...and so are tens of millions of others.
Posted on 09/06/2008 10:08:19 AM PDT by jazusamo
An insider's view: Gov. Sarah Palin's attack on corruption is no cliché.
Last night, the nation had its first opportunity to really size-up the hockey mom from Wasilla. Does she have what it takes to be vice-president? And how about those claims that she's a reformer, fighting against entrenched corruption in Alaska? As a former federal judge in Alaska and a lawyer involved in litigation with Alaska's oil companies, I've got a pretty good perspective on this.
Whether you embrace her political positions or not, no one can reasonably deny that she's the real deal when it comes to placing the people before any special interest. She turns a blind eye to privilege and position. That's been her approach from day one in Alaska politics and it has put her on a direct collision course with the political establishment.
To understand this conflict and its progeny, a brief Alaskan history lesson is in order. It's no exaggeration to say that the crude flowing through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is Alaska's economic engine. Construction of TAPS was an enormous undertaking in terms of political and fiscal capital. Two acts of Congress were required (National Environmental Policy Act and Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act). It was (and remains) the largest private construction project in North America. In 2008 dollars, TAPS cost nearly $30 billion.
TAPS dramatically changed the political landscape of Alaska. In the 1970s, thousands of workers poured into the state, seeking their fortunes on the North Slope. Many businesses sprung into existence to serve the demands associated with constructing an 800-mile pipeline and to benefit from the high wages of pipeline and oil field workers. Alaskans' wealth became inextricably intertwined with the fortunes of the oil industry.
And what oil wanted, it got. Early on, it enjoyed one of the lowest corporate tax structures in the nation. Until the royalty litigation in 1990s, the industry played it fast and loose with the royalty revenue it returned to the state. Oil lobbyists were a fixture at every political event, whether Republican or Democratic. If oil talked, every politician listened. Mrs. Palin's entry onto the scene was out-of-the box, to put it mildly. She displaced former U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski from the Governor's Mansion and immediately set out to reverse years of preferential oil company policies. She rejected the oil companies' gas pipeline plan in favor of an open, competitive process that resulted in the first concrete steps to significant gas production in Alaska. When one of the oil companies failed to develop a gas and oil lease that it had held for decades, she began forfeiture proceedings against it.
But more importantly, she wanted to clean up politics in Alaska. With total disregard for her own political future, she boldly took on her own party, holding it accountable for its ties to an oil contracting company that has since been connected with the bribery of several Alaskan legislators. This angered the state GOP leadership and long-time party activists who benefited from significant campaign contributions from oil.
As recently as this past spring, during the Alaska GOP state convention, she asked GOP delegates to turn their back on corruption and choose new party leadership independent of oil lobbyists. But using blatantly illegal parliamentary tactics, and creating an exodus of disgruntled delegates in the process, the party avoided that change by the thinnest of margins.
Frankly, that explains the current intrastate campaign against the governor. When the Alaska state senate president attacks Mrs. Palin for lack of experience, one need only investigate that GOP senator's deep and unseemly connections to the oil industry. Even on the other side of the aisle, internal attacks are explained by connections to oil or, in the case of the legislator purporting to investigate her for ethical lapses, gubernatorial aspirations. So what about the people who know her, her constituents? Unlike the disgruntled political adversaries and oil company lobbyists, real Alaskans from all political stripes endorse her with a resounding 80-percent approval rating, the highest of any governor nationwide. Why? Because they know she'll never sell out. Pundits concerned about her advancement to the Oval Office should take some comfort in that.
Joseph Miller is an attorney in Fairbanks, Alaska. He is a former U.S. Magistrate Judge, state judicial officer, and decorated Gulf War Veteran (B.S., United States Military Academy; J.D., Yale Law School; M.S., Resource Economics, University of Alaska).
...and so are tens of millions of others.
Great endorsement: it should used as frequently as possible throughout the campaign.
Agreed...I’m sending it to everyone in my address book and hoping they’ll forward it.
Very nice.
bump for later.
Very nice validation of Sarah.
The American people have been hungering for anything American. Kind of like taking care of our own.
The mass of people just want honest leaders who look out for us first. We don’t want a free ride, we just want the government to mind its own business get out of our way and let us humans be humans. We really are quite able to rise to a challenge. Yes, we may be asked to get up off our butts and do something other than suck the life out of others. This can be done and it might as well start now.
This is the appeal and it is real, very real. We do not need a nanny, and for those who do? They don’t need a nanny, they need an educator. For those that are truly, I mean truly, unable? We can handle that. Not a problem.
Amen. Spot on.
Excellent article. I’ve sent it to my email list.
Thanks for posting it!
Sarah’s parents (at the convention the other night),looked so proud of their daughter. To paraphrase Zero’s remarks to Bill O’Reilly about the surge working...”No one in their wildest dreams would have expected this!” Life is good. Hillary is in the outer darkness, gnashing her teeth, and Obama is wetting his pants. (Biden has disappeared.)
That is a great post, wish I could sum up a series of events that succinctly and accurately.
If anyone would have predicted this happening three months ago I doubt there’s a single FReeper that wouldn’t have said the person belongs in a looney bin, truth sometimes is stranger than fiction. ;-)
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