Another Dubious Firing (Andrew Sullivan)

[struggle4progress]

30 Aug 2008 10:00 pm

... From the Anchorage Daily News December 1997:

A recall of Mayor Sarah Palin is off the table, at least for now, according to a group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Wasilla. The group of about 60 residents was formed Friday in response to Palin's controversial firing of Police Chief Irl Stambaugh. Members say they're concerned about the direction taken by Palin since her election last fall, and discussed a recall ....

Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin fired the city's police chief and the library director without warning Thursday, accusing them of not fully supporting her efforts to govern. Irl Stambaugh and Mary Ellen Emmons said letters signed by Palin were dropped on their desks Thursday afternoon telling them their jobs were over as of Feb. 13 and that they no longer needed to report to work ....

Emmons has been the city's library director for seven years. Stambaugh has headed the police department since it was created in 1993. Before that, he served 22 years with the Anchorage Police Department rising to the rank of captain before retiring. While both struggled with Palin when she was first elected in October, they said the letters caught them off guard. Both had publicly supported Palin's opponent, long-time mayor John Stein, during the campaign last fall. When she was elected, Palin questioned their loyalty and even initially asked for their resignations. But both said Thursday that they thought things had been worked out. ''After the initial roller coaster, we were ready to work for Mayor Palin,'' Emmons said. ''Unfortunately I think we were both fired for politics.''

Palin, when asked by a reporter about the firings, first denied that they had happened ...

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/another-dubious.html

[MrModerate]

1. She's got a real problem with senior police officials . . .

What's that about?

Unless she's just vicious.

[Tutonic]

2. McCain needs to get his folks on the ground in Alaska NOW and

vet this lady! She is a mess.

[struggle4progress]

3. Hey, Mickie C actually met Sarah Louise once. How much more vetting do you expect?

[POAS]

5. Your supposed to "vet"

before you pick, not the other way around.

It's too late for olde McCan-I-see-your-legs.

[Cherchez la Femme]

4. Is this the same Library

personnel to whom she asked if she 'could live with censorship of library books'?
--Christian censorship, it is said.
Later (in the convo, I believe, she said it was a 'rhetorical question').