Sarah Palin Is Not An "Agent Of Change" (WAPO)

[kpete]

As Mayor of Wasilla, Palin Cut Own Duties, Left Trail of Bad Blood

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 14, 2008; A01

(Not So Amazing Response to 9/11)

On Sept. 24, 2001, Mayor Sarah Palin and the City Council held their first meeting after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The council condemned the attacks and approved a $5,000 gift to a disaster relief fund. Palin said she would try to obtain materials from both attack sites to include in the town's "Honor Garden."

And then the council and mayor returned to their normal business: approving funds to upgrade the public well, issuing a restaurant permit and taking up a measure forbidding residents from operating bed-and-breakfasts in their homes. After a lively debate, the bed-and-breakfast measure lost, 4 to 1.

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(The article also goes into another reason why Palin was elected mayor in the first place. The council had just passed a 2 percent sales tax to pay for needed road, water and sewer upgrades. However, it angered many residents who were used to a government that really didn't get all that involved.)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/14/92452/4464/722/598285

"People said, 'What are you doing to my city? I liked it better when we didn't have government,' '' said Richard Deuser, the city attorney at the time. "And Sarah really pandered to that resentment, that resistance to change. Sarah became their person."

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A recall effort in early 1997 fizzled out, but hard feelings lingered. "Working in small towns, I had never seen someone come in and clean house like that in such a precipitous manner. It was pretty scary and emotional," said Dvorak, the city planner, who left after eight months.

way more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/13/AR2008091302596_pf.html