The picture one gets of Sarah Palin from her days as a mayor is not a pretty one. And just as she was coming to be considered for a higher office, she found herself making the argument that women should not vote for a woman just because she's a woman. (See below.)
Interestingly -- and someone ought to make hay of this -- Palin's first newsworthy stance appears to be in favor of a tax increase (Anchorage Daily News, Oct. 8, 1992):
Voters in Wasilla bucked tradition Tuesday and, by a slim margin, approved plans to start a police department financed by the city's first-ever sales tax. "I'd feel safer saying this if the margin was wider, but I think Wasilla finally sees the light. People see the need for change," said Sarah Palin, 28. Palin, a political newcomer, was one of two supporters of the police-sales tax plan elected to the city council Tuesday.
It gets scary from there...
When Palin first became mayor, a reporter (ADN, Oct. 2, 1996) characterized the scene thus:
Palin, surrounded by friends and supporters, began shouting as the numbers were written on a display board at the Mat-Su Borough offices. ''We won, We won,'' she said as she and her supporters jumped up and down.
Less than a month later (ADN, Oct. 29, 1996) the perky cheerleader had transformed into Stalin:
The newly elected mayor of Wasilla has asked all of the city's top managers to resign in order to test their loyalty to her administration.
Within a few months things were getting worse (ADN, Jan. 31, 1997):
Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin fired the city's police chief and the library director without warning Thursday, accusing them of not fully supporting her efforts to govern. Irl Stambaugh and Mary Ellen Emmons said letters signed by Palin were dropped on their desks Thursday afternoon telling them their jobs were over as of Feb. 13 and that they no longer needed to report to work.
By the following month, Palin had to backtrack on the librarian, but dug her heels in on the police chief (ADN, Feb 1, 1997):
City librarian Mary Ellen Emmons will stay, but Police Chief Irl Stambaugh is on his own, Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin announced Friday.
The new police chief got down to the tough business of making sure bars stayed open longer (ADN, March 28, 1997):
Wasilla got a new police chief Thursday, one who said he will bring to the job a philosophy of personal freedom that doesn't include his predecessor's support of limiting bar hours.
And the mayor herself got down the important work of cutting taxes on luxury items (ADN, Dec. 24, 1997):
Wasilla residents no longer will have to pay taxes on their boats, snowmachines or planes...Mayor Sarah Palin said eliminating the taxes will encourage more businesses to move to the area...
As well, Palin decided (ADN, Oct. 3, 1996) to "scrutinize the city's funding of museums and other arts," and eventually museum workers began to leave their jobs (ADN, Aug 6, 1997):
Faced with a $32,000 budget cut and the prospect of choosing who would lose her job, the three 15-year-plus employees decided instead to quit en masse.
Palin apparently doesn't believe in climate change even though the town's pride and joy, the Iditarod, was ruined on her watch -- by a lack of snow (ADN, March 8, 1998):
Wasilla is the home of the Iditarod, the place where mushers go to start the real race -- but not this year, not the year before that, and, well, not three years before that. Hampered by a lack of snow and gale-force winds that scour even the hardest packed trail, the designated starting point of the last great race has, in recent years, found itself passed over in favor of Willow, 30 miles up the Parks Highway.
Perhaps she blames taxes for lack of snow.
Other important business included keen photo ops of making bets with other mayors (ADN, Oct. 19, 1999):
After losing a wager with Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin, left, Anchorage major Rick Mystrom, right, greets incoming students Monday morning in front of Wasilla High School along with Wasilla senior Kyra Kolbeck...The losing mayor had to congratulate the winning student body as it arrived at school.
A couple years later, the fired police chief was back and screaming mad, but Palin beat him in court (ADN, March 1, 2000):
She was within her rights to give the police chief the boot, a federal judge ruled. The police chief serves at the discretion of the mayor, and can be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one, U.S. District Court Judge James K. Singleton ruled...
More of the same, anyone?
By 2002, there were calls to promote her to lieutenant governor and senator (she'd been reelected by a wide margin), and, perhaps hinting at why McCain picked her, people saw her as a particular kind of candidate (ADN, August 23, 2002):
Palin is the candidate for change; the others wasted their chances After watching the candidates for lieutenant governor debate on ''Running,'' I came away with a very clear understanding as to which candidate would be the best choice for Alaska.
So she's a woman. Evangelicals love her. And she's a big change -- for Alaska. Now I understand.
But perhaps most tellingly, when Palin herself was passed over for the Murkowski job, she decided to support not the woman running for the job, but the man. THESE WORDS SHOULD REALLY COME BACK TO HAUNT HER.
ADN, Nov. 4, 2002, by Sarah Palin:
As Alaska voters sort out the charges and countercharges of the two major candidates for governor, no doubt many women will be asking themselves why they should support a man, Frank Murkowski, rather than a woman, Fran Ulmer. It is important to compare these two candidates and vote accordingly.