Who is Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin?
McCain Picks Conservative Republican Alaska Governor as Running Mate
Aug 30, 2008
Sarah Palin is not the typical candidate for Vice President. Just a few years ago, Palin was splitting time between her two jobs as mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska (pop. 7,500) and, as she called it, “a fulltime hockey mom.” So how did this 44-year old recently-elected governor of one of the least populated and most politically corrupt states in the nation become John McCain’s choice for vice president?
Sarah Palin's Early Days
Well, her story began on February 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho where she was born to parents Sarah and Charles R. Heath. The Heaths moved to Alaska when little Sarah was just three years old. Palin attended Wasilla High School in Wasilla, Alaska, where she was the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at the school and the point guard and captain of the school's basketball team.
In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, then finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant, at which she won a college scholarship to attend the University of Idaho. Palin graduated in 1986 with a degree in journalism and promptly returned to her home state, where she married her high school boyfriend, Todd Palin, in 1988.
Between 1988 and 1992, Palin worked as a sports reporter for local television stations. Her first foray into politics came in 1992, when she ran for and won a seat on the Wasilla Township City Council. Palin spent four years on the City Council before challenging, and defeating, incumbent mayor John Stein.
Palin's Tenure as Mayor of Wasilla
Palin immediately attracted controversy when she fired the town sheriff, a Democrat, who sued her but lost when an Alaska court ruled that the mayor had the right to fire municipal employees, even if it was for purely political purposes.
She also attracted attention when she openly supported Pat Buchanan’s 1996 presidential campaign.
During her tenure as mayor, Palin cut property taxes by 40% and fulfilled her campaign promise to decrease her own salary. On the other hand, Palin raised the city sales tax to help pay for various municipal projects. She won re-election in 2000, but surrendered the post mid-term, when she decided to run for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, an election that she lost. Subsequent to her defeat, however, then-Governor Frank Murkowski appointed Palin to the Oil and Gas Commission, where she served from 2003 to 2004.
Palin’s Record as Governor
Palin ran for governor in 2006 and defeated then-Governor Murkowski in the primary and Democratic challenger Tony Knowles in the general election. During her tenure as governor, she has been a strong advocate of increased oil production in Alaska, and has also publicly stated that she does not believe in the now commonly-accepted scientific theory that global warming has been caused by emission of greenhouse gases.
One of her more controversial actions as governor was her decision to pay hunters a $150 bounty for each Alaskan wolf that they killed. The program reversed a 35-year ban on killing such animals and drew so much criticism from Congress that U.S. Representative George Miller introduced a bill to make the practice illegal. Palin also resisted the efforts of the Secretary of the Interior to include polar bears on the National Endangered Species List.
Palin also supported the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” Project that eventually helped lead to the indictment of Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens.
Finally, in 2007, she fired Alaskan Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan for his alleged failure to, in her words, “be a team player on budgetary issues.” Monegan, however, claims that Palin fired him because he refused to dismiss a state trooper named Mike Wooten, whom Palin allegedly wanted fired because he was divorcing her sister. A state inquiry is currently looking into these allegations.
Sarah Palin On Some Key Issues
On social and environmental issues, Palin can best be described as ultra-conservative. While she was running for governor, her campaign website stated: "I am pro-life and I believe that marriage should only be between and man and a woman." She is also a pro-gun advocate who has been a member of the National Rifle Association for more than a decade.
Palin is an enthusiastic supporter of oil drilling in federally protected areas of the Alaskan wilderness. This past month, during an interview with Fox News, Palin said: "Folks up here want the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be unlocked by the federal government so that we can drill. We've got a tremendous amount of resource up here, and we're ready, willing and able to contribute."
In August of this year, she filed a lawsuit on behalf of Alaska against the United States government to have the polar bear removed from the endangered species list. As governor, she also enacted a law that paid a $150 bounty for each Alaskan wolf killed. The new law ended a period of 35 years during which the Alaskan wolf was protected under state law.
McCain Names Palin Candidate for Vice President
On August 29, 2008, just one day after Barack Obama formally accepted the Democratic nomination in front of a crowd of 80,000 supporters in Denver, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain named Palin as his running mate. The Republican Convention begins next week, and during that time, both McCain and Palin are expected to be formally named as the Republican Party ticket for this November's election.
 |
 |
