Contrary to what Pudd'nhead says, countless others have not resigned and her definition of "honor" seems to be atypical and nonstandard:
And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.
In the last 50 years only 33 governors have resigned:
- 15 resigned in order to accept a presidential appointment
- 11 resigned because they were elected or appointed to Congress or VP
- 3 resigned due to scandal
- 2 resigned after being tried and convicted of felonies
- 1 due to illness
- 1 resigned in order to prepare his fourth run at the presidency
Besides Pudd'nhead Palin, in the last 50 years, no other sitting governor resigned because of too many ethics complaints, or because "life is too short", or to avoid being a "dead fish", or to help someone else's election campaign, or because they're a "lame duck", or even to "advance in a different direction".
Governors who resigned 1959-2009
Name | State | Party | Term Resigned | Reason |
Raul H Castro | AZ | D | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Ambassador to Argentina |
Patrick Joseph Lucey | WI | D/I | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Ambassador to Mexico |
Richard Francis Kneip | SD | D | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Ambassador to Singapore |
Christine Todd Whitman | NJ | R | 2 | Presidential Appointment - EPA Administrator |
Michael Okerlund Leavitt | UT | R | 3 | Presidential Appointment - EPA Administrator |
Otto Kerner | IL | D | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Federal Judge |
Mike Johanns | NE | R | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Agriculture |
Abraham Alexander Ribicoff | CT | D | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Secretary of HEW |
Kathleen Sebelius | KS | D | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Secretary of HHS |
Janet Napolitano | AZ | D | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Homeland Security |
Tom Ridge | PA | R | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Homeland Security |
George Wilcken Romney | MI | R | 3 | Presidential Appointment - Secretary of HUD |
Dirk Kempthorne | ID | R | 2 | Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Interior |
Cecil Dale Andrus | ID | D | 1 | Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Interior |
John Arthur Love | CO | R | 3 | Presidential Appointment – Director of the Office of Energy Policy |
Michael Newbold Castle | DE | R | 2 | Elected US Congress - House |
James Caleb Boggs | DE | R | 2 | Elected US Congress - Senate |
Harold Everett Hughes | IA | D | 3 | Elected US Congress - Senate |
Edmund Sixtus Muskie | ME | D | 2 | Elected US Congress - Senate |
George V Voinovich | OH | R | 2 | Elected US Congress - Senate |
Spiro Theodore Agnew | MD | R | 1 | Elected US Vice-President |
Albert Benjamin Chandler | KY | D | 1 | Appointed to US Senate |
Wendell Richard Anderson | MN | D | 2 | Appointed to US Senate |
Edwin Leard Mechem | NM | R | 4 | Appointed to US Senate |
Donald Stuart Russell | SC | D | 1 | Appointed to US Senate |
John Joseph Hickey | WY | D | 1 | Appointed to US Senate |
John G Rowland | CT | R | 3 | Scandal (ethics) |
James E McGreevey | NJ | D | 1 | Scandal (sex) |
Eliot Spitzer | NY | D | 1 | Scandal (sex) |
Harold Guy Hunt | AL | R | 2 | Resigned after felony conviction |
J Fife Symington III | AZ | R | 2 | Resigned after felony conviction |
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller | NY | R | 4 | To prepare for 1976 presidential bid |
Ella T Grasso | CT | D | 2 | Illness |
Pudd'nhead Palin | AK | R | 1 | Bad Hair Day |