Sarah Palin – 2006 Research Report

A very special thanks to Berks for Obama member Jill, for sending this interesting document to the Berks for Obama members. You don’t want to miss this. This is a Democratic research document from 2006.

Palin Says She’s a Change from The Scandal-Plagued Republicans, But She’s More of the Same.

Palin built her reputation on criticizing state Republicans for ethics questions, but Palin has questions of her own, as she used city resources when she campaigned for Lt. Governor; Palin chaired the campaign of another candidate in a race dominated by resource issues when she was on the oil and gas commission and said that she saw no conflict of interest. For years, Palin supported Murkowski, campaigning for him across the state, and he supported her campaigns as well.

Palin Touts Fiscal Conservatism, But She Increased Spending Tremendously and Supported Tax Increases.

Palin constantly reminds us that she is a fiscal conservative. But during her time as mayor, she increased the city’s budget at a rate far outpacing the city’s growth with spending on large projects. She supported sales tax increases and left the city with thousands in per-capita debt, where none had existed when she came in. Palin brags about eliminating the personal property tax, but with the same legislation, the city increased motor vehicle fees that almost matched the lost income of the personal property taxes.

Palin Is Too Socially Conservative for Libertarian Alaska.

Palin is a strong conservative-something she repeated throughout her primary campaign but now seems to try to back off from. She is not only pro-life but is involved with-and even steered tax money toward organizations that give misleading information on abortion. She called herself a “hard-core fiscal conservative” who wanted government to get to the bare bones. The Anchorage Daily News asked whether her “socially conservative positions square with Alaska’s generally libertarian approach to those issues.” Palin also supported a flat tax, an idea even Bob Dole thought was absurd.

Palin’s Management Style is to Bully and Demand Political Loyalty.

Palin’s tenure as mayor of Wasilla was marred by tremendous staff turnover, first when she fired most of the top staff-including the city’s librarian-because she questioned their loyalty, and then later when staff quit because of her micromanaging style. Wasilla even lost the opportunity to hire a police chief because he said the job seemed too political.

Palin’s Not Ready for Primetime.

Palin argues that she was the mayor of the fastest growing city in Alaska. While that may be true, Wasilla’s population is still 1 percent of the rest of the state of Alaska. The last budget Palin approved, $12.5 million, is .2 percent of the $7.3 billion budget Tony Knowles approved.

Palin’s Not Tough Enough to Be A Strong Negotiator for Alaska. As mayor, Palin fired someone because she said he intimidated her with his size and because he gave her a “stern look.” She asked her department heads to give her only good news and once complained because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture.”

The complete research paper is 63 pages long and can be found at http://www.dlayphoto.com/obama/palin06.pdf

If the Busholinis loved George W. Bush, they are going to go “hog wild” over Sarah Palin.

Americans deserve better than this. We had enough of the past 8 years of incompetence. We don’t need four more years of failed policies which John McCain and Sarah Palin are promising to give us. In John McCain’s acceptance speech, his favorite word was “fight”. Poor John S. McCain. He is still fighting the Vietnam War. My advice to him is to “let it go, John. Just let it go. It’s 2008. We left this war many years ago.”