I came across some great snippets from Sarah Palin's Hometown Newspaper.
[EDIT] There is an online version of this local paper, with a searchable archive, despite what was reported on Huffington Post earlier.
The Frontiersman's Searchable Archive
I posted 4 stories
- the first deals with her partisan politics and ideology, and how it influenced her hiring/firings.
- The second story deals with "troopergate" but provides evidence of audiotapes and the fact that her husband was directly involved.
- This one is about using her mayoral office for campaign functions when she ran for lt. gov. the city claimed this wasn't illegal, but she STILL stuck the good citizens with the bill for her campaign expenses.
4.Finally, the good old right wing barn-burner...eminent domain!!!! Palin was a driving force to declare it and thus buil. Hey, conservatives, your right wing darling declared eminent domain for a sports complex. It cost the town tons of money and legal fees, but she got what she wanted and STOLE property from someone (as you would say), how you like them apples?
http://www.frontiersman.com/...
Mat-Su Valley Frointiersman 3/21/06 Accessed 8/31/08 10:03pm PST
"I viewed her as being very tightly conservative," he said in a telephone interview Saturday. "Maybe she's changed her mind, but she rode in on a huge partisan wave. If your philosophy started with an "L," you were lower than Iditarod Trail dust."
Stein said much of that stemmed from Palin's conservative Christian background. He added that Palin's first actions as Wasilla mayor included ousting department heads based on political ideology, and looking into how to censor books at the public library.
"I was horrified, I have to say," he said. "That was the last straw. That's where Sarah and I had a huge disconnect."
http://www.frontiersman.com/... 8/15/2008 accessed 8/31/08 10:20pm PST
That pride comes from trust — a trust the governor is straining as she and her administration continue to flounder over her recent firing of former state Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan amid allegations Monegan wouldn’t cave to pressure to fire Palmer-based Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten. Wooten is Palin’s former brother-in-law and is embroiled in a custody battle with the governor’s sister.
First Gentleman Todd Palin has admitted approaching Monegan on behalf of the Palin family about Wooten, and now we have learned that, despite initial statements from the governor to the contrary, that some members of Palin’s staff also contacted the DPS about Wooten. In a press conference Wednesday, Palin admitted there were about "two dozen" such contacts and said those happened without her knowledge. She said many of those contacts were made by her former chief of staff, Mike Tibbles.
Palin’s awareness of this pressure from staff comes directly after the discovery of a taped telephone conversation between the governor’s director of boards and commissions, Frank Bailey, and AST Lt. Rodney Dial. During that conversation, Bailey pressures Dial to take action against Wooten.
Anonymous complaints allege former mayor misused office
http://www.frontiersman.com/... accessed 8/31/08 10:41pm pst
Two anonymous letters have been sent, apparently to several media outlets and the Alaska Public Offices Commission, stating that Palin held campaign-related meetings in her office, had numerous telephone conversations involving her campaign and used her city e-mail account to conduct campaign-related business. One e-mail, listed as "an example of one of possibly hundreds of e-mails that were sent out of Wasilla City Hall during Sarah Palin's campaign for lieutenant governor," was forwarded as part of one message. The e-mail was apparently a reply to an e-mail sent out to Alaska Outdoor Council members, notifying them of the council's endorsement of Robin Taylor for lieutenant governor.
http://www.frontiersman.com/... accessed 8/31/08 11:14pm
Published on Monday, April 30, 2007 11:47 AM AKDT
April 27, 2007
When Gov. Sarah Palin earlier this year introduced her budget that called for cutting $150 million in spending, even some of the Legislature's most strident fiscal conservatives suggested such deep cuts were not possible.
Fast forward nearly three months. Public money has been spent on a controversial and inconclusive advisory vote and, more recently, on a poll to tell legislators how wonderful they are.
On a more big-ticket note, bills are currently on the move in the House to reward the cruise and travel industry with millions of dollars in direct and indirect subsidies, while calculated inaction on a Senate bill that initially boasted widespread support could end up hitting Alaskans in the pocketbook for more than $100 million.
In the meantime, despite a budget surplus in the range of $3 billion, the longevity bonus and municipal revenue sharing - programs that have a direct effect on the quality of life of regular Alaskans - have been cut from the budget by legislative committees whose members say the state simply can't afford these programs.
The message being sent to Alaskans seems clear: Corporate interests with big corporate checkbooks, who are some of the most generous contributors to political campaigns, get a piece of the pie, while Alaskans who have worked and raised families here get to foot the bill, even as their property taxes escalate to nearly unmanageable levels.
http://www.frontiersman.com/... accessed 8/31/08 11:26pm pst
WASILLA — Five years after using its eminent domain powers to secure land for the Wasilla Sports Complex, the city is paying a high price.
City Council has agreed to allocate $661,028 from its general fund balance to help cover costs associated with the court case of Wasilla vs. Gary Lundgren. Lundgren sued the city and won an award of just over $1 million after the city used eminent domain to take a parcel of property he was negotiating to buy.
The dispute over the land began during the administration of former Mayor Sarah Palin in the late 1990s when the city and another buyer were interested in the same property, said Wasilla City Attorney Tom Klinkner. The city was negotiating with a local branch of The Nature Conservancy to buy the parcel of land where the Multi-Use Sports Complex is now located. The problem was Gary Lundgren had already begun negotiations with the national branch of the organization for the same tract of land. The city sued to acquire the land, putting it and Lundgren in federal court.
Initially, it looked as though the city would win the case, but the judge decided Lundgren should receive the land, Klinkner said. With a large amount of money already dedicated to the land acquisition, the city, by this time in the administration of Mayor Dianne M. Keller, used its eminent domain powers to finally condemn and take the parcel in December 2002.
Wasilla is responsible for paying Lundgren and other costs associated with the case, Klinkner said. The city has already issued a $175,000 payment to the court, bringing the award amount to about $830,000. The city is also responsible for paying Lundgren’s lawyer fees — an amount yet to be determined. Adding the amount council recently allocated, the city has so far committed more than $836,000 toward paying down the award.
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