More Palin talk from Outside

Alaska visit quite an experience

Wednesday, July 25, 2007
TOM KOENNINGER editor emeritus of The Columbian

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - “Take off your shoes and socks,” advised Redoubt Bay Lodge guide Jeremy Bishop. “Then step off the boat. You won’t sink.”"Ohhh, sure.”

My confidence was not great as I took two baby steps, and water rose half-way to my knees. Then I walked a few feet from the boat, and water was ankle deep.

Walking on water was actually walking on a bog that floated on the lake several hundred feet from shore. It was like walking on a gigantic water bed - stepping out, sinking a little, and stepping again.

That newfound self-confidence was shattered a few days later when a Fairbanks woman, Karen Lundquist, told me she fell through a bog while duck hunting. Only her shotgun, held across her body, saved her from going completely under.

Walking on that lake 90 miles southwest of here, near the entrance to Lake Clark National Park, was one of many Alaska experiences during a nine-day July visit.

The enormity of Alaska doesn’t sink in until its size is compared with the lower 48. This 49th state occupies one-fifth the land mass of the United States. Alaska is larger than Texas, California and Montana combined. It measures 2,404 miles east to west and 1,420 miles north to south. But Alaska has comparatively few people, about 700,000.

Anchorage, nearly equidistant from Tokyo, New York and London, has one of the nation’s busiest airports.

Alaska is truly the last frontier, with a wealth of natural resources, from oil at Prudhoe Bay and natural gas deposits, to fish in the Bering Sea. Gold is still mined near Nome, and the forests yield an abundance of lumber.

But there are abuses, too.

At a location not far from the Redoubt Bay Lodge, occupants of 15 small boats crowded into an area not much larger than a football field to snag salmon - legally. And hundreds of the sockeye salmon were pushing to the mouth of a small creek. People with fishing poles cast hooks repeatedly until they snagged fish. Let’s not call it sport. Maybe it falls under subsistence fishing. The “snaggers” weren’t the least bit interested in the occasional black bear grabbing a salmon.

But our interest was spotting bears, not snagging fish. The count in four hours searching was 13 - 12 black bears including a mother (sow) with two cubs, and a brown bear, a grizzly.

Governor occupies spotlight

Our group also heard human growling out of concern for “capital creep” and howls of joy and pain for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s radical surgery on the state construction budget.

She trimmed $237 million out of the proposed $1.8 billion capital budget, and approved a $6.6 billion operating budget for the state. It’s the highest operating budget in state history.

Palin, a Republican, is Alaska’s first female governor and the youngest governor in state history. She was 42 when sworn into office in January.

Of her whacks at the capital budget, she said she was trying to rein in governmental growth and “live within our means.”

Like Washington’s Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, Palin is a strong supporter of education. She advocates “creating a strong economy with good jobs” and “an education system that is world class.”

While some protested the governor’s budget cuts, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner said she “struck a blow for a more open and accountable system of funding projects.”

Palin, by the way, has an approval-rating percentage in the 90s - the highest in the country. Maybe the fact that she was trained as a journalist gave her an especially good start.

Palin did raise some eyebrows, especially in Juneau, when she recently convened a one-day special session of the state Legislature in Anchorage. The controversial campaign to move the state legislature from Juneau to Anchorage has raged on for years.

Many eyes are turned to the next session - and its location.

That’s the news from the far north, where the “PFD” this year is estimated at $1,575. Permanent Fund Dividend checks represent money the state pays each of its qualified residents based on its oil wealth.

We’re paying a share of it, too.

Tom Koenninger is editor emeritus of The Columbian. His column of personal opinion appears on the Other Opinions page each Wednesday. Reach him at

tom.koenninger@columbian.com

Source: The Columbian

The Palin Effect

By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 23, 2007 The spontaneously sprouting grass-roots Internet movement for Sarah Palin might say more about the state of the Republican Party than the governor of the state of Alaska.Mrs. Palin, 43, a former beauty pageant contestant elected in 2006, is like a Rorschach inkblot test for her fans — yes, fans — who see in her what they want to see. They think her the ideal Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008.

Ardent Palinistas stretch from Alaska to Ambridge. They praise her honesty, leadership and for worshipping the state Constitution. But they freely admit they know nothing about her stands on most national issues. One of the most ardent doesn’t want to know, at least not yet.

“She’s a woman, young, very popular and she’s extremely honest,” says Steve Maloney of Ambridge, a small town in Beaver County near Pittsburgh. Mr. Maloney is a former college professor, speechwriter and veteran of many political campaigns.

“She’s a person committed to the Constitution and against corruption in Alaska politics. I do not know what her positions are about the two biggest issues on the national scene: Iraq and immigration. I don’t want her to speak out until she’s approached. I hope Sarah is not locked into these issues.”

Maloney sees her offering a fresh perspective “to get the country off of the food fight about Iraq and immigration. As soon as she says her immigration position, there goes the Hispanic vote. I am much more of a practical politician. I don’t want to lose elections constantly because I have gone off and offended one group after another. We can’t afford to do that, like about immigration.”

Maloney was turned on to Palin by a Colorado university student who created the “Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President” Web site– and goes by “ElephantMan.”

“I decided to do a bunch of research looking for a good running mate,” he says. “Based on everything I’ve seen, I feel pretty strongly that this candidate would be good for national office.”

But other than her position on the “A” word and the “G” word — she’s pro-life and a lifetime NRA member — he knows nothing about her stands on Iraq, immigration, Social Security, Medicare and on and on.

Alaskan Trish Houser is the Web mistress for the Palintology Web site. It’s available online — and gets roughly 800 to 1,000 hits a day, she says.

“I like her. She’s just a good person who cares what you have to say,” Ms. Houser says. “She’s very sweet and interested in what people think and need.” Houser also doesn’t know Palin’s stand on national issues other than the two already mentioned. Palin has not stated a formal position on Iraq, immigration, Social Security or Medicare, says spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton.

Palin publicly blew the whistle on ethics-challenged Republican power brokers, adheres to the state Constitution and vetoes bills that included layers of pork. She simply does her job.

And that makes her look unique — especially from inside the Beltway. Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard wrote Palin has “eye-popping integrity.” Since when did the GOP need a modifier for integrity? Should Lincoln be called Really Honest Abe?

Palin’s fan club asks for little.

Mr. Maloney’s rhetorical question: “Who the hell is the last politician who mentioned the Constitution?”

Dimitri Vassilaros is a Trib editorial page columnist. His column appears Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. Call him at 412-380-5637. E-mail him at dvassilaros@tribweb.com.

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Palin is GOP’s beacon

By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 16, 2007 Sarah Palin can teach Republicans how to be Republicans. It’s a simple lesson. But it won’t be easy for anyone who thinks being pragmatic and principled are mutually exclusive. Mrs. Palin, 43, is the governor of Alaska and the brightest light in the land of the midnight sun.While rasing four kids with her husband, Palin has reduced taxes, embraced the state Constitution, publicly complained about powerful fellow Republicans she thought unethical, encouraged companies to compete for state contracts — and has not ruled out running for president.

She relishes moose burgers because “they taste better than beef with no chemicals, steroids or hormones.” She adopted the Pittsburgh Steelers because of the team’s success in the 1970s and because there are no major professional teams in her state.

As a teenage flautist trying to win a scholarship, she was second runner-up in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant. Looking back, she now thinks she was livestock in a swimsuit being eyed by the male judges. “Degrading” she calls it now.

Talk with her for awhile, as I did last Wednesday, and try to count the number of references to her state Constitution. During that phone call, she cited it more than 12 times — not once gratuitously.

“It’s my bible in governing,” Palin says. “I try to keep it so simple by reading the thing and believing in it and living it. It’s providential. Some of the crafters of the Constitution are still alive. They’re my mentors, my advisers. I get to meet with these folks and ask, ‘What did you mean by this?’ And it makes so much sense.”

Palin does not favor same-sex marriage. However, she vetoed a bill prohibiting official gay unions because the judiciary had ruled that banning it was unconstitutional. “I wasn’t going to disobey what the courts said we could and couldn’t do.” When she swore to uphold the law, she meant it.

Ask her to articulate her conservative principles and you’ll hear, “Fiscally speaking, the private sector can do a better job than government can do.” She also believes in man. “Also just trusting individuals to make wise decisions for themselves and families. I have a lot of trust in individuals. I don’t trust government nearly as much.”

Gov. Palin vetoed about a third or more of the capital budget, she says. “It’s not an open, transparent process at all. The way (the Legislature) works, the administration doesn’t even know what’s in it until the gavel falls. It’s handed to the governor without public process and public debate. It’s a nonsensical way of budgeting.”

Many of the vetoed items were earmarks by her fellow Republicans. Little wonder she and her party are estranged political bedfellows. “There’s absolutely no communication between the state administration and the Republican Party,” she says. “No communication, no calling for advice either way.”

Some would look at that as the price she has to pay for being a GOP maverick. That is, someone who talks the talk and walks the walk. “I look at it as the way it’s supposed to be.”

Palin recently signed a bill vastly improving Alaska’s ethics and disclosure laws. Now it’s a crime for public servants not to report bribery they know about.

Ask her five or six different times if she will run for president and hear nervous giggles and self-deprecating humor. But you won’t hear “No.”

Source: Pittsburg Tribune-Review

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP’s Newest Star

Source: Fox News

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

By Fred Barnes

JUNEAU, Alaska —

The wipeout in the 2006 election left Republicans in such a state of dejection that they’ve overlooked the one shining victory in which a Republican star was born.The triumph came in Alaska where Sarah Palin, a politician of eye-popping integrity, was elected governor. She is now the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating in the 90s, and probably the most popular public official in any state.

Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle–especially to transparency and accountability in government–can produce political success. And by the way, Palin is a conservative who only last month vetoed 13 percent of the state’s proposed budget for capital projects. The cuts, the Anchorage Daily News said, “may be the biggest single-year line-item veto total in state history.”

As recently as last year, Palin (pronounced pale-in) was a political outcast. She resigned in January 2004 as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after complaining to the office of Governor Frank Murkowski and to state Attorney General Gregg Renkes about ethical violations by another commissioner, Randy Ruedrich, who was also Republican state chairman.

State law barred Palin from speaking out publicly about ethical violations and corruption. But she was vindicated later in 2004 when Ruedrich, who’d been reconfirmed as state chairman, agreed to pay a $12,000 fine for breaking state ethics laws. She became a hero in the eyes of the public and the press, and the bane of Republican leaders.

In 2005, she continued to take on the Republican establishment by joining Eric Croft, a Democrat, in lodging an ethics complaint against Renkes, who was not only attorney general but also a long-time adviser and campaign manager for Murkowski. The governor reprimanded Renkes and said the case was closed. It wasn’t. Renkes resigned a few weeks later, and Palin was again hailed as a hero.

Palin, 43, the mother of four, passed up a chance to challenge Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, the then-governor’s daughter, in 2004. She endorsed another candidate in the primary, but Murkowski won and was reelected. Palin said then that her 14-year-old son talked her out of running, though it’s doubtful that was the sole reason.

In 2006, she didn’t hesitate. She ran against Gov. Murkowski, who was seeking a second term despite sagging poll ratings, in the Republican primary. In a three-way race, Palin captured 51 percent and won in a landslide. She defeated former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election, 49 percent to 41 percent. She was one of the few Republicans anywhere in the country to perform above expectations in 2006, an overwhelmingly Democratic year. Palin is unabashedly pro life.

With her emphasis on ethics and openness in government, “it turned out Palin caught the temper of the times perfectly,” wrote Tom Kizzia of the Anchorage Daily News. She was also lucky. News broke of an FBI investigation of corruption by legislators between the primary and general elections. So far, three legislators have been indicted.

In the roughly three years since she quit as the state’s chief regulator of the oil industry, Palin has crushed the Republican hierarchy (virtually all male) and nearly every other foe or critic. Political analysts in Alaska refer to the “body count” of Palin’s rivals.

“The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who crossed Sarah,” says pollster Dave Dittman, who worked for her gubernatorial campaign. It includes Ruedrich, Renkes, Murkowski, gubernatorial contenders John Binkley and Andrew Halcro, the three big oil companies in Alaska, and a section of the Daily News called “Voice of the Times,” which was highly critical of Palin and is now defunct.

Alaska is too big for partisan politics

This isn’t Sarah related, but interesting enough I felt it deserved a reprint here in case you might have missed it in the Anchorage Daily News.

Any Alaskan that attaches themselves to a party should really give this a read.

WALLY HICKEL
COMMENT

(Published: July 8, 2007)

As we approach 50 years of statehood, it’s time to recognize that the partisan political party system we borrowed from the South 48 doesn’t fit Alaska. No one party has a corner on the issues and beliefs important to Alaskans, and we shouldn’t let partisanship divide us when the door is open to many great opportunities awaiting our state and our people. Historically, when the battle was joined on the biggest issues facing us, Alaskans closed ranks and dropped party labels and symbols. We did it when we won statehood in 1958, and we did it to gain passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 13 years later.

Today as we debate who should build and benefit from a natural gas pipeline and whether needy seniors and the state’s education budget should receive adequate funding, the majority of Alaskans stand together. And the politicians from both major parties stand with us.

New arrivals to our state and each succeeding generation need to understand that being a citizen in Alaska requires more thought and involvement than it does in the rest of the country. It demands more than bumper-sticker politics.

Our constitution and the Alaska Statehood Act mandate that all Alaskans are co-owners of Alaska’s 103 million acres and the resources they contain. In this unique Owner State, we have the obligation to use these valuable assets for the benefit of the people and the region and not some leader or corporation. And we have the obligation to care for lands and resources and make sure they are not abused.

At the state level, the overall economy and state revenue depend on the management skills of those we elect and those they appoint. They must have an understanding of business and government that matches or surpasses the Outside interests with whom they must deal. And what business would pick its executives and board of directors on whether or not they are Republicans or Democrats?

Partisanship carries with it risks and dangers. Special interests can capture political parties and use legal loopholes to funnel campaign funds and campaign workers to the politicians who vote their way.

And who are the party leaders who allow this to happen? Few Alaskans know who serves on the executive committee of the political party they belong to and help finance. Few media carry stories or images of these people. And yet these insiders wield great influence and can become so entrenched that even the grass-roots central committees they are supposed to represent are often powerless to clean house when needed.

It can be argued that political parties provide a simple means for voters to identify the philosophies of candidates for public office. Take another look.

The Republicans have traditionally advocated reduced government and being tough when it comes to law and order. But for the past generation, it has been our all-Republican congressional delegation that has secured billions of dollars of government funds to help Alaska catch up with the quality of life enjoyed by the rest of the nation. I commend them for putting Alaska before the party platform.

And when it comes to law and order, nearly all of the politicians being investigated today by the FBI for bribery and corruption are Republicans.

The most obvious benefit of the party system is the convenience it provides to organize elections. Through the primary process, the number of names on the ballot is reduced to a manageable number of candidates in the general election. And party labels serve as shorthand, especially for those voters who haven’t taken the time to listen to, read about and meet the candidates.

But I think we can do better. As we prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of statehood, let’s brainstorm and debate this issue. The Alaska Constitution does not require the formation of political parties. Let’s take the time to design a nonpartisan Alaska. If we succeed, future generations will be well served.

---

Walter J. Hickel was elected governor of Alaska as a Republican in 1966 and as an Independence Party candidate in 1990. He served as secretary of the interior from 1969-1970. With former Gov. Bill Egan, a Democrat, he co-founded the public policy forum Commonwealth North in 1979.

Next Page »