that are four years in age, though I have to admit, your arguing style does seem a lot like a four year old's as well, but I just wanted to clarify my meaning.
What is with the personal attack?
One of a kind. More precious than gold. The real deal.
;^\/
I didn’t attack you, I attacked the general tenor of your arguments.
No you didn't, I didn't even make any arguments, I merely posted a press release, you made very definite, personal attacks.
You attacked me personally, as a response.
Dude, seems to me Titus commented on/attacked your arguing style, not you personally.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.