"Reformer" Palin Gave Jobs to Friends and Donors in Alaska

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Friday October 24, 2008 · 4:45 PM PDT

2008/10/24 · 16:45

Is there a different meaning to the word "reform" in Alaska? Because if not Sarah Palin has once again been caught in a bald faced lie.

Los Angeles Times - Palin appointed friends and donors to key posts in Alaska, records show.

"I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau when I stood up to the special interests and the lobbyists and the big oil companies and the good old boys," Palin told the Republican National Convention in her acceptance speech. She said that as a new governor she "shook things up, and in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people."

In some other respects, a Los Angeles Times examination of state records shows, her approach to government was business as usual. Take, for example, the tradition of patronage. Some of Palin's most controversial appointments involved donors, records show.

- More than 100 appointments to state posts -- nearly 1 in 4 -- went to campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications.

- Palin filled 16 state offices with appointees from families that donated $2,000 to $5,600 and were among her top political patrons.

- Several of Palin's leading campaign donors received state-subsidized industrial development loans of up to $3.6 million for business ventures of questionable public value.

And the Coup de Grâce: Walt Monegan, the Public Safety Commissioner she fired during Troopergate, was replaced by a Palin donor.

* Palin picked a donor to replace the public safety commissioner she fired.

But, it gets EVEN BETTER. The donor she chose to replace Monegan had to resign because of the ethics violation!

But the new top cop had to resign days later under an ethics cloud. And Palin drew a formal ethics complaint still pending against her and several aides for allegedly helping another donor and fundraiser land a state job.

Palin-McCain? It's MORE OF THE SAME.

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