CamelCase LinkLanguage WikiWalker MarkDilley

About Sarah Palin: A Letter From Anne Kilkenny

What follows is an open letter written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska named Anne Kilkenny.

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child%u2019s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she%u2019s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won%u2019t vote for her can%u2019t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a %u201Cbabe%u201D.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is %u201Cpro-life%u201D. She recently gave birth to a Down%u2019s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn%u2019t take positions; she just %u201Cputs things out there%u201D and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin%u2019s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She%u2019s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a %u201Cfiscal conservative%u201D. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren%u2019t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn%u2019t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later%u2013to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today%u2019s surplus, borrow for needs.

She%u2019s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideasor compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren%u2019t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren%u2019t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin%u2019s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the %u201Cold boy%u2019s club%u201D when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of %u201Cold boys%u201D. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal%u2013loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State%u2019s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla%u2019s Police Chief because he %u201Cintimidated%u201D her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska%u2019s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it%u2019s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn%u2019t fire her sister%u2019s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn%u2019t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job.

In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the %u201Cold boys%u2019 club%u201D when she dramatically quit, exposing this man%u2019s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the %u201Cbridge to nowhere%u201D after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects%u2013which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance%u2013but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as %u201Canti-pork%u201D.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.

They call her %u201CSarah Barracuda%u201D because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah%u2019s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as %u201CAGIA%u201D that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked toglobal warming. She campaigned %u201Cas a private citizen%u201D against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State%u2019s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior%u2019s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there%u2019s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT

%u2022%u201CHockey mom%u201D: true for a few years
%u2022%u201CPTA mom%u201D: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
%u2022%u201CNRA supporter%u201D: absolutely true
%u2022social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
%u2022pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
%u2022%u201CPro-life%u201D: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down%u2019s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
%u2022%u201CExperienced%u201D: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
%u2022political maverick: not at all
%u2022gutsy: absolutely!
%u2022open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
%u2022has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
%u2022%u201Da Greenie%u201D: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
%u2022fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
%u2022pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
%u2022pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
%u2022pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla%u2019s history.
%u2022pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn%u2019t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I%u2019ve always operated in the belief that %u201CBad things happen when good people stay silent%u201D. Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don%u2019t have a job she can bump me out of. I don%u2019t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that%u2019s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah%u2019s attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can%u2019t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall%u2013they are swamped. So I can%u2019t verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my %u201Cabout 5,000%u2033, up to 9,000. The day Palin%u2019s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90%u2019s.

————————————————————————-

Some have been claiming this letter is an “internet hoax.” So some reporters decided to actually track her down. Check out a three minute radio piece produced by NPR here.