Sarah Palin looks like an experienced politician who gets what she wants. She also seems to know how to fire those who disagree with her. Just ask those in Wasilla.
Reporter Barbara Koepple of The Nation spoke to many of those who work for the Alaskan governor. Of those she spoke to only one would allow the reporter to state their name. Everyone else was afraid of the one signing their checks.
“It’s Sarah’s way or the highway.”
That’s the overall sentiment of those that are closest to Palin.
Wasilla
Palin’s heavy handed firing abilities started when she was mayor of Wasilla in 1996. The police chief, Irl Stambaugh, didn’t agree with allowing concealed guns, something against her NRA-backed plan. He also wanted the bars closed at 2 a.m. because of alcohol related road accidents. Palin though was backed by the NRA and local bar owners who wanted to be open all night. Good-bye Irl Stambaugh.
Her new man decided that rape victims should pay for medical tests at the tune of $300 to $1,200. This was one policy that didn’t last. Then Democratic Governor Tony Knowles passed a bill that banned those fees.
Why the fees in the first place? It is speculated that because the medical staff offered the morning-after pill to the victims of rape. Palin is pro-life.
Most already know about the Wasilla librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, who refused to ban books that Palin were offended by. She was reinstated after being fired because several hundred residents protested. In a town with a population of 5,469 people, several hundred ticked off residents can easily vote you out of office. Still that didn’t stop Palin from going to the library enough to pressure her about banning certain books. Finally in 1999 Baker had enough. She resigned and moved out of town.
Dr. Susan Lamgie delivered Track and Bristol Palin. She also performed abortions at Valley Hospital. Lamagie’s office was picketed by the Wasilla Assembly of God, and its minister. That’s the same church that Palin is a member of. The doctor wasn’t bullied, she continued her practice. Palin at that time was on the Wasilla City Council. In no time flat the hospital board was ousted. With a new board in the first matter of business was a ban on abortions.
It’s a good thing for Wasilla that Lamagie doesn’t take bullying well. She and Howard Bess (he wrote one of the books that Palin tried to ban, by the way.)sued the hospital. The case ended up in Alaska’s Supreme Court. The hospital now performs abortions.
Alaska
Palin states she’s a cost cutter. She’s right on that one. She cut funds all over the state. Those funds though were helping people.
She vetoed $150,000 for the Fairbanks Catholic Community Counseling and Adoption Services, $3.5 million to build a daycare facility and student housing for unemployed Alaska Natives, $500,000 for the Safe Harbor Muldoon Housing for Homeless Families and People with Disabilities, and eliminated funds for the Fairbanks Community Food Bank.
That’s not all, she cut out funding for a substance abuse facility and an education and prevention program for youths in a northwest Alaska village. Nicely done in a state that has one of the nation’s highest drug and alcohol rates.
Just think how much fun Ms. Palin will have in Washington.
[...] bloggers have claimed that Palin cut funds to Catholic charities and it made at least one mainstream source [...]