Mayor Palin: A Rough Record

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Time Magazine

But in the first major race of her career — the 1996 campaign for mayor of her hometown, Wasilla — Palin was a far more conventional politician. In fact, according to some who were involved in that fight, Palin was a highly polarizing political figure who brought partisan politics and hot-button social issues like abortion and gun control into a mayoral race that had traditionally been contested like a friendly intramural contest among neighbors.

In the early '90s, Wasilla was little more than half as big as it is today, and much more loosely confederated. The main issue then, says longtime resident Chas St. George, was public safety. "We needed a police department," he says. "So we set up a group to make it happen." That group — Watch on Wasilla — included a handful of the town's most influential figures: St. George; the town's mayor, John Stein; and Palin, who wasn't in elected office yet. Her father-in-law Jim Palin and his wife Faye were also in the group.

Eventually, they started a police department, led by chief Irl Stambaugh. Kaylene Johnson, author of Sarah, a Palin biography published earlier this year, says one place where the power group met was a step-aerobics class that Stambaugh and Stein took along with Palin. That class signed the original petition for Palin's first political race, for city council in 1992, which she won.

Four years later, she took on her former workout buddy in a race that quickly became contentious. In Stein's view, Palin's main transgression was injecting big-time politics into a small-town local race. "It was always a nonpartisan job," he says. "But with her, the state GOP came in and started affecting the race." While Palin often describes that race as having been a fight against the old boys' club, Stein says she made sure the campaign hinged on issues like gun owners' rights and her opposition to abortion (Stein is pro-choice). "It got to the extent that — I don't remember who it was now — but some national antiabortion outfit sent little pink cards to voters in Wasilla endorsing her," he says.

Vicki Naegele was the managing editor of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman at the time. "(Stein) figured he was just going to run your average, friendly small-town race," she recalls, "but it turned into something much different than that." Naegele held the same conservative Christian beliefs as Palin but didn't think they had any place in local politics.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html

[Bicoastal]

1. Jesus Christ, so she couldn't even run the 5th largest city in Alaska well?

[ladywnch]

3. depends on your point of view... she did leave the city 22 million in debt

in republican terms that makes her a raging success!

[bulloney]

2. I see stuff like this in local elections where I live. Play the abortion card.

Candidates will even seek and covet the Right to Life endorsement. Like, what does a mayor do to overturn Roe v. Wade? Or a county commissioner? Or any local officeholder?

They're just doing this stuff to polarize the election.

[bamacrat]

4. Right, get them used to having to stomach this shit in local elections..

so when the national one comes it wont be that bad to accept. I have a feeling that in teh months to come more and more will come out about this lady. She obviously only got the nod from McCain because she has a vagina, not that that's what McCain is interested in but he must think all women are stupid and will think "Yes, this is our chance". Please, Hillary was a great candidate, she would have gotten that far regardless of gender, but I seriously doubt Palin would.

[bleever]

5. "But with her, the state GOP came in and started affecting the race."

That's a hint.