According to other things I’ve read (blogs — I’m trying to track down news articles), the plans for the sports center started before 1999. Had they purchased the land then, it would have been available. Instead, they waited until another buyer showed up. Perhaps “forgot” was a loaded word, but essentially, they blew it by not starting on the purchase soon enough.
After they were outbid for the land, they just used government authority to try and take it. When that failed, they just continued in court. Sorry I said “forgot.” The rest is in the article.
If this is true, the question is: can I reconcile my high regard for Palin with the idea that she tried to enforce the law of eminent domain, a law which I oppose because it violates principles of private ownership?
I admit, I wouldn’t like to find out that she did in fact do such a thing. But given everything else I know about her—political ideology, actions she’s taken as a political official and her personality—I don’t think it’s enough to bring her down much in my opinion, if at all. Not when weighed against the positives.
Bottom line is, it might be a minor blip, but it doesn’t demonstrate a pattern. It doesn’t show Palin to be a leftist, a statist or even a hypocrite.