Posted on 08/18/2011 6:42:04 AM PDT by Anamnesis
Executive experience is often seen as a needed criterion when looking for potential presidential nominees, especially among Republicans. It has been more than 130 years since the GOP nominated an eventual winner for President who only had legislative experience (Note: President Eisenhower’s military experience easily qualifies as executive experience). It goes beyond the simply dichotomy of legislative versus executive experience, however. What is even more important is how one used the executive experience that he or she has. Did he or she use such experience to make government smaller or bigger? Did he or she use their executive experience to create personal mandates or to expand individual freedom? Did he or she use their executive to perpetuate or get rid of cronyism?
The office of Alaskan governor is known for being a very powerful office—2nd most powerful state executive in the country. What makes the Alaska governor’s office so powerful include line item veto power that can only be overridden by three-fourths majority in the legislature and the ability to appoint all statewide executive department heads and various board members positions and the like. The only two statewide elected officials are the governor and the lt. governor; other positions, such as attorney general, are appointed by the governor. In many ways, the “buck” indeed stopped with Governor Palin. During Governor Palin’s tenure, she used her executive power to make government smaller and more ethical and transparent.
As Governor, Sarah Palin vetoed nearly $500 million in spending during her tenure including vetoing nearly a quarter billion in 2007 alone. Such vetoes enabled her to cut Alaska’s budget 9.5% over her predecessor’s budget. She also vetoed $268 million in the FY2009 capital budget. Despite legislative outcry over these vetoes, they did not even take up a vote to attempt to override her veto. Earlier that year, Governor Palin vetoed nearly $58 million for funding various projects in a supplemental bill. She did not use her line item veto indiscriminately though. Some of the projects proposed by legislators were projects Governor Palin had vetoed the year prior. She gave legislators the opportunity to justify why such projects should be funded:
She said if lawmakers didn’t want her to simply veto the projects again, they could make an appointment to come to her office and explain why the projects were worthy of funding. Palin personally attended more than a dozen meetings with lawmakers, and even opened them to the media.
On Thursday, members of her staff hand-delivered the results to lawmakers.
Of the $70 million in projects at issue, Palin accepted 52 projects totaling $12.4 million, chopped 16 worth $22.3 million, and put 155 projects worth $35.4 million in what she designated the “move” category.
In 2009, Governor Palin vetoed nearly $30 million in federal stimulus aimed at energy efficiency because it required federal building codes to be implemented. Her veto was later overridden by the legislature. Governor Palin was concerned with the sustainability of projects funded by the federal government when the funding would later dry out saying,” [i]f the legislature wants to add funds to grow government, then I also want to hear how we will get out of the fiscal hole we’ll be in just two years from now when those temporary stimulus funds are gone”. She could have used her pen to simply sign into law any spending project handed to her, but she did not. She exercised fiscal restraint, even to the dislike of the legislature, because she wanted to ensure government remained small and that all projects approved were truly worthy of state funding. Governor Palin used the power given to her by the Alaska constitution, but she did so to shrink spending, make state government smaller, and make Alaska less dependent on the federal government.
Governor Palin used her executive power to appoint individuals to cabinet type positions, councils, and the like who were of the same mindset when it came to making government smaller and reduce bureaucratic red tape. This can be seen in her creation of the Alaska Health Strategies Planning Council to address Alaska’s healthcare issues early in her term. This council was compromised of Department of Health and Social Services and individuals from various levels of government, the business community, the healthcare industry, and faith based organizations, and they were all appointed by the Governor. The recommendations from this council provided the basis for a healthcare proposal from the Governor, the Alaska Health Care Transparency Act, which would increase patient choice and remove bureaucratic red tape for providers—essentially make government smaller. One thing this act proposed was removing the Certificate of Need (CON) requirement for building new healthcare facilities:
STATE CON LAWS originated, like so many bad health care ideas, with a mandate from the federal government. In 1974, states were effectively told by Washington that no new medical facilities could be built unless a “public need” had been demonstrated. The idea was to reduce costs, but the only measurable effect of this federal decree was a morass of bureaucratic red tape that stifled competition in the health care market. In 1987, the federal statute was finally repealed, but many states inexplicably kept their CON processes in place. Alaska was one of them and, as Governor Palin put it in an editorial for the Anchorage Daily News, “Under our present Certificate of Need process, costs and needs don’t drive health-care choices — bureaucracy does. Our system is broken and expensive.”
This bill ultimately was rejected by the legislature, but it indicates– both through her personal policy convictions and that of those whom she appointed– smaller, less bureaucratic government was the goal.
Through her appointments, Governor Palin showed how she desired to use her executive power to make government void of crony capitalism and more transparent. This was seen in the seven individuals she brought in to work with oil and gas issues, who had become known as the Magnificent Seven. One of these individuals, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner, Tom Irwin, was fired by Governor Murkowski, Palin’s predecessor, due to his questioning of the legality Murkowski’s pipeline deal. Six other DNR employees quit in protest of Irwin’s firing. Governor Palin brought these individuals back to work for her administration appointing Tom Irwin as her DNR commissioner. These individuals were instrumental in both the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA)—her natural gas pipeline project—and Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share (ACES)—the oil tax structure. AGIA was negotiated in a transparent manner and allowed all potential pipeline companies and energy development companies to compete for the opportunity to participate in the project and also allowed Alaskans to view these proposals in a transparent manner. No special treatment was shown to any particular companies because neither Governor Palin, her commissioners, nor her DNR staff had industry cronies. The same could be said of ACES. Previously, PPT, the oil tax structure signed in to law by Governor Murkowski, was done in secret and was favorable to Murkowski’s cronies, which led to the indictment and arrest of Murkowski’s chief of staff, some legislators, and industry personnel from the pipeline company, VECO. ACES was not influenced by only certain oil companies, but provided incentives for any companies willing to engage in oil exploration. Governor Palin’s appointments helped rid Alaska of the crony capitalism and lack of government transparency.
Much of Governor Palin’s efforts to shrink government and make it more ethical are a direct contrast to the supposed GOP executive frontrunners in the race for the 2012 nominations. Both Governor Romney and Governor Perry grew government obligations. They both increased state debt at a far greater pace than Governor Palin, while Governor Palin actually reduced state liabilities for pensions and the like when Governors Romney and Perry increased state liabilities. Governor Romney’s infamous universal healthcare/individual mandate plan, which he defends on the basis of federalism, is very heavily funded, not by state monies, but by federal Medicaid and Medicare dollars and is running way over budget. Governor Perry once issued an executive order (thankfully later overturned by the Texas legislature)that mandated young girls to get a HPV vaccine manufactured by a company that gave substantially to Perry’s campaign. On the other hand, Governor Palin proposed a plan that gave more individual choices, not mandates, in healthcare. Governor Romney has a history of receiving campaign funds from entities that he once did business with and also had a history of engaging in and supporting corporatism through various subsidies. Governor Perry, too, has a history of crony capitalism by awarding business related grants to those who have donated to his gubernatorial campaigns. Governor Palin’s natural gas pipeline and her oil tax structure were aimed at removing cronyism, and her ethics reform bill sought to remove the influence of political favors for campaign funds.
Executives at any level of government could use their power to grow government spending and power and to reward cronies or those who donated to their campaign. Governor Palin is the only one who has a proven record of using her power to make the government smaller and less powerful. Governor Palin used her power to reduce government spending and state reliance on the federal funding. She used her position to increase individual choice, not create individual mandates. She used her executive authority to make government more ethical and transparent while removing cronyism rather than perpetuating it. The differences could not be clearer.
There are two areas where an Alaskan Governor is weak, though,
1) The Governor has a restricted role in appointing judges. A special panel selects two nominees and the Governor has to choose between the two.
2) There are unusual powers to investigate (and harass) the Governor, both from the legislature and what is available through FOIA. Imagine if FOX had the power to demand all Obama's emails and those of his staff since he came into office, not due due any special prosecutor or ethics investigation, but just because the reporters were curious!!! That is what Palin had to produce, and she did, ----without any smoking guns.
Go read Alaska’s constitution and get back to us.
Screw Rick Perry! I ain't voting for any more RINOs EVER, and if Obama wins, then so be it. The country will get the president and government it deserves.
That's what they decided when they wrote the Alaska state constitution. If not the people, then who? The state itself?
Someone owns those resources, why should it not be the citizens of the state?
Whaddaya know, another Palin thread where however often you say you like her you always have an often groundless criticism.
Including here, where it has presumably previously been pointed out to you that according to Alaska’s state constitution all of the oil extracted by oil companies in the state actually belongs to the citizens of the state.
For her to assure they get a cut of that is a good thing. But what’s more, she changed the system so there was an alignment of interests and incentives for the oil companies to extract more oil.
Again, you probably know this already, but just think if you falsely tear Palin down it’ll somehow boost your candidate Perry.
No. I think she is a very smart pragmatic person who has probably figured out it would be a big stretch to win the nomination. She has no organization nor is she doing what is needed to compete. I like her, but I am getting on the Perry bandwagon because I think he can first beat Romney and then Obama. Bachmann killed herself in S. Carolina on the 16th and I don’t see anyone else in the field who can win. Now we have the Bushies trying to get Ryan in the race but that probably wont happen either. Pretty soon, Republicans will discover the job is to beat Obama and Perry can do it.
Your response leads me to believe that you’re either ignorant of the facts or just dishonest. Which is it?
I agree, Palin’s got to do better than she has on immigration and I’m hopeful she will when she rolls out the specifics of her platform.
Bachmann is IMO more right on the issues than anyone, but being right and ineffective doesn’t get you anywhere—especially in the office of the presidency.
Palin has been extraordinarily effective in getting conservative cost-cutting (especially) through bipartisan legislatures. She’s accomplished real, substantial change at every level she’s been in government.
Unfortunately, that is not the case with Bachmann at all. First IMO Bachmann would never win the nomination, let alone beat Obama, and second IMO Palin has the best chance at both.
Oh, and I have no question as to Palin’s support for Israel, our Constitution, and an unPC truth seeing and telling on Islam.
Alaskans as a group had to preempt federal government claims. As it is, 75% of Alaska is owned or controlled by the feds or tribes.
Here is another example oh how she isn't perfect:
what is one of the most important jobs a president has to perform? selecting judges and other political appointments! right?
Think about that for a moment... then think of all the people you hate that Palin as supported.. McCain, Perry, ect, ect... you see that's the kind of people she would nominate to fill positions! the exact people you hate.
Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE Palin, and if she runs I will most likely end up voting for her. But to pretend she is perfect is just folly. There is no perfect candidate, period.
It’s not socialism because it doesn”t require violence or coercion.
That is to say, it’s not socialism because it doesn”t require violence or coercion.
You don’t “LOVE” Palin and you should stop the crap with claiming you do while you pan her at every chance you get. Your favorite bit is throwing lies and misrepresentations at her, which surely you know you’re doing when you try to suggest she’s promoted poor judges. Already, anyone here who’s paying attention knows that by state law she had to pick among only those couple recommended to her and so they weren’t 100% of the time 100% ideal choices.
If you wanted to bring up a genuine weakness she has had so far, you could bring up her not being tough enough on illegal immigration. But your boy JR is 10X worse than she ever was on immigration, so that’s a particularly losing argument.
Again, stop the “I LOVE Palin” crap, when you’re primarily on threads to spread disinformation about her.
Perry....Rino? What have you been smoking? You’re so hung up on Palin that you can’t see the forest through the trees. Suggest you take a better look at Pery’s record. He’s about as conservative as it gets. I don’t want to hear that bit about how he used to be a Democrat. 80% of the South and Ronald Reagan were once Democrats
The reason your argument doesn’t work is that it is founded on an unviable premise.
Your premise is that the Constitution of Alaska should not dictate legal matters in Alaska.
Exactly.
And there isn't and never has been any appetite in Alaska to auction off the rights. It's a political impossibility, no matter how powerful or popular a governor is. You may as well argue that FedEx or UPS should bid a contract to run the Defense Department. It simply will never happen. A waste of breath.
If it doesn’t require violence or coercion, it cannot be socialism.
lol
you need to learn to use the history feature of the site.
If you did you would learn that I have been a Palin 2012 supporter since BEFORE the 2008 election!
I have been 100% behind Palin forever.
But today I felt the need to being some sanity onto the Palin boards by pointing out that even though I support her and want her to run, she isn’t Jesus Christ, she isn’t perfect.
Every single Freeper that brings up that false canard loses the argument, and yet, they keep on trying, and then, they prop up a known Moderate and ignore all the real evidence pointing to that label.
And they have the gall to call Freepers worshippers or cultists.
Simply amazing.
I’ve watched Rick Perry for years and know his record extremely well. He’s RINO to the core, and I will never vote for him, period.
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