Regarding Sarah Palin

[Chris]

When I wrote the email, I was merely responding to friends and clients in the lower 48, who were asking me about Governor Sarah Palin.   I really didn’t mean for this email to go round the world, but it may already have.  Kathy and I are simple folks and life time Alaskans who run a lodge on the remote Alaska Peninsula.  I am a bush pilot and guide for the same operation that I started as the camp boy for, back in 1966.  Kathy and I both pitch in to respond to emails and inquiries about fishing and hunting with us Alaska.  Although we have enjoyed many of your emails, the two of us just can't keep up with all of the questions that we are recently receiving, so I have posted the following:

Below is a copy of my original email which I sent to friends and clients.  These are my personal comments as a life time Alaskan, and you may or may not choose to share them with your friends, but you do have my permission:

Dear Friends. 

Fishing is good here at Wildman and I rarely have time for politics, but recently many of our  friends are asking us “Who is Sarah Palin?”  Of course, as Alaskans, Kathy and I are extremely proud of her. We just want to let you know that  Sarah “Barracuda” Palin is a straight shooting, hard charging, get it done gal.  She knows when to listen, how to analyze the facts and how to make a decision, then implement the plan.  She doesn’t do a poll before jumping in with both feet like too many of the Washington types.  She has little legislative experience because she has always held the EXECUTIVE position; in private life, as mayor of Anchorage’s largest bedroom community or more recently as Governor of our State.  She is a smart, attractive home grown Alaska girl with excellent moral and family values.  She can see what needs to be done and does not hesitate to get it done.

One of our State’s major problems is that its Capital is in Juneau, 500 miles from the nearest road and 800 air miles from the population base which is Anchorage, Wasilla and Fairbanks.  Our legislature and most of the State government is in Juneau and they ALL behave like a bunch of freshmen in a college town.  It has been this way since Statehood in 1959.  When Sarah moved to Juneau, so did accountability and responsibility  When the oil revenue started flown and a barrel of North Slope Crude hit $23.00, these people began spending money like drunken sailors.  You can only imagine what was happenings when oil hit $100.00 a barrel, about the time Sarah took command.  My wife Kathy has first-hand experience with this fiasco, as her father and also her ex-husband were Alaska Legislators who served in Juneau as Senators, Senate President, or members of the State House for a combined period spanning nearly three decades.

About the time Sarah took the HELM as Governor of Alaska, about half of the State legislature was in the pocket of big oil companies or contractors doing big projects for Native Corporations around Alaska, all funded by State oil revenue.  Alaska government was nothing but a good old boys club riding the perpetual wave of prosperity.  This filtered down from the legislature, through the Department of Natural Resources,  Department of Labor and even spilled in to the Public Safety who are supposed to “preserve and protect”.

When Sarah walked  into the Governor’s Mansion, she promptly dismissed the State Trooper detachment assigned to Governor and had her and her husband’s gun case brought in from Wasilla. Then, she got rid of the former Governor’s STATE Jet and told legislators that there were no more free rides, they would have to fly Alaska Airlines, just like her and her family if they wanted to travel.  Next came the nut cutting (the Barracuda part) the heads that rolled were too numerous to name, but when Sarah finished cleaning house, a number of our legislators ended up in jail for on corruption charges, or tendered their resignations along with numerous department heads and those who have been riding the gravy train for way too long,  AND THEN SHE HAD LUNCH.  By the end of the day, Sarah Palin had saved the people of Alaska millions and has not yet slowed down.

She has truly brought CHANGE to Juneau.  I personally know several persons in the private sector in Alaska, that hold her in high esteem.  She surrounds herself with smart people, many from my hometown of Anchorage, she listens to them but makes her own decisions.  Sarah Palin is a no B.S. politician.  It is refreshing that there is such a thing anymore.  You want to talk about CHANGE?  You should see a before and after picture of the State government in Alaska.  That’s CHANGE!  Sarah will bring a number of things to the election.  I am sure she will appeal many voters who my otherwise could have gone the other direction on election day.  The conservative block will not be for Barack.  We have their vote.  We need what Sarah will bring, first to the election and second, what she will bring to Washington D.C.  McCain has been advised well,  Let’s just hope the American people can get the straight scoop on her in the weeks ahead.   This is just the opinion of one Alaska Bush Pilot and Guide, who pays attention to national politics, watches the news and is deathly afraid of the direction our nation is headed.  I guarantee that if Sarah gets a chance to dig her spurs into the flanks of the liberal Washington types, they will know that she is in the saddle.

 Butch King
Pilot/Guide
www.wildmanlodge.com

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

When Sarah walked  into the Governor’s Mansion, she promptly dismissed the State Trooper detachment assigned to Governor and had her and her husband’s gun case brought in from Wasilla. Then, she got rid of the former Governor’s STATE Jet and told legislators that there were no more free rides, they would have to fly Alaska Airlines, just like her and her family if they wanted to travel.  Next came the nut cutting (the Barracuda part) the heads that rolled were too numerous to name, but when Sarah finished cleaning house, a number of our legislators ended up in jail for on corruption charges, or tendered their resignations along with numerous department heads and those who have been riding the gravy train for way too long,

This claim should be checked for veracity, and if true, bragging rights.

Names, party affiliation, charges as well as sentence/date of resignation.

[DixieBelle]

When Sarah walked  into the Governor’s Mansion, she promptly dismissed the State Trooper detachment assigned to Governor and had her and her husband’s gun case brought in from Wasilla. Then, she got rid of the former Governor’s STATE Jet and told legislators that there were no more free rides, they would have to fly Alaska Airlines, just like her and her family if they wanted to travel.  Next came the nut cutting (the Barracuda part) the heads that rolled were too numerous to name, but when Sarah finished cleaning house, a number of our legislators ended up in jail for on corruption charges, or tendered their resignations along with numerous department heads and those who have been riding the gravy train for way too long,

This claim should be checked for veracity, and if true, bragging rights.

Names, party affiliation, charges as well as sentence/date of resignation.

Gov. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, appointed her to a $118,000-a-year job on an important oil and gas commission. Several months later, she filed an ethics complaint against a fellow commissioner — the state chairman of the Republican Party — alleging he was doing political business on state time. He resigned and later paid a $12,000 fine.

Palin complained that Murkowski hadn't taken the complaint seriously. She quit and began planning to challenge him in the 2006 primary. Among Palin's lines of attacks: He was too close to the oil industry.

SNIP

Nine days after the primary, the FBI raided the offices of six Alaska legislators, and documents made clear the investigation was oil-related.

The burgeoning scandal, which included revelations of favors done for politicians by oil services company VECO, set the stage for Palin's general election campaign. She promised to overhaul ethics laws and re-examine the state's relationships with the oil industry.

It wasn't just the VECO scandal: Alaskans were fed up with high gas prices and with Exxon's court fight to avoid paying punitive damages in connection with the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill, Green says.

"It became kind of the thing to do to, quote, hate the industry," she says. "That became part of her campaign: We're not gonna let these people tell us what to do anymore. The raids really emboldened her to run against the party, run against the industry."

SNIP

Palin won with 48% of the vote. In her State of the State address in January, she promised to shelve the pipeline deal her predecessor had cut behind closed doors and reopen the bidding. In July, as the scandal mushroomed, she signed a bill requiring disclosure of lobbyist gifts to legislators.

On Dec. 19, she signed the oil tax increase. Six days before, in the U.S. Senate, an energy bill that would have repealed billions in tax breaks for oil companies failed by one vote. Obama voted yea; McCain skipped the vote.

Financial news service Bloomberg opined that when it comes to extracting more revenue from oil companies, Palin, "is succeeding where Venezuela President Hugo Chávez, a former paratrooper and military coup leader, so far has failed."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-11-palin-cover_N.htm

I'm still digging for more details.