The New York Times published a story today looking at the roots of Sarah Palin’s political career. Fascinating narrative in that she took a no-holds-barred approach to her campaign for mayor of Wasilla, in the mid-1990s a town of about 6,500 people. Municipal elections in Alaska like this are traditionall non-partisan affairs, which is why Palins onslaught of anti-abortion mailers and trumpeting her NRA cred was waaay out of the ordinary. Never before had candidates for Wasilla mayor had to answer questions about those issues. What, afterall, does abortion have to do with paving roads and other municipal duties? Abortion is a matter for the federal court, and then it’s a state issue, not a local one. Palin nonetheless eventually slammed the door shut on her opponent, a three-term incumbent.
Sound familiar? Does to me. It’s a page out of the same strategy East Hempfield Township Supervisor Heidi Wheaton used in her failed campaigns to win the GOP nomination for Lancaster County commissioner and state senate. Wheaton in 2006 and 2007 went far right, running television ads talking about issues like abortion which had little to nothing to do with the campaign she was running in. No one doubted that her opponents (Mike Brubaker in 2006 and Scott Martin, Charlie Smithgall and Dennis Stuckey were pro-life), but she more than the others made it a point to emphasize her anti-abortion stance.
As the story goes on, Palin had a draconian streak to her way of governing Wasilla:
Her supporters say she helped Wasilla evolve from a ridiculed backwater to fast-growing suburb. The population of about 5,000 during her tenure as mayor has grown to nearly 10,000 now, and the city is filling with big box stores, including a Target that is scheduled to open on Oct. 12, one of three opening statewide that day in the chain’s Alaska debut.
But her critics say too much growth too quickly has made a mess of what not long ago was homesteaded farmland.
And for some, Ms. Palin’s first months in office here were so jarring — and so alienating — that an effort was made to force a recall. About 100 people attended a meeting to discuss the effort, which was covered in the local press, but the idea was dropped.
Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.
Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.
In 1996, Ms. Palin suggested to the local paper, The Frontiersman, that the conversations about banning books were “rhetorical.”
{snip}
Once in office, Ms. Palin asked many of (the former mayor’s) backers to resign — something virtually unheard of in Wasilla in past elections. The public works director, city planner, museum director and others were forced out. The police chief, Irl Stambaugh, was later fired outright.
While Republicans are fired up about what they perceive as a media war against Palin based on the out-of-wedlock pregnancy of her 17-year-old daughter Bristol, it’s her record of executive experience that’s going to hurt the most. That’s the one Dems are going to target. Wait until you read this L.A. Times story.
