14 posts tagged “andrew halcro”
It's getting unbearable. The daily updates on her book tour which comprises stops in communities where apparently the only people reading her book are those who fear for their life, liberty and Medicare coverage. People who can't name one public policy or foreign policy position Palin endorses but can only say "she's real"
Real what?
Look sister, until you have enough guts to roll the rogue express down Broadway and hold a book signing in Manhattan, you're not real, you're just really fooling yourself about your marketability and your rogueness.
In fact, judging from film coverage from the small Midwest towns where Palin has dared to venture, if Palin's book tour were a Starbucks, it'd be a sea of plain Vanilla steamers at a time when the country is becoming more of a complex carmel macchiato.
Yeah, I know the story line. Those who line up to buy her book are disillusioned by the perceived East/West coast "elitist, smarty pants" mentality that they believe looks to the heartland with a disparaging eye. Talk about a red herring.
Do the parents in Port Washington, Pennsylvania really hope their kids grow up "not smart enough" to have a shot at getting into the best (dare I say elite) colleges in the country?
Ironically, the people in rural America are supported heavily by the federal income tax dollars that flow from East and West coast inhabitants, that pay their farm subsidies, auto industry bailouts and Ma and Pa Jones Medicare and Social security.
But they apparently want a return to the simple times when you could gather around the kitchen table and not worry about the complexities of a global economy and the real challenges of governing a country where our greatest strength is our diversity.
It's all noise, generated by the Sarah Palin's of the world who want to distract from their inability to articulate real solutions to real problems by repeating meaningless phrases. Last week in answering about a dozen questions from Rush Limbaugh, Palin said some combination of "solutions," "conservative" and "commonsense" twenty-five times.
Here's a tip: If you have to repeatedly qualify what you're saying is a commonsense solution, than it's not really a commonsense solution.
The beauty of commonsense solutions is that they are common without having to be labeled as such. In fact it's all common "nonsense."
A desperate attempt to conjure up a bogeyman for the ills of America and pretend things like we can send more troops into battle without having to face the reality of supporting them, not just with yellow ribbons and empty pep rally rhetoric but with ways to pay for them.
This however is an anathema to the twenty something percent who still believes Sarah Palin is lucid. This approach creates an uncomfortable reality that without someone to demonize, they'd be force to accept responsibility and offer real solutions, not soundbites.
In short, Palin has become the definition of Twitter. She's limited to 140 characters no matter what the topic.
And lets face it, the more you read or hear about her 413 page affront to known facts and basic intelligence, the more you realize just how thankful we should be to be that she came along at a time when enough Americans believed that having a grasp of issues was more important than entertaining a delusional narcissist.
But I digress.
We've had our fun here at andrewhalcro.com with our take on Palin's book. The videos inspired by Tony Hopfinger at (www.alaskadispatch.com) proved that not sometimes, but every time, laughter is the best medicine. However in closing the discussion for one final time about Palin's "somebody done someone wrong song," I feel compelled to respond to what was not in the book rather than rehash what is in the book.
The first thing that is noticeably absent is the lack of any character arc.
There is no personal growth in the entire book, from the beginning where she blames the old boy network (Ruedrich, Allen, Stevens, Murkowski) to the final chapter of blaming the new boy network (Schmidt, Bitney, Wallace et al.) she exhibits no personal growth as a person, a candidate or in her role as an elected official.
In every capacity she is always the aggrieved party, even when she is in charge and has the power to change the circumstances. But more importantly, her tale of woe proves one thing; Sarah Palin is no Barracuda, she's more like a spineless jelly fish.
She writes about former Public safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's bad behavior in her book, but did she ever talk directly to Monagan? No. In fact she had her acting Chief of Staff fire Monegan, but not before she cowardly got on a plane to Philadelphia.
Now there's a leader you can be proud of.
How about Chuck Kopp; why isn't their a page or two dedicated to his brief ten day tenure as Monegan's replacement? At least Palin could have done is explain why she hired him so quick then paid him $10,000 to leave just as quickly.
Palin reportedly regales readers about how hard she paddled years ago to induce labor, so how come she didn't tell us why she paddled so hard just last year to get away from Kopp while dropping ten grand of taxpayer money in the wake to make him go away quietly.
Again, more signs of a trusted leader and a competent manager.
And what of young Frank Bailey? Not one page dedicated to the man who made an "unknown and unauthorized" call to an Alaskan State Trooper in order to get Palin's former brother in law fired. I would have expected a truthful explanation of what happened and why it took her three weeks to discover Bailey made the call after denying any phone calls or pressure had been brought to bare.
In addition, why didn't she explain why an employee who supposedly misrepresented that he was calling on her behalf was punished with a two month paid vacation.
She writes harshly about John Bitney, but did she ever talk to him directly about his Blackberry or anything else she took issue with? No. In fact when Bitney was fired, he found out only after trying to use his state issued Blackberry to call his office and it was turned off.
Then to blame him for not communicating with lawmakers about her vetoes is another sign of her ability to lie. The fact is in June 2007, in the weeks leading up to Palin's vetoes, lawmakers knew she was considering cuts to the capital budget and tried desperately to meet with Palin but she refused.
Again, a competent leader who is not afraid to show spine.
And then there are the things she conveniently left out about during her two hundred word assault on me. Oh the stories I could tell...and will in time.
Palin writes about how my gig as a radio host and blogger was a "step up from my previous job as a limo driver at Todd's cousin's wedding."
Why didn't she write that I owned the company and I was driving because the chauffeur originally scheduled for the run was sick? I guess in Palin's world a small business owner should take the same approach she did when faced with a challenge; give up and quit instead of taking care of your responsibilities.
And why did she leave out that when I was elected to the State House in November of 1998, she sent me a hand written note congratulating me and saying she hoped I'd bring my "small business" experience to Juneau?
Why?
Because in doing so Palin would reveal what many of us found out years ago; her inability to tell the truth is only second to her inability to accept the truth.
And of course my favorite part she left out was the truthful nature of our very limited and brief discussions prior to the 2006 campaign.
She left out how we were brought together to meet by Andre McLeod and in fact we only talked twice...twice, about our thoughts regarding the upcoming gubernatorial campaign; once at Cafe Del Mundo in December of 2004 and again in June of 2005 in Palin's living room.
Why did she exaggerate our discussions? Because the third time we met we were both well on the campaign trail and that was the infamous April 19, 2006 meeting at the Hotel Captain Cook when she looked across the table and said: "Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers and yet when asked questions you spout off facts, figures and policies and I'm amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, does any of this really matter."
I'm proud to say that quote was printed in almost every newspaper from the New York Times to the London Times during last years presidential race. If it caused one person to change their view on Palin's competence, I'll gladly take full credit.
The truly amazing thing about her 2006 quote was it still had shelf life two years later. Her lack of public policy knowledge captured in that 2006 conversation was her Achilles heel in 2008 and a major reason why she had the highest negative ratings of any Vice Presidential candidate in history.
When you think about it, a year has passed since the defeat in last years Presidential race and the book represented Pain's best opportunity to address critical public policy issues and provide a blue print for the future.
However Palin's diatribe does little more than simply reinforce the growing belief that she is only able to play the role of the cheerleader not the leader, the victim not the protector and the mean girl instead of the compassionate Christian.
But to Palin's defense, she's never been forced to change or as some would say, mature. Her supporters love her for what she is, not what she knows. In fact it was one of the most interesting phenomenon's of the 2006 campaign was that she was never forced to compete on ideas because her populist appeal was so strong.
Even after being summarily dismissed by a majority of voters in November 2008 and growing evidence that the more the country heard from Sarah Palin, the more they believe she is unqualified, her supporters defended this as a quality to be cherished.
Well it's obvious to most, but she's not saying. As the shock of Governor Sarah Palin's resignation ripples through Alaska and across the world, there is a dangerous dynamic at play.
By not offering the public a clear and concise reason why she is abruptly stepping aside with sixteen months to go in her term, Palin has left it to bloggers, pundits and reporters to try and fill in the blanks.
Everyone knows that politics abhors a vacuum.
With the lack of any substantive explanation to her sudden departure from office, the rumor mills are working overtime on this holiday weekend.
One blog is reporting that Palin is under federal investigation for her personal finances including the construction of her house in Wasilla that was built when she was Mayor. Another report making the rounds is that there is a pregnancy in the family. Yet another reports says she is leaving politics forever.
All of this is speculation but yet all are quickly filling the vacuum that was created by Palin's rambling resignation speech.
On CNN Anderson Cooper 360, Meg Stapleton, Palin's personal spokesperson tried to tell Cooper that Palin was showing leadership by stepping down as a leader. When asked by Anderson how stepping down with sixteen months remaining in her job was leadership, Stapleton simply said that Palin didn't need a title to do good work.
Stapleton then reiterated a Palin talking point from her earlier speech about how a good point guard knows when to pass the ball. This is nonsensical. The fact is Palin isn't passing the ball, she's taking herself out of the game before the end of the third quarter. There is a huge difference.
Stapleton also told Cooper that the decision to resign was in the works for some time.
That's impossible to believe.
A day of interviews with some of Palin's closest allies on various media outlets, including her own brother, showed that they didn't know about the decision until this morning. Palin's commissioners had no idea and Lt. Governor Parnell was told Wednesday night.
In addition, earlier this morning I received an email from a friend who wrote, "I just heard from some of my friends that Todd was in Dillingham fishing and had to quickly abandon his boat and leave other people in charge of the setnet to get back to Sarah, doesn't sound like a planned resignation."
According to several reporters I spoke to today, the release announcing the press conference was sent out at 9am. The press conference was to be held at 11am, fifty miles outside of Anchorage at the governor's home, thereby not giving the media any advance notice.
The oddest thing about Palin's resignation is that if there isn't a brewing scandal on the verge of rearing its head, then quitting her job with sixteen months to go represents the antithesis of Sarah Palin.
She has always portrayed herself as a someone incredibly competitive, a fighter, a sarah-cuda. Swimming away from a fight has never been associated with a barracuda or a sarah-cuda.
But the repercussions from Palin's abrupt departure goes far beyond just political junkies who blog or watch the news coverage. While many of us are trying to figure out why, there are those that don't care so much about the reason, they just care that she quit on them.
Hours after the announcement, a woman stopped me in the store and told me how disappointed she was after hearing about Palin's resignation. "What does this say about women, that we can't finish the job? She was the first woman governor elected in Alaska's history and now she just up and quits," the woman added.
In her resignation speech, Palin asked Alaskan to trust her decision. But by refusing to offer a plausible reason as to why she is abruptly quitting and leaving the state in the hands of someone that they didn't elect governor, she has asked a lot from Alaskans.
Meanwhile the question of why she stepped down so suddenly will continue to be answered by others, instead of Palin.
April 27, 2009: With a 2010 re-election campaign about to come knocking on the door of Governor Sarah Palin, the lyrics to the classic rock song "Should I stay or should I go" by the Clash are probably rattling around in that head of hers.
But there is only one verse that is even remotely relevant as it applies to Palin's political future; "If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double."
There are fewer torturous decisions for an incumbent than the choice between seeking a presumably safe re-election and tossing it aside to reach for a larger, elusive, more shinier brass ring.
However in this case, Sarah Palin doesn't have a choice. Either she reaches for the ring now, or it's gone for good.
Palin's Challenge: Time and Space
One of the biggest challenge facing Palin is the calendar.
Facing re-election in November of 2010 means that if Palin seeks re-election while harboring hopes about competing for the GOP nomination for president in 2012, she'd have to hit the campaign trail less than two months after she gets re-elected to serve a four year term as governor.
If Palin seeks re-election in 2010, the most commonly asked question of her from opponents and the press will be, "Do you commit to serving your full four year term without leaving to run for president." The question will be poised an unmerciful amount of times due to Palin's proven selective memory when it comes to keeping campaign promises.
And while Palin was chosen in 2008, if she elects to run for President in 2012, it will be a calculated decision determined by her own free will.
If Palin answers yes, and agrees to serve out a four year term without abandoning Alaska, then she'll send an instant message that she is no longer in the hunt for 2012 and will lose the national spotlight. Meanwhile, her lower 48 grass roots supporters will find another candidate to fill the vacuum.
If Palin answers no, and is unable to clearly promise to make a four year commitment to Alaska voters, then her opponents will use it to confirm what has been a growing belief over the last eight months; Palin's focus is not on Alaska but on herself.
If Palin commits to a four year term then runs for president anyway, she'll be crucified by her opponents as a liar and yet another politician who will say anything to get elected. And if she thinks the ethics complaints being filed now are frustrating, just wait until she is traipsing around the country for a year and a half while she should be here governing.
One of the risks for Palin seeking re-election is that she may lose. Even if she prevails in a close election, her star will be tarnished. Remember, one of the biggest sales pitches that McCain used in 2008 was that Palin was the most popular politician in the United States.
Today, Palin isn't even the most popular politician in Alaska; U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski holds that distinction.
During Palin's first run for governor in 2006, Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Tony Knowles rejected outside Democrat Party money and insisted they stay out of the race for governor. In 2010, Democrats will have both the cash and the increased incentive to throw the kitchen sink at Palin if she runs for re-election.
And if she survives the race for governor in 2010 and then waltzes off to run for president, the time demands will be much more crippling than her extended vacation with McCain in 2008.
While running for VP, Palin was absent from the state for a little more than two months and didn't miss any of the legislative session.
If she chases the dream of GOP 2012, it will require her to be on the campaign trail for at least fifteen months. That means Palin would miss two entire legislative sessions out of a four year term at a time when Alaska will be facing significant problems.
D.C. Calling: Palin's White House Fantasy
To show just how early the campaign for president would begin after the November 2010 election, just look at recent history.
McCain formed his exploratory committee for the 2008 presidential race within a week after the 2006 election and declared his candidacy two months later. Mitt Romney formed his exploratory committee on January 3, 2007 and formerly announced the next month. Mike Huckabee announced his candidacy on January 28, 2007.
In all, by February of 2007, just three months after the November 2006 election the field of major contenders was set. With 2012 providing no incumbent for the GOP, the positioning will begin sooner and as some might even say, the positioning has already begun.
Palin's time pressures are greater than her potential rivals as she needs a lot more educating on issues and has a greater hurdle to clear to convince voters that she actually understands the challenges that the United States faces and can articulately formulate policies to address those challenges.
Palin has a long way to go to un-Couric herself in the eyes of the nation.
In a recent interview with GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich, he laid it out best when it came to Palin's chances; "Is she willing to do the kind of development of national issues and development of a national profile that would be required? She is a celebrity in her own right. She is probably the most successful figure in the party right now, and she's a formidable figure. I think to go from there to becoming a national leader would take a significant amount of work."
Polls have consistently showed that while Palin is popular among the Republican base, she has high negatives with everyone else. History shows that the race for President can't be won by appealing solely to the GOP base. Palin will need to attract independents as well as moderate Republicans; the same voters she chased away in 2008.
And unlike running for VP, Palin won't have the luxury of being shielded from the media and only having to prep for one debate.
The primary race will be grueling and the debates will be endless. With the Iowa caucus scheduled for the first week in January 2012, that doesn't leave Palin much time to get schooled. And since returning from the 2008 Presidential campaign trail, Palin has done little to improve herself or her image.
Last month I sat down with a former MSNBC reporter, Matt Berger, who is now writing a book on Palin's Vice Presidential campaign. Over coffee at a local Starbucks, he said that after the November election he sought the counsel of one of the GOP's top strategist.
"What does Sarah Palin have to do to be viable in 2012," he asked.
The consultant listed off three things: Return to Alaska and keep her head down. Show she can lead by bringing people together and scoring some policy wins. Educate herself on the issues to prove the media's portrayal of her was untrue.
Unfortunately for Palin, she has managed to accomplish none of the above.
Palin has been in self destruct mode since her election in 2006. While alternating between public pissing matches and public relation nightmares, Palin has done little more than reinforce skeptics claims that she lacks intelligence and diplomacy.
She picked fights with the media, where after saying she loved the media, wished she had more interaction with them and was completely prepped for the Couric interview to her interview two months later with the conservative version of Michael Moore, John Ziegler, where she chastised the media and said she pleaded with the McCain camp not to make her answer the bell and go a second round with Couric.
She picked fights with lawmakers during this years legislative session where her startling lack of leadership drew heated criticism from members of her own political party. The sordid affair culminated in Palin becoming the first governor in Alaska history to have her Attorney General nominee rejected.
She even picked fights with her own family members. In September when news broke about her pregnant teenage daughter, Palin paraded the father on stage to reinforce her family values to the nation while using the two as roll models for teen pregnancy. Seven months later, Palin was in the press calling the father a liar and saying her daughter made a mistake by hooking up with him.
In return, Palin can look forward to an inevitable tell all book penned by the young Mr. Levi Johnston about his relationship with the Palin's and all of the assorted details in order to monetize his fifteen minutes of fame.
However, regardless of Palin's challenges on the national stage, they pale in comparison to what she faces if she sticks around for another term as Alaska's Governor.
2010: The Main Reason Palin Bails Out
Between 2010 and 2014, Palin's much vaunted natural gas pipeline plan will fail and Alaska will continue to burn cash from savings due to a combination of low oil prices, higher government costs and declining production.
With regards to AGIA and Palin's fraudulent claim she took on big oil to build the gas pipeline, which garnered her critical acclaim on the campaign trail; well don't look now but the signs of failure that many of us predicted two years ago are beginning to show.
The recent news that TransCanada has begun the pre-file process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) made for a nice read, but the truth behind the story reveals the desperation within the Palin administration.
According to TransCanada's web site, their schedule for FERC pre-filing wasn't supposed to occur until 2011 and their official AGIA application puts the timeline for undertaking pre-filing well after their proposed 2010 open season.
So why would TransCanada move their FERC pre-filing up two years? The answer is pressure from the Palin administration.
The Palin brains behind the AGIA dream, DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin and Marty Rutherford, forced TransCanada to move up their pre-filing to save face. Both Irwin and Rutherford complained that TransCanada was moving too slow and not hiring enough Alaskans.
In fact most of the money, which is being matched 50/50 by state dollars, is reportedly being spent in Calgary. Meanwhile the competing project, Denali, is spending more money, making more progress and hiring more Alaskans.
With TransCanada's open season scheduled for July 2010 sure to fail, that would land right in the middle of a re-election campaign. Not so good timing eh?
Meanwhile, the appointment of Harry Noah in February to work on developing cost estimates for an in-state gas pipeline is a direct admission that Palin finally understands that her dreams of achieving a legacy of a gas pipeline with TransCanada and AGIA will not to be realized. One lawmaker told me directly that Noah informed the governor personally that AGIA will not work.
Sources inside the Palin administration say that Irwin and Rutherford are so upset with Palin's change of direction that they aren't even on speaking terms with Noah as he tries to evaluate in-state gas potential. This is unfortunate, as Noah appears to be the only voice of reason in an administration that has refused to pull up from this nose dive called AGIA.
This is all one big cluster-scrum and neither the big gas line or in-state gas will be economically viable without significant subsidies from the state or the abandonment of Palin's AGIA.
As Southcentral Alaska gets closer to that magical 2013 time frame when natural gas in Cook Inlet is projected to dwindle to the level of grave concern, Palin isn't going to want to be anywhere near the drivers seat of state government.
What this all means is that if Palin seeks another term as governor, her failed energy policies will be clear as day half way through her second term, thus turning the lights out on her reputation as an energy expert.
If Palin decides not to seek re-election, she preserves the one tool she has used so effectively as governor; she can simply shift blame to someone else, in this case, the next governor.
Energy isn't the only area where Palin is facing tremendous exposure. Alaska's fast growing senior demographic will continue to put strains on Alaska's health care system and so far Palin has done little more than create two different task forces to study health care.
In addition, bad business decisions made as a result of cronyism will be forced to the surface. This includes the Agriculture Board, where the granting of questionable state loans to the Valley Creamery, a local dairy run by Palin's friends and neighbors, will finally come home to roost when the creamery defaults on hundreds of thousands in government bail outs they never should have been given.
The Strategy...The Prediction
There is a growing feeling among politicos that Palin for obvious reason, will not seek re-election .
The lure of the big city lights (lets face it, once you've flown in your own jet, it's hard to return to coach), the petty fights she has picked with a legislature she will have to deal with at least one more year, her lack of leadership and refusal to make any decisions what so ever with regards to governing Alaska. Hell, she has shown her incompetence in her own family life, let alone the life of the state and it's people.
Strategically Palin faces the problem that as soon as she indicates there won't be a second Palin term, she'll become a lame duck in designer glasses.
Best to play coy when asked about future plans and say, "Just tryin' to get through this term to move Alaska forward, tryin' to do what's best for Alaska," yaddah, yaddah, yaddah.
Meanwhile, Sean Parnell will quietly begin raising money under the guise of running for re-election for Light Guv. He has been a loyal soldier for Palin and would surely have an inside track for her endorsement. More than likely, Palin will help Parnell raise money.
Palin will then wait until the end of next years legislative session to make any announcement. If she announces she won't seek re-election, she'll throw her support to Parnell.
While Parnell's name has been mentioned as a possible Attorney General nominee, that would preclude Parnell from running for office. As a state employee, Parnell would have to resign his position before he filed to run and begin raising money for his campaign.
Since the Attorney General is an appointed position, and new governor's like to appoint their own people, if Parnell accepts the AG post from Palin, he could be facing a short stay.
Just like the 1982 song by the Clash, the risks for Palin are huge either way she goes.
"If she goes there will be trouble, if she stays there will be double."
If she goes there will be trouble, because she is unelectable in 2012. A Palin candidacy will collapse under the weight of the competitive pressures as she'll be fair game for fellow Republicans during the primary battles. With the GOP looking for someone to compete against Obama in 2012, they're not getting to the dance with Palin and her Dan Quayle brand of baggage.
If she stays there will be double, because all of the short sighted economic policies she has bet the state's future on, will come up snake eyes making for a rough four years.
Since Palin has alienated most all legislative Democrats, if she finds economic religion during a second term and tries to modify her ill conceived policies like ditching AGIA or reducing production taxes, Dems will block her attempts. Imagine, the same votes that helped Palin adopt these bad policies will be the same ones who make her live with them.
The state's predictable economic challenges between 2010 and 2014 will dim Palin's national spotlight and her stock will plunge.
Now that we've all come to realize that Palin can't survive without the national media attention, after all, it's why she's spent so much time blowing her own horn rather than actually governing; she really has no choice but to leave home and try her solo act on the road.
Given the risk of exposure Palin faces in a second term, I predict she will bail out and leave the next governor to clean up her mess.
(4/15/09) On Tuesday, Governor Sarah Palin responded to an olive branch offered by Juneau Mayor Bruce Bothelo by breaking it in two and then shaking it back at him. We have officially reached meltdown status by Alaska's diva governor.
Yesterday Bothelo attempted to break the six week old stalemate to fill Juneau's vacant State Senate seat by proposing a candidate that was highly qualified and embraced by both Democrats and Republicans.
Dennis Egan, who is a former Juneau Mayor and the son of a former Alaska governor, was forwarded to Palin for consideration to replace Democrat Kim Elton who resigned his seat to take a job with the Obama administration.
In a bizarre response, Palin submitted three names for consideration, to Senate Democrats including two of whom had already been rejected just last week and a third who wasn't even a registered Democrat until just recently.
Over the last two weeks, a governor who is used to always getting things her way, has been beaten back like the coastal shoreline of Kivalina.
Between her families dirty laundry being aired on national television, to her own staff and legislators disproving her cries of wolf regarding strings attached to federal stimulus monies, to criticism that she has been absent without leadership during the legislative session, Palin has begun to act more like Ronald McDonald than Ronald Reagan.
Two weeks ago she cancelled a scheduled meeting with lawmakers to talk about the stimulus package, then proceeded to put out a press release saying they were the ones that cancelled the meeting.
Last week, the father of her grandson Levi Johnston appeared on national television revealing intimate family details. In response, the governor called the young man a liar and then said her daughter made a mistake in hooking up with him.
Ouch.
After all, this was a young man she paraded on to the national stage as her future son in law to help her with damage control regarding her family values image and then just as quickly kicked him to the curb.
Throughout the week, Palin was battered in committee testimony by both her own staff and lawmakers as they discovered that the governor was playing politics about the federal stimulus package and the strings she warned of didn't exist.
Both of her selections to fill the empty Juneau Senate seat were rejected and all of her huffing and puffing about a questionable 22 year old legal opinion that she said raised issues about the confirmation process drew as much fire from Republicans as it did from Democrats.
Later in the week, she stormed into the office of the Speaker of the House and proceeded to rip a staffer to shreds because he printed out a story about her planned trip to Indiana that had been posted on the Anchorage Daily News website.
five, four, three, two, one....
This week has been just as rough. Yesterday she was criticized by both Republicans and Democrats for leaving on a self serving fundraising trip to Indiana, paid for by her political action committee, all with only a few days left in the regular session.
Last night on Jay Leno, the same guy who gave Palin her national bonafides by naming her his VP running mate, all but snubbed her when asked about potential contenders for 2012.
"We have, I'm happy to say, a lot of voices out there," John McCain told host Jay Leno before listing Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Utah Gov. Jim Huntsman, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
"There are a lot of governors out there who are young and dynamic," said the Arizona senator.
McCain then quickly joked, "I've left out somebody's name and I'm going to hear about it."
Today, lawmakers rejected her plan to cut $93 million from Alaska's schools and replace the money with stimulus money.
Palin has become almost schizophrenic about the entire stimulus package. She held a press conference last month to announce she would reject a 1/3 of the money due to federal strings. The next day she immediately started to backtrack.
Then Palin said the state wouldn't take the money because it would add to the national debt. Then she said the state would take the money if it could use it to replace state funds that were already budgeted.
"It seems to me that is not the point of the stimulus. The point of the stimulus is new jobs and to encourage the economy and it is not to replace monies you were going to spend anyway," said Gary Stevens, the Republican President of the Senate.
Also today, Politico.com released a poll today of 1,000 registered voters to guage their feelings on politicians they trust to solve the problems facing the United States.
The poll showed Palin attracted the highest percentage of those who did not trust her at all to identify the right solutions, topping Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 33 percent to 32 percent.
And if all this wasn't enough, the Associated Press reported today that more Palin family dirty laundry was being aired out in public, this time by her father.
In the issue of Us Weekly magazine to be released Friday, Chuck Heath says Levi Johnston is capitalizing on national interviews but not spending money on Tripp, the nearly 4-month-old son of Johnston and Bristol Palin, the governor's 18-year-old daughter.
Heath says the 19-year-old Johnston "has not contributed anything" to Tripp's care. Heath says he wishes Johnston would "take some of this money he's making and buy some diapers with it."
We have meltdown.
(4/4/09) Governor Sarah Palin was in Ketchikan this week, defending her frequent claims to Lower 48 voters last fall on the campaign trail that she killed the "Bridge to Nowhere."
Palin, not only supported the bridge in 2006 when she was courting votes in Ketchikan during her run for governor, but said that the bridge should be built sooner rather than later to take advantage of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens powerful position on the Appropriations Committee to get federal funds for construction.
However this week Palin was forced to defend why she piled on the "Bridge to Nowhere" rhetoric to her national audience.
Palin defended herself in front of local reporters in Ketchikan by saying, "That's the term that's been known."
So according to Palin, she beat the hell out of the "Bridge to Nowhere" all across the country because everyone else was doing it? That sounds like the opposite of what a real maverick would do.
In addition, her go along to get along excuse puts her at odds with what she told Ketchikan voters back in 2006 about the public misperceptions regarding the bridge and the term "Bridge to Nowhere":
"People across the nation struggle with the idea of building a bridge because they’ve been under these misperceptions about the bridge and the purpose,' said Palin, who described the link as the Ketchikan area’s potential for expansion and growth. "We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative," Palin added.
So lets get this straight, instead of correcting the misperceptions in the media about the bridge as she said needed to be done back in 2006 when she was trying to score political points with Ketchikan voters, Palin reinforced the existing stereotype of the bridge to score political points with Lower 48 voters.
One governor, so many lies. Alaskans should be concerned that Governor Palin may be showing signs of mental illness.
- Believing that you're better than others
- Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
- Exaggerating your achievements or talents
- Expecting constant praise and admiration
- Believing that you're special
- Failing to recognize other people's acheivments
- Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans
- Taking advantage of others
- Expressing disdain for those you feel are inferior
- Being jealous of others
- Believing that others are jealous of you
- Trouble keeping healthy relationships
- Setting unrealistic goals
- Being easily hurt and rejected
- Having a fragile self-esteem
- Appearing as tough-minded or unemotional
Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence or strong self-esteem, it's not the same.
Meanwhile Palin has never missed an opportunity to try and aggressively correct perceived misperceptions in the media when they have been about her personally.
There ought to be clowns. Send in the clown, don't bother they're here."
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/040309/reg_425471778.shtml
Have kids, will travel.
(2/27/09) In response to the recent settlement with the personnel board over state paid travel expenses for her family, Governor Palin's office has begun asking those who extend an invitation for the governor to attend a function, "Is the first family invited?"
Is the First Family invited?: * Yes No
However, anyone extending an invitation to the governor might have cause to worry that if they check the box no, the governor might choose not to attend.
Part of the disagreement over whether a family travel expense qualifies for state reimbursement has been about the degree of benefit the state received from paying for airfare, in this case for the governor's children to travel.
The question of whether the family is invited goes to the heart of the "state benefit" threshold. If the family is invited, then the argument could be made that it is a state benefit and the state should reimburse for the family members airfare.
I'm not quite sure where this "family travel protocol" theory came about, but it fails to pass the taxpayer straight face test.
Why should taxpayers ever have to pay for any governor's child to travel to an event.
When this story first broke back in October, former Governor Tony Knowles stated that his children never took state paid trips, saying he couldn't ever imagine when it would have been appropriate to do so at taxpayer expense.
In her press release announcing the settlement, Palin once again presents the issue as a simple Hobson's choice. It's a big state and she doesn't think she should have to choose between visiting communities and spending time with her family.
“This is a big state, and I am obligated to – and intend to – keep Alaskans informed and meet with them as much as I can, from Barrow to Marshall to Ketchikan. At the same time, I am blessed to have a large and loving family, and the discharge of my duties should not prevent me from spending time with them. I will do so in accordance with the upcoming rewrite of regulations concerning travel expenses, and despite those who would crimp me from fulfilling either my obligations to the state or my obligations to my family,” Palin writes in her press release dated February 24,2009.
But once again, Palin frames it as an "I'm being picked on again" moment.
The fact is nobody is forcing her to choose between either fulfilling her obligations to the state or the spending time with her family.
If the governor wants to take her kids to Philadelphia for five days, fine.
However taxpayers shouldn't have to pick up the cost of their round trip airfare and five nights at the Ritz Carlton.
Is that so unfair?
The Memo
In an interview I did for blog a few months ago, I spoke with a former employee in the governor's office. He told me that early on in Palin's administration, her staff was telling her that she was on thin ice trying to claim reimbursement for her children's travel expenses.
A memo was recently unearthed, (attached) by former Attorney General Greg Renkes which clearly states that travel on the state's King Air for those traveling on non-official business should have to reimburse the state for the cost of a coach ticket.
It would seem that if the rules pertaining to who pays on the state plane have been hashed out, those same rules would apply to the state paying for commercial air travel.
The Renkes memo which was originally issued in September of 2004, was re-released in March of 2007, at the same time according to my source, the governor's staff had raised the issue about the state paying for the children's travel.
To see the Renkes memo: Click attached pdf.
The governor's email invite page: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/gov_eventinvite.php
Palin has been screwing up Alaska
(2/4/09) From the sound of his press release, Representative Mike Hawker (R-Anchorage), Co-Chair of the House Finance Committee, was not very impressed by Governor Sarah Palin's proposed $268 million in budget cuts.
While he thanked the governor for offering lawmakers a more realistic forecast for the price of oil in both fy2009 and fy2010, he questioned the substance of her budget cuts.
The governor had predicted the state would end up with a $440 million budget gap at the end of fiscal year 2009, which ends June 30, 2009. The estimate was based on a projection of $62 per barrel oil.
Today, the governor honored Rep. Hawker's December request to revisit her unrealistic price forecast and amended her price forecast to $40 per barrel which will leave the state $1.65 billion in the hole for fy2009.
A far throw from the $440 deficit she forecasted just six weeks ago.
For the fy2010 budget which the governor introduced in December and begins on July 1, 2009, she projected a price per barrel of $74.41. Today the governor's revenue department amended that amount to $37 for the first quarter of fy2010 and $43 for the second quarter of fy2010.
According to the legislatures finance division, if oil averages $50 per barrel in fy2010, the state will face a $2 billion deficit. At $40 per barrel, it will balloon to $3 billion.
Hawker thanked the governor for her revised projection. "The governor's fy09 supplemental request is good in that it recognizes the realistic oil price projections for the coming year, averaging $40 per barrel through June."
However Hawker raised questions about Palin's proposed cuts as well he should.
The proposed cuts are nothing more than smoke and mirrors. While the public will consistently hear the figure $268 million, it's pure hocus pocus.
First, $200 million of that amount reflects lowering the estimate of the amount of oil and gas exploration credits that were going to be paid for economic development on the North Slope.
The credits are a mix of exploration and development incentives for producers and other companies, that were created with the passage of the governor's ACES tax increase.
There are only two potential explanations for lowering the estimates of oil and gas tax credits: Either the state hasn't been successful in attracting as much economic development on the North Slope, or the administration has simply pushed the amount off into the fy2010 budget with the belief that companies who qualify for the tax credits will claim them later rather than sooner.
Either way it's not a good thing.
Again, fewer tax credits, translates into fewer investment dollars, which translates into fewer opportunities to add production. Or, the tax credits will come out the same and we haven't reduced anything just simply put off the day of accounting for them until later.
The bottom line is that $200 million of the $268 million in cuts is not a real cut.
The next big chunk of proposed savings is the removal of a $50 million placeholder in the budget. This simply represents an accounting switch, not a real cut in appropriations.
In fact, Rep. Hawker didn't even acknowledge the $50 million placeholder in his press release, instead referring to the governor's proposed cuts equaling $218 million.
"The apparent reduction of $218 million is real, but we have to look at the components," Hawker wrote.
Along with the oil & gas tax credit reduction, which Hawker called, "not a reduction," he pointed out that another $15 million was a reduction in Medicaid authority that was not going to be spent because it was over authorized.
Hawker went to write, "You factor in those two items and you've got a net-zero supplemental on a general fund basis. In that net zero, the administration has about $17 million in unallocated reductions."
What Hawker is referring to is last year after signing the FY09 budget, Palin promised to cut another $20 million out of this years budget. So far, no specific cuts have been proposed.
For instance, the governor's supplemental budget proposes a $1.1 million cut to the Department of Administration. But under the explanation of specifically where the cuts will come from it only offers the following glittering generality:
"Departments have implemented savings plans and this unallocated reduction will allow commissioners to apply the reduction to these specific components in which the savings will be achieved."
Ahhh, if the "specific components in which the savings will be achieved" have been identified by the implementation of savings plans by the departments, why aren't the specific components identified? In short; why are the cuts unallocated?
Hawker's press release raised the same issue in a more diplomatic way:
"I don't think the finance committees are going to be comfortable with unallocated reductions. We're going to be looking for a specific statement of policy from the governor and where she intends to actually take those reductions," Hawker ended his press release saying.
I bet you never thought $268 million could mean so little.
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