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What follows is an
open letter written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska named
Anne Kikenny.
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’s 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’s like the most popular girl
in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote
for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a
“babe”.
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 “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s
syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She
isenergetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the
gym.
She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out
there”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’s 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’s 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
beenpushed 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 “fiscal conservative”. 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’t 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’t
even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs laterto 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
