Sarah Louise Palin (
ˈpeɪlɨn (help·info) ; née Heath ; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician who served as Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States in 2008.
Palin was a member of the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996 and the city's mayor from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 until her resignation in 2004. She was elected Governor of Alaska in November 2006. Palin became the first female governor of Alaska and the youngest person ever elected governor of that state.
In 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose Palin as his running mate in that year's presidential election, making her the second female candidate and the first Alaskan candidate of either major party on a national ticket, as well as the first female vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Since the defeat of the McCain–Palin ticket in the 2008 election, there has been speculation that she may run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
On July 3, 2009, Palin announced she would not seek reelection as governor and that she was resigning, effective July 26, 2009, eighteen months prior to the completion of her first term. She cited ethics complaints that had been filed following her selection as running mate to John McCain as the reason for her resignation, saying the resulting investigations had affected her efficacy to govern the state.
Early life and career
Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, the third of four children born to Sarah and Charles R. Heath, respectively a school secretary and science teacher / track coach. The family moved to Alaska when she was an infant. She attended Wasilla High School, where she was the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and a member of the girls' cross country team. As captain and point guard of the school's girls' basketball team that won the Alaska state championship in 1982, she gained the nickname "Barracuda" for her competitive streak. She graduated in 1982.
She attended Hawaii Pacific University in the Fall of 1982 and North Idaho College (whose Alumni Association gave her the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in June 2008) in the Spring and Fall of 1983. In 1984, after winning the Miss Wasilla pageant, she finished third in the Miss Alaska pageant, receiving the "Miss Congeniality" award and a college scholarship.
She attended the University of Idaho in the Fall of 1984 and Spring of 1985, Matanuska-Susitna College in the Fall of 1985, and the University of Idaho again in the Spring and Fall of 1986 and the Fall of 1987, when she received her Bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism.
Palin's early ambition was to be a sportscaster. Accordingly, after graduating, she worked as a sportscaster for KTUU-TV and KTVA-TV in Anchorage, and as a sports reporter for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman . In 1988, she eloped with her childhood sweetheart Todd Palin, believing that her parents "couldn't afford a big white wedding." After the marriage, she helped in her husband’s commercial fishing business.
Early political career
Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah PalinWasilla city council
Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely, Palin was elected to the city council of Wasilla in 1992. She won 530 votes to 310. She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185, but did not complete her second term on the city council because she was elected mayor in 1996. Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her career, Palin has been a registered Republican.
Mayor of Wasilla
Palin served two three-year terms (1996–2002) as the mayor of Wasilla. In 1996, she defeated three-term incumbent mayor John Stein, on a platform targeting wasteful spending and high taxes. Stein says that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues. Although the election was a nonpartisan blanket primary, the state Republican Party ran advertisements on her behalf. At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents. In 2008, Wasilla's mayor credited Palin's tax cuts and infrastructural improvements with helping the local economy, "br the big-box stores to Wasilla, ... helping Wasilla grow and draw 50,000 shoppers a day." The Boston Globe quoted a local business owner as crediting Palin with making the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."
First term
Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin consolidated the position of museum director and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein," including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian. Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her. She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies. She created the position of city administrator, and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.
During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled a name from it and picked up the phone; she would ask: "How's the city doing?" Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that was enacted before she was elected to the city council, Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes. Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department. She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources. At the same time, the city reduced spending on the town museum and stopped construction of a new library and city hall.
Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, with 74% of the vote. She was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.
Palin appointed Charles Fannon to replace Stambaugh as police chief.
Second term
During her second term as mayor, Palin introduced a ballot measure proposing the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5% sales tax increase. The $14.7 million Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget, but the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction. The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million through voter-approved indebtedness of $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.
Palin also joined with nearby communities in jointly hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarked funds for the Wasilla city government. Earmarks included $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs. Term limits in the Wasilla Municipal Code proscribe candidates from running for more than two consecutive terms.
Controversies
Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Emmons strongly objected to remarks by Palin that Emmons characterized as being about censorship. Emmons said that Palin asked two or three times in October 1996 if she would object to books being removed from the library. Palin has said the question was "rhetorical". John Stein, the former mayor of Wasilla and Palin's 1996 political opponent, said in September 2008 that Palin's "religious beliefs," and the concerns of some voters about language in the books, motivated her inquiries. In December 1996, Palin said she had no books or other material in mind for removal. No books were removed from the library, and Palin stated in 2006 that she would not allow her personal religious beliefs to dictate her political positions.
Police Chief Irl Stambaugh, who was fired by Palin, was previously nominated to be Alaska's Municipal Employee of the Year. Because he had heard that Palin had felt intimidated by him during a meeting, he made sure to sit when talking with her, and to use a soothing voice. Nevertheless, Palin said, "When I met with you in private, instead of engaging in interactive conversation with me, you gave me short, uncommunicative answers and then you would sit there and stare at me in silence with a very stern look, like you were trying to intimidate me." On January 30, Stambaugh was on the phone with the town's librarian — who said she had just been fired — when an assistant of Palin's walked up and gave Stambaugh a
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