I've lived in Alaska all my life and understand that inherent isolation the geographic location brings with it. Here in Anchorage, I am closer to Sapporo, Japan than Indianapolis, closer to Murmansk than Raleigh. American media, based thousands of miles away on the East Coast, have only a cursory knowledge of the state and much of what they know is laughably innaccurate. 'Isn't it, like, dark all the time up there? Isn't it always snowing year round? I've seen 'Deadliest Catch' and 'Ice Road Truckers,' I know all about Alaska.'
Since Sarah Palin burst on the scene, one would think the situation would have improved - but it hasn't. Reporters catch a flight into Anchorage, head to the same restaurants and bars in downtown Anchorage, talk to the most vocal and visible sources and get their inside scoops from the same handful of liberal writers and bloggers. No reporters ever seem to dig any deeper than that. They go to the back deck of the Millenium Hotel near the airport, shoot their standup with sea planes landing on Lake Hood in the background, have another quick Jameson's on the rocks and catch a red-eye back to 'the real world.'
"Sarah Palin continues to be dogged by ethics issues as more charges alleging serious violations were filed today..."
Sarah Palin is accused of having very thin skin, of being paranoid about her enemies, thinking they are out to get her. That is because they are. Why?
Dig deep enough - or not very deep at all - and you'll find Palin's Alaska opponents fall into 2 camps. First, she is from Wasilla while the power brokers of the old-line Republican machine is based in Anchorage. The party machinery has been controlled by the triumverate of Wally Hickel, Ted Stevens and Frank Murkowski; these men and all their loyal volunteers live in the Big City and money has flowed through all manner of oil and real estate deals. Many of these deals were legal but some were a little shady at best. As an example, Stevens invested $15,000 with a party wheel named Bob Penney; the money went towards a 96 acre plot near Salt Lake. Five years later, Stevens $15K investment was worth well over $100,000. Bob Penney's name would also come up when he arranged a deal to sell a prime Kenai River lot to Lisa Murkowski for as much as $100,000 under value; Senator Murkowski was forced to kill this deal when it became public.
Sarah Palin wasn't part of this machinery. She was an outsider, a 'hick' from Mat-Su famously labeled as 'Valley Trash' by Ted Stevens' son Ben. She lost a close election to the party's candidate for Lt Gov in 2002. Senator Frank Murkowski was elected Governor ... and then appointed his daughter to his vacant Senate seat, passing over Palin in the process. Lisa Murkowski had served 2 terms in the State House and her tenure was so undistinguished, when she ran for relection, she only won her primary by 60 votes. Frank Murkowski then appointed Palin to the State Oil and Gas board where she butted heads with Randy Ruedrich, also on the Board. He was also Chairman of the State Republican Party and Palin quickly discovered that he was spending all his time at work on party matters. She turned Ruedrich in who resigned and paid a big fine and Palin later quit after repeated conflicts with Murkowski.
4 years later, Sarah Palin ran for Governor against Murksowki and beat him, becoming the first candidate to defeat an incumbent Governor in a primary. She then went on to comfortably beat a popular Democrat, former Governor Tony Knowles, in the general. She was wildly popular when she first took office but there was an undercurrent there as many in the Legislature wanted to 'take her down a peg,' particularly Republicans who felt she had stepped on a number of very powerful toes on her way up.
She made one major enemy; as a candidate, she had courted the support of Wally Hickel, perhaps the most powerful and influential Republican in Alaska. Hickel was an unabashed boomer and big dreamer and Sarah was able to convince him that many of her values aligned with his. Hickel was a strong Catholic so the abortion issue was very important to him and Palin was as strong an anti-abortion candidate as there was. Palin got elected s Governor and Wally would call her periodically to chat about this plan or that issue. Hickel's big dream was the All-Alaska Gas Line that would transport gas to Valdez to be loaded on tankers. Palin considered this but opted to support an overland gas line through Canada and into the Midwest US where the markets are. Countless economists agreed that Hickel's Valdez plan would never work; the Trans-Canada line was marginal at best but the All-Alaska line would be a financial disaster. Hickel railed away, "It's our gas!" and felt betrayed by Palin. An editorial in the Anchorage paper laid out his position:
When Governor Sarah Palin was elected in 2006, we believed she would put Alaska first. But once elected, she put Sarah first.
Because of her national ambitions, she is promoting an agenda that will allow Outside corporations to dominate Alaska’s resources, including our energy and the jobs it provides.
Because of her national ambitions, she is promoting an agenda that will allow Outside corporations to dominate Alaska’s resources, including our energy and the jobs it provides.
Over my objection, the Governor negotiated a contract last year with TransCanada under AGIA, supported by the legislature, that will now provide ExxonMobil Corporation with half of $500 million of state funds.
I have urged the Governor many times to lead our state in another direction. We should build and own a natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez and ship Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to world markets.
She has taken another road.
Unless the people of Alaska rise up and oppose the TransCanada -ExxonMobil deal, we will revert to the situation in territorial days when Outside interests controlled our lives.
Alaska must not lose its way as an Owner State. We have created a state based on commonly-owned resources and lands. That model is alive and well in Alaska. It’s an important concept for the world, and we mustn’t lose what the founders of our state created 50 years ago.
Never mind that by the time of this falling out, Wally Hickel was 88 years old and widely known to be suffering from dementia. When reporters came calling, he would say, "Sarah Palin? I don't give a damn about her." I've been told that she had made an uneasy peace with Hickel just before his death and she quietly attended his funeral, sitting at the back rather than making a scene by sitting up front with the rest of the dignitaries -- including the Murkowski and Stevens families. No matter.
The point I am making should be obvious: When the knives came out for Sarah Palin, no one associated with the Alaska Republican Party machinery were running to her defense. The party machinery smugly stood by, saying, 'She's so smart and ethical, let's see her work her way out of this one.' She would get no help from the folks who should have been first in line.
