How did Sarah Palin get elected governor of Alaska?

[yardwork]

I've been puzzling over this for several days. Can anyone tell me? Did Diebold machines have anything to do with it?

[Ilsa]

1. Their leadership was already corrupt and fucked up. Made it easier for her. nt

[tridim]

4. Sounds like the Federal Government needs to give Alaska a spanking

From everything I've heard the leadership is almost 100% corrupt.

I hate saying that because I believe in state's rights, but they've been stealing our tax dollars for years. AK corruption affects all of us.

[Botany]

2. Alaska is very red

In the Primary she was 1 of 3 republicans and the other 2 had on going
criminal/ethics problems.

[MarjorieG]

5. In the general 1 of 3 also? Won by 51% by 115,000 votes? Confirm.

By comparison 18 million voted for Obama.

[Botany]

6. I don't know how many people ran in the G.E.

Although i have heard it quoted that the 115,000 votes is a bout 17% of the
total population in Alaska.

[billyoc]

3. I think up there, you just shoot whoever's the Governor now, and you get to take over.

[Bucky]

13. Nah, it's just a wrestling contest. That's why that grizzly bear has had three terms already.

Poor damn moose never stood a chance.

[WindRiverMan]

7. Okay here is the deal....

Frank Murkowsky was a US Senator, then he decided that for his swan song, he wanted to be Alaska's governor. Now, Alaska politics are corrupt, it truly is the wild west. Alaska has never had an elected senator or representative, they were all appointed the first time. The Republican party rules and they dip their hands in the cookie jar up to their elbows.


Anyway, Frank wins the governorship. Now the governor has to appoint a new senator to fill the vacant seat (his senate seat was not up for re-election when he ran for governor). Frank appointed LISA MURKOWSKI---HIS DAUGHTER!


After that, Frank began a huge run of doing whatever he felt like. He purchased a 14 million dollar private jet to fly him around Alaska even after the senate told him no. He tried to impose an income tax on Alaskans while still giving big oil tax breaks (Alaska has no state income tax).

Worst of all, he wanted to tap the Permanent Fund, which despite rumors is not from oil revenue, at least not new one. It was set up years ago when the pipeline was built by Governor Jay Hammond, a true patriot and what Republicans used to be 40 years ago. Anyway, when the state was flush with money, Jay felt that some of the money should be put aside for the residents of Alaska as compensation for giving up a portion of their state to oil drilling. That money (a very small portion) was invested in the stock marekt. Each year Alaskan residents get a dividend from these stocks that were purchased years ago with excess oil revenue.

Anyway, Frank spends like....well, like a Republican, cannot balance the budget, so he is trying to hell to get a state sales tax or a income tax, or tap the Permanent Fund for more money for state coffers (remember, oil was like 34 a barrel then). He winds up with an 8%, yes not a type eight PERCENT, approval rating.

Sarah trumped his ass in the primaries. A retarded cocker spaniel wouldh have given Frank a good run, a non-retarded one would have won. Beating Frank was like dunking a basketball on a five year old.

Sarah then runs against Tony Knowles, not a bad guy, but a former governor who had made a few too many blunders. She beat Tony, but not by a landslide, which is not surprising in the red state of Alaska.


And that, is how Sarah Palin managed her "Meteoric Rise" to power.

[yardwork]

8. Thank you! That is very interesting and helpful. I remember the Murkowski thing.

Republican politics in Alaska sounds a little like Democratic politics in North Carolina. I hate to say that, but there it is.

[Canuckistanian]

17. Jesus, what a tale

Is there a non-corrupted politician LEFT in Alaska?

If so, they should put them in a museum.

Thanks for the explanation!

[Marsala]

9. Any nut can get elected governor, of almost any state

Just look at Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

[Honeycombe8]

10. I was wondering that, too. Mayor of a small town...makes governor suddenly? There has GOT to be a

story there.

And I suspect she didn't get it by just running on her own and giving good speeches. Family connections? Lots of donated money by someone important? By some special interest?

[Bucky]

11. She was appointed to some anti-corruption panel a year before the election

the Wiki article on her covers it pretty succinctly.

[ProSense]

15. Delete, wrong place. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

12. Hicks.

[tinrobot]

14. She stepped into a vacuum.

The sitting governor was hated and Alaska is too red to elect a Democrat.

There was no one else to pick.

[ProSense]

16. Palin's experience doesn't add up.

She goes from a short stint as the mayor of a tiny town to Governor? Saying it's Alaska, doesn't mean anything.

She's a crony the state GOP put out front as a prop.

Things that raise my eyebrow:

• She managed to get $27 million for a tiny town and leaves it $22 million in debt.
  
  
• The lobbyists who aided her was tied to Abramoff
  
  
• Her ties to Ted Stevens, having run his 527.