Her record is somewhat hard to criticize, for a number of reasons.
1) She was governor for only 2 1/2 years. By design. Before that, she was a mayor of a small town.
2) Many of her accomplishments that I know of are Alaska-specific and difficult to analyze except for through a Last-Frontier-lens. She was successful in her dealings with oil companies and the pipelines from what I understand.
3) When she entered the national scene, she had been governor for what, 1 1/2 years? Much of her time governing has been either campaigning for McCain, or alterating between heroine-worship and demonizing, depending on the audience.
4) She has been hampered down by ethics issues—I won’t comment on the merit of them because I honestly don’t know the details.
5) I truly don’t know much about her record, and rarely see any reference to specifics.
For me, it appears that much of what draws people to her is her personality.
What is Sarah’s record? I truly want to know. Perhaps then I will be able to better understand the level of dedication to her.
1. She was governor for only 2 1/2 years.
About the Governor
Governor Sarah Palin made history on Dec. 4, 2006, when she took office. As the 11th governor of Alaska, she is the first woman to hold the office.
Since taking office, her top priorities have been resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development.
Under her leadership, Alaska invested $5 billion in state savings, overhauled education funding, and implemented the Senior Benefits Program that provides support for low-income older Alaskans. She created Alaska’s Petroleum Systems Integrity Office to provide oversight and maintenance of oil and gas equipment, facilities and infrastructure, and the Climate Change Subcabinet to prepare a climate change strategy for Alaska.
During her first legislative session, Governor Palin’s administration passed two major pieces of legislation - an overhaul of the state’s ethics laws and a competitive process to construct a gas pipeline.
Governor Palin is chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a multi-state government agency that promotes the conservation and efficient recovery of domestic oil and natural gas resources while protecting health, safety and the environment. She was recently named chair of the National Governors Association (NGA) Natural Resources Committee, which is charged with pursuing legislation to ensure state needs are considered as federal policy is formulated in the areas of agriculture, energy, environmental protection and natural resource management. Prior to being named to this position, she served as co-chair of this committee.
2A) Prior to her election as governor, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council and two terms as the mayor/manager of Wasilla. During her tenure, she reduced property tax levels while increasing services and made Wasilla a business friendly environment, drawing in new industry.
2)She has served as chair of the Alaska Conservation Commission, which regulates Alaska’s most valuable non-renewable resources: oil and gas. She was elected by her peers to serve as president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. In this role, she worked with local, state and federal officials to promote solutions to the needs of Alaska’s communities.
Prior to taking office, Palin served on numerous boards and commissions throughout the state. She was active in her family’s pursuits - including serving as a sports team mom and school volunteer. She also runs marathons.
Palin is a lifetime member of the NRA and enjoys hunting, fishing, Alaska history, and all that Alaska’s great outdoors has to offer.
3)Much of her time governing has been either campaigning for McCain, or alterating between heroine-worship and demonizing, depending on the audience. (Not much to answer here, except GFY.
4)Ethics issues...holding up a fish and wearing a logo windbreaker...think that is just way to shady?
5)Record - see above. Addendum;
We aggressively and responsibly develop our resources because they were created to be used to better our world... to HELP people... and we protect the environment and Alaskans (the resource owners) foremost with our policies.
Here’s some of the things we’ve done:
We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line FOR Alaskans on Point Thomson - and finally for the first time in decades - they’re drilling for oil and gas.
We have AGIA, the gasline project - a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) - also succeeding as intended - protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. THIS is energy independence.
And ACES - another bipartisan effort - is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas “clear and equitable formula” is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes NEW exploration and development and JOBS that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.
We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.
We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes... but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.
We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands - where it should be.
We provided unprecedented support for education initiatives, and with the right leadership, finally filled long-vacant public safety positions. We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.
We broke ground on the new prison.
And we made common sense conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets... the entourage.
And the Lt. Governor and I said “no” to our pay raises.
And, you say “For me, it appears that much of what draws people to her is her personality.”
Well, that and; she walks the walk. She had a Downs baby that MANY would have aborted, she stood by her kids in crisis and she did not flinch. She has chosen to take on the national political scene in much the same way she has taken on the local scene.
If extensive experience in Govt. is required for your support, how is John Mccain working out for you?
Length of time spent in office is irrelevant to what she accomplished within that time span. Palin is the true example of a citizen politician, one who served the people and not the special interests. Anyway, when you look at it objectively, Palin has 17 years of elective and appointed experience in office. She has spent more time in political office than George W. Bush, John Edwards, Obama, and Mitt Romney, prior to the presidency.
2) Many of her accomplishments that I know of are Alaska-specific and difficult to analyze except for through a Last-Frontier-lens. She was successful in her dealings with oil companies and the pipelines from what I understand.
That and reducing spending, saving money for the future, and standing up for states' rights really sums it up and with Lt. Gov Parnell finishing her term, will make all the hubbub over her "lack of experience" disappear.
3) When she entered the national scene, she had been governor for what, 1 1/2 years? Much of her time governing has been either campaigning for McCain, or alterating between heroine-worship and demonizing, depending on the audience.
Again, length of time in office is unimportant when you consider the fact that McCain needed a dynamic, game-changing VP selection to even have a chance against Obama.
4) She has been hampered down by ethics issues—I won’t comment on the merit of them because I honestly don’t know the details.
All of them brought forth by Democrat/Obama operatives, all of them dismissed, designed to paralyze her going into the 2012 elections.