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Sarah Palin
11th Governor of Alaska
Incumbent
Assumed office December 4, 2006
Lieutenant	Sean Parnell
Preceded by	Frank Murkowski
Chairperson, Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
In office 2003–2004
Preceded by	Camille Oechsli Taylor
Succeeded by	John K. Norman
Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska
In office 1996–2002
Preceded by	John Stein
Succeeded by	Dianne M. Keller
City Council Member, Wasilla, Alaska
In office 1992–1996
Personal details
Born	(1964-02-11) February 11, 1964 (age 60) Sandpoint, Idaho, U.S.
Political party	Republican (1982 - Present)
Spouse	Todd Palin (since 1988)
Children	Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig
Residence(s)	Wasilla, Alaska
Alma mater	University of Idaho
Profession	Politician, Journalist
Signature

Sarah Louise Heath Palin (Template:Pron-en; born February 11, 1964) is the governor of Alaska and the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election.

Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska city council from 1992 to 1996, then won two terms as mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004.

Elected governor of Alaska in November 2006, Palin became the first woman and the youngest person to hold the office. She defeated incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election.

On August 29, 2008, Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain announced that he had chosen Palin as his running mate. She was nominated at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Palin is the first Alaskan to run on a major party's presidential ticket. She is also the second woman to appear on a major-party ticket, as well as the first Republican woman to do so.

Early life and education

Palin was born Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the third of four children of Sarah Heath (née Sheeran), a school secretary, and Charles R. Heath, a science teacher and track coach. Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant. As a child, she would sometimes go moose hunting with her father before school, and the family regularly ran 5km and 10km races.

Palin attended Wasilla High School in Wasilla, Alaska, where she was the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at the school, and the point guard and captain of the school's basketball team. She helped the team win the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds of the game, despite having an ankle stress fracture. She earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play, and was the leader of the team prayer before games.

In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant, then finished third (second runner-up) in the Miss Alaska pageant, at which she won a college scholarship and the "Miss Congeniality" award. Palin admits to smoking cannabis as a youth, during the time Alaska had decriminalized possession, though she says she did not enjoy it.

Palin spent her first college semester at Hawaii Pacific College, transferring in 1983 to North Idaho College and then to the University of Idaho. She attended Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska for one term, returning to the University of Idaho to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, graduating in 1987.

In 1988, she worked as a sports reporter for KTUU-TV in Anchorage, Alaska. She also helped in her husband’s commercial fishing family business.

Mayor of Wasilla

Sarah Palin served two terms as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a city with 5469 residents in the 2000 US Census, located 29 miles (47 km) north of the port of Anchorage, from 1996 to 2002. She began her political career in 1992, when she won a three-year term on the Wasilla city council, supporting a new sales tax and advocating "a safer, more progressive Wasilla." She was re-elected to a second three-year term on the city council in 1995.

In 1996, Palin ran against and defeated three-term incumbent mayor John Stein, running on a platform of "fresh ideas and energy". In the campaign, she vowed to replace "stale leadership" and criticized Stein for wasteful spending and high taxes. Although the mayoral election was non-partisan, the state Republican Party ran advertisements on her behalf. She also introduced campaign issues such as abortion, religion, gun rights, and term limits.

Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin began to make staffing changes. She eliminated the position of museum director and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from Wasilla police chief Irl Stambaugh, public works director Jack Felton, finance director Duane Dvorak, and librarian Mary Ellen Emmons. Palin stated this request was to find out who supported her. She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, stating they first needed to become better acquainted with her policies. She hired a new city administrator and reduced her own salary from $68,000 to $64,000.

According to Emmons, she and Palin twice discussed the question of library censorship: first in early October, then in detail on October 28. Emmons stated Palin asked her if she would object to censorship, and Emmons replied "it would not be just me ... the American Civil Liberties Union would get involved, too." Palin raised the possibility of people circling the library in protest, to which Emmons replied "it would definitely be a problem the ACLU would take on then." In early December, Palin spoke publicly about the issue, using it as an example of a discussion she'd had with her department heads, and stated, "many issues were discussed, both rhetorical and realistic in nature." She added that censorship "was discussed in the context of a professional question being asked in regards to library policy" and that she did not have a specific list of books in mind. No books were removed from the library.

Palin gave signed letters to Emmons and Stambaugh on January 30, 1997, that stated: "I do not feel I have your full support in my efforts to govern the city of Wasilla. Therefore I intend to terminate your employment..." Palin rescinded the firing of Emmons the next day after meeting with her and after what the Anchorage Daily News called "a wave of public support for Emmons." Palin stated that her concerns had been alleviated when Emmons agreed to support Palin's plan to merge the town's library and museum operations. Palin also spoke with Stambaugh at least three times about the matter, but ultimately he was fired as planned. Stambaugh filed a lawsuit which was later dismissed by a court that found the mayor had the right to fire city employees for nearly any reason, including a political one.

Despite the rocky start, Palin gained favor with Wasilla voters. She kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk, and once a week she pulled a name from it and picked up the phone. She would ask: "How's the city doing?" Due to income generated by a 2% sales tax that was enacted prior to her election, Palin was able to cut property taxes by 75% and to eliminate personal property and business inventory taxes. She made improvements to the roads and sewers (financed through municipal bonds) and strengthened the Police Department. She also reduced spending on the town museum and prevented building of a new library and city hall, put in bike paths, and was able to get funding for storm-water treatment.

Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won; the vote was 909 to 292. Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.

During her second term as mayor, Palin introduced a ballot measure proposing the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5% sales tax increase. The $14.7 million Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget, but the city lost an additional $1.3 million due to an eminent domain lawsuit caused by a failure to obtain legal ownership of the property before beginning construction. In 2001, the judge hearing the initial property dispute had ruled for the city and the city's attorney advised the city to proceed with construction; subsequently the judge reversed himself and ruled that the city had never signed the proper papers. She also hired the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for earmarks for Wasilla. The effort was led by Steven Silver, a former chief of staff for Senator Ted Stevens, and it secured nearly $27 million in earmarked funds. The earmarks included $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project linking Wasilla and the ski resort community of Girdwood. Some of the earmarks were criticized by Senator McCain in 2001 and 2002.

In 2002, term limits prevented Palin from running for a third term as mayor. During her six years as mayor, general government expenditures increased by more than 33 percent while the amount of taxes collected by the city increased by 38 percent. The city's debt went from nothing to $22 million, of which $15 million is attributed to the sports complex and $5.5 million attributed to municipal bonds to finance road projects. Her stepmother-in-law, Faye Palin, ran for the office but lost the election to Dianne Keller after Sarah Palin endorsed Keller.

Post-mayoral years

In 2002, Palin made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary. The Republican ticket of U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski and Leman won the November 2002 election. When Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to become governor, he considered appointing Palin to replace him in the Senate, but instead chose his daughter, Lisa Murkowski, who was then an Alaska state representative.

Governor Murkowski appointed Palin to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. She chaired the Commission beginning in 2003, and served as Ethics Supervisor. Palin resigned in January 2004, protesting what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Republican members.

After resigning, Palin filed a formal complaint against Commissioner Randy Ruedrich, also the chair of the state Republican Party, accusing him of doing work for the Party on public time and of working closely with a company he was supposed to be regulating. She also filed a complaint against Gregg Renkes, a former Alaska Attorney General, accusing him of having a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement, while Renkes was the subject of investigation and after records suggesting a possible conflict of interest had been released to the public. Ruedrich and Renkes both resigned and Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.

From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in Alaska. The group's IRS filing says that it began operating in March 2004, and there is no record in IRS filings as to how much the group eventually raised.

In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year, against the Republican incumbent, Lisa Murkowski, because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. senator?"

Governor of Alaska

In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. Stevens gave a late endorsement to Palin and filmed a television commercial with her during the gubernatorial campaign.

During the gubernatorial campaign, Palin declared that education, public safety, and transportation would be the three cornerstones of her administration. Despite spending less than her Democratic opponent, she won the gubernatorial election in November, defeating former governor Tony Knowles 48.3% to 40.9%.

Palin became Alaska's first female governor and at age 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history. She is the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau; she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead. She took office on December 4, 2006, and has maintained a high approval rating throughout her term.

In 2007 Palin obtained a passport and traveled outside of North America for the first time to Kuwait and Germany to visit with members of the Alaska National Guard.

Palin has promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), where such development has been the subject of a national debate. She also helped pass a tax increase on oil company profits. In March 2007, Palin put forward an Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) to encourage building a natural gas pipeline from the state's North Slope. In January 2008, Palin announced that TransCanada Corporation, was the sole AGIA-compliant applicant. In August 2008, Palin signed a bill awarding TransCanada Pipelines $500 million in seed money and a license to build and operate the $26-billion pipeline to transport gas from the North Slope to the Lower 48 through Canada.

Palin has sometimes broken with the state Republican establishment. For example, she endorsed Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young. Palin also publicly challenged Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the ongoing federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as being "to make clear she had not abandoned him politically."

Budget and spending

In June 2007, Palin signed into law a $6.6 billion operating budget—the largest in Alaska's history. At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to nearly $1.6 billion.

Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet purchased by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 on a state government credit account against the wishes of the Legislature. In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.

Palin only lives in Juneau during the Legislative session and lives in Wasilla and works out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. She does not use the Governor's private chef, whom Palin transferred to the Lounge of the State Legislature. Palin has instead charged the state a per diem for the 312 nights she has spent at home ($16,951 in total allowances) and for her family's travel expenses ($43,490, an additional $93,000 for Palin herself), mostly between Juneau and Wasilla.

"Bridge(s) to Nowhere"

Two proposed Alaska bridges supported by Palin in her Governor race have been derided as a symbol of pork barrel spending: 1) a bridge crossing from Ketchikan to Gravina Island (population 50); and 2) a bridge crossing Knik Arm to provide an alternate route from Anchorage to her hometown of Wasilla, named "Don Young's Way" after Alaska's Congressman. (The nickname "Bridge(s) to Nowhere" has been used for either the first or, more rarely, both bridges.)

In 2005, Congress earmarked $442 million to build the two bridges but later reversed itself under strong criticism and gave the transportation money to Alaska with no strings attached. In 2006, Palin ran for Governor on a "build-the-bridge" platform, attacking "spinmeisters" for insulting local residents by calling them "nowhere" and urging speed "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."

In September 2007, one month after the bridge received sharp criticism from John McCain, Palin (now Governor) canceled the Gravina Bridge and blamed Congress for her decision. Alaska is currently spending $25 million on Gravina Island for a bridge access road to an empty beach so that none of the money will have to be returned. Palin also continues to support funding Don Young's Way, estimated as more than twice as expensive as the Gravina Bridge would have been.

In her nomination acceptance speech and on the campaign trail, Palin has often said: "I told the Congress 'thanks, but no thanks,' for that Bridge to Nowhere." McCain-Palin television advertisements also claim Palin "stopped the Bridge to Nowhere". , Given Palin's previous support for the Bridge, these claims have been widely questioned or described as misleading by the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Newsweek, commenting on Palin's "astonishing pivot," remarked: "Now she talks as if she always opposed the funding."

Public Safety Commissioner dismissal

On July 11, 2008, Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, citing performance-related issues, such as not being a team player on budgeting issues. Monegan alleged that his dismissal was retaliation for his failure to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten, who was involved in a child custody battle with Palin’s sister. Governor Palin stated on July 17 that no pressure had been applied upon Monegan to fire Wooten.

On August 1, the Alaska Legislature hired an independent investigator to review the situation. The investigation is scheduled to be completed in October 2008. On August 13, after an internal investigation, Palin acknowledged that her staff had contacted Monegan or his staff about two dozen times regarding Wooten. Palin placed the Alaska Director of Boards and Commissions on paid leave as a result of one tape-recorded call. She stated that she had only known about some of the contacts, that many of those contacts were appropriate, and restated she had not fired Monegan because of Wooten.

On September 1, Palin's lawyer asked the state Legislature to drop its investigation, saying that by state law, the governor-appointed state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues. Palin also asked that the Board review the matter as an ethics complaint.

Palin's choice to replace Monegan, Charles M. Kopp, chief of the Kenai police department, was named to the position on July 11, 2008. He resigned on July 25 after it was revealed that he had received a letter of reprimand for sexual harassment in his previous position.

2008 Vice-presidential campaign

Template:Future election candidate

On August 29, 2008, in Dayton, Ohio, Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, announced that he had chosen Palin as his running mate. Palin had been under consideration since a private meeting with McCain in a February National Governors Association meeting; although this was the first time the two had met, Palin made a favorable impression on McCain. McCain was reportedly concerned about reclaiming his image as a "maverick Republican" and wanted someone to shake up the ticket. With this in mind, he called Palin on August 24 to discuss the possibility of having her join him on the ticket. On August 27, Palin visited McCain's vacation home near Sedona, Arizona, where she was offered the position of vice-presidential candidate. Palin was the only prospective running mate who had a face-to-face interview with McCain to discuss joining the ticket. Nonetheless, Palin's selection was a surprise to many as speculation had centered on other candidates, such as Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, United States Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, and former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.

Palin is the second woman to run on a major U.S. party ticket. The first was Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 1984, who ran with former vice-president Walter Mondale. On September 3, 2008, Palin delivered a 40-minute acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention that was watched by more than 40 million viewers and was well-received by the crowd.

Palin is scheduled to participate in a vice-presidential debate with Joe Biden on October 2, 2008. The election is set for November 4.

Reception

Since Palin was largely unknown outside of Alaska prior to her selection by McCain, her personal life, positions and political record became the focus of intense media attention and scrutiny. Some Republicans felt that Palin was being subjected to unreasonable media coverage, a sentiment referenced by Palin in her acceptance speech. Polls conducted immediately after the speech found that Palin was viewed favorably by a majority of respondents, and that slightly more than half believed that the press was "trying to hurt" Palin with negative coverage.

In the days following the decision, the choice of Palin generated mixed opinions among potential voters, but had energized the Republican base. Results from the first few polls after the Republican convention gave indications that the McCain campaign had overcome its deficit and that Palin may have boosted support among white women. A WSJ/NBC News poll taken 9 September indicated 34% of respondents were more likely to vote for McCain as a result of the Palin pick while 25% were less likely.

Palin appeared on the cover of both Newsweek and Time following her selection. The Time cover story of Palin came as the newsmagazine had been critical of the McCain campaign for allegedly limiting media access to Palin. Her first interview with the press is planned for September 11 with Charles Gibson of ABC News.

Political positions

Palin has described the Republican Party platform as "the right agenda for America," adding that "individual freedom and independence is extremely important to me and that's why I'm a Republican." Palin is a social conservative, and has called herself "as pro-life as any candidate can be". She would permit abortion only in cases where the mother's life is in danger, and has supported bills to outlaw late-term abortions and to require parental consent for abortions in Alaska. Palin is supportive of contraception but she is against "explicit sex-ed programs" in schools and backs abstinence-only education.

She opposes same-sex marriage and supported a non-binding referendum for an Alaskan constitutional amendment to deny state health benefits to same-sex couples.

She supports capital punishment. Palin also supports teaching creationism in public schools, though she does not believe it should be mandatory. She also supports gun safety education for youth, and the right to bear arms, including handguns.

As governor of Alaska, Palin pushed to reduce state government spending, including cutting $1.6 billion from the Alaskan construction budget. She has not opposed the increased federal funding of construction programs for her state.

Palin has promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). She has opposed federal listing of the polar bear as an endangered species, warning that it would adversely affect energy development in Alaska. She has also opposed the designation of the Cook Inlet beluga whale as an endangered species and has supported the hunting of wolves by low flying air planes. Palin does not believe that global warming is human-caused.

Palin's foreign policy positions remain unclear. When asked for her views about troop escalations in Iraq, she replied, "while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place."

Personal life

Palin, a self-described hockey mom, is a mother of five. She is a long-time member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and enjoys hunting, ice fishing and riding snowmobiles. In 2005, she completed a marathon.

On August 29, 1988, when she was 24 years old, Sara Palin eloped with Todd Palin, who had been her high-school boyfriend. Todd Palin works for BP as an oil-field production operator and owns a commercial fishing business. The family lives in Wasilla.

The couple have five children: sons Track (b. 1989) and Trig (b. 2008), and daughters Bristol (b. 1990), Willow (b. 1995), and Piper (b. 2001). Track Palin enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 11, 2007, subsequently joining an infantry brigade. He is set to be deployed to Iraq in September 2008. Palin's youngest child, Trig, has Down syndrome, diagnosed prenatally.

Palin announced on September 1, 2008, that her daughter Bristol was five months pregnant and intended to keep the baby and marry the father of her child, Levi Johnston. The McCain-Palin campaign stated that John McCain was aware of her daughter's pregnancy, and that it did not affect his choice. Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama declared the subject of candidates' families off limits in the coming campaign.

Palin's family was Catholic when she was born. When she was 4 years old they joined the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church in which Palin worshiped for 32 years until 2002 where Palin - in a speech before the church - described herself as "getting saved". Palin's children were baptized at the Wasilla Assembly of God. When she is in Juneau, she attends Juneau Christian Center, another Assemblies of God church. Her current home church is the Wasilla Bible Church, an independent congregation. Although initial press reports touted her as the first Pentecostal ever to appear on a major-party ticket, Palin no longer considers herself a Pentecostal, describing herself as only a "Bible-believing" Christian. The National Catholic Reporter describes her as a "post-denominational" Christian.

Electoral history

Palin was elected to the Wasilla, Alaska City Council in 1992, and was reelected three years later. In 1996, she ran for mayor and challenged incumbent mayor John Stein, and won. She was reelected in 1999 with 73.6% of the vote. In 2002, Palin ran for Lieutenant Governor of Alaska, though she came in second in the Republican primaries. Four years later, Palin ran for Governor of Alaska; she challenged incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the primaries and came in first, garnering roughly 50% of the votes. In the general election, she defeated Democratic nominee Tony Knowles, 48% to 41%.

Notes

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References

• Johnson, Kaylene (2008). Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down. Epicenter Press. ISBN 978-0979047084.

Further reading

Template:SarahPalinSegmentsUnderInfoBox

External links

• Official Campaign Website for McCain/Palin 2008
• Alaska Office of Governor Sarah Palin
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Palin 2006 campaign contributions from Follow the Money
• Palin/Parnell 2006 campaign contributions from Follow the Money
• Ongoing news and commentary from The Anchorage Daily News
• Ongoing news and commentary from The New York Times
• Sarah Palin rumor control from Snopes
• Republican Convention Spin and Sliming Palin rumor control from FactCheck.org
• Template:Dmoz
• First chapter of biography, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down by Kaylene Johnson
• Video: Meet Sarah Palin from NOW on PBS (requires Flash Player and broadband connection to view video)

v t e Governors of Alaska
District (1884–1912)	Kinkead Swineford Knapp Sheakley Brady Hoggatt Clark
Territorial (1912–1959)	Clark Strong Riggs Bone Parks Troy Gruening Heintzleman Hendrickson (acting) Stepovich Hendrickson (acting)
State (since 1959)	Egan Hickel Miller Egan Hammond Sheffield Cowper Hickel Knowles Murkowski Palin Parnell Walker Dunleavy

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• 1964 births
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