A Wasillan On Sarah Palin

[kskiska]

This was posted in the comments section on the Washington Independent by Alaskan and a Wasillan, Anne Kilkenny, someone who has followed Sarah Palin very, very closely - with too many city council meetings under her belt - not to say her piece. She seems the kind of person that a professional vetting system would have found, and debriefed. We're talking small town politics here as well, so bear that in mind. And I've reproduced only the gist here - go read the original for much more. But after you read this, you begin to realize that there can have been almost no vetting whatsoever:

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign. Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%.

This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents. The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing. While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs. She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

more…
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/an-wasillan-on.html

[ladywnch]

1. can someone get this woman on camera!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[kristopher]

4. I content to wait a few more days while more 'question' formulate themselves... nt

[Chisox08]

2. K&R

[dtotire]

3. Article is a must read

This woman is definitely not qualified to hold any important position. Thanks for posting.

[Jade Fox]

5. kick

[Arctic Dave]

6. K&R

[Waiting For Everyman]

7. A must read. This woman Palin's nature IS corruption.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/20...
Thanks for posting this article. Saved it to my rapidly growing collection.

Excuse the rant, but I can't help it...

"She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help... Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her."

That sums up in a nutshell, everything about her - from her economic and management decisions, to throwing her daughter under the bus this week.

Her backstabbing is what the Repubs call being a "maverick" and a "reformer", "taking on her own party". NO! There is a difference. And the overlooked fact...

SHE HAS NOT ONE DAY OF EXPERIENCE ON A NATIONAL LEVEL.

I've read quite a bit about Palin since her nomination. Reason being, I'm that disgusted and outraged about her nomination - merely on qualifications at first. Proposing her to lead this country (if necessary) is an OUTRAGE. But each article I read is more and more disgusting.If Sarah Palin had ANY integrity whatsoever, she would've declined the VP offer... not only for the sake of the country because she knows she's unqualified, but because she knew this would lead to her daughter's and her family's humiliation. She has no concern about her country or her family, or anything in between. And every action she takes, which her fast elevation opens up to her, is above all - MEAN. Even those actions which don't appear to be mean at first glance, actually are on closer view.

This is not a "nice person" as she pretends. This is a vicious, totally depraved opportunist - WHO HATES AMERICA. In other words, more of the same. I really don't think we can survive another one.

We need to show America the scarey, real Sarah Palin via these actions from her past and present. Fast. She's way more scarey than Goldwater ever was, but that's the kind of oppositon we need to have against her. Fear, and real fear, repeatedly pushed in voters' faces is what this needs. Each scandal is an example of Palin's lack of character or scruples. Each one needs to be talked about enough, until every voter in America knows about it.

This is like, sorry but I don't think it's overstated... Hitler's rise to power in his early days - when nobody would've believed he'd do what he did, or be halfway capable of doing it. They let a little street-monster grow into a global one. The only difference between a nasty person and a global threat is how much power they're handed. Some people will destroy and harm merely because they CAN. (I see this right now on my Homeowners Association.) From what I've read too, Jewish Americans should be the most afraid. I've only seen several inexplicit mentions of this and not whole articles on it so far, but locals say she's strongly anti-semitic - my impression is, that the Alaskan Independence Party may be in step with that too. But even Jewish voters are not alert to Palin, they're too focused on McCain-the-warhawk to check that out.

(The idea of this b*tch "cleaning up" anything, as she and others keep saying, makes me want to punch my tv set. And I'm a woman.)

Con artists HAVE TO BE charming, don't they? It's a must-tool for what they do. The American electorate is so gullible to danger, and so cynical of help.

Here's another article I'll trade you from my collection, on Palin's behavior as Mayor of Wasilla:

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3767/palin-involved-in-ousting-scandals-from-the-start#more-3767

Another witness to the same thing, isn't it? Because it's true, that's how she is. That's what TrooperGate shows us, and all the other scandals about her. She's consistent. That's what she does. A woman who conducted a persecution of her ex-BIL for 3 years now, does not need access to a nuclear weapon - ever. No way, no how, no Palin. Even McCain, is less scarey, and less of a loose cannon (or loose nuke) than she is.

[Waiting For Everyman]

8. This story shows the "real Sarah" and how she operates too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6859545#6873369