Wasilla is a city of 6,715 that is 68 km (42 miles) north of the port of Anchorage.Palin began her political career in 1992, when she ran for a three-year term on the Wasilla city council, supporting a controversial new sales tax and advocating "a safer, more progressive Wasilla.She won, and won re-election to a second three-year term in the 1995 election.
In 1996, Palin challenged and defeated incumbent John Stein for the office of mayor.[19] In the campaign, she criticized Stein for what she called wasteful spending and high taxes,and highlighted issues such as abortion, religion and gun control.[20] Though the position of mayor is non-partisan, the state Republican Party ran advertisements on her behalf.
In October 1996, she asked the Wasilla police chief, librarian, public works director, and finance director to resign, and she instituted a policy requiring department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters.In January 1997, Palin notified the police chief, Irl Stambaugh, and the town librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons that they were being fired.Palin said in a letter that she wanted a change because she believed the two did not fully support her administration. She rescinded the firing of the librarian, but not the police chief.The chief filed a lawsuit; but a court dismissed it, finding that the mayor had the right to fire city employees for nearly any reason.According to Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who observed City Council, Palin also brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting, but did not follow through with the idea.
As mayor of Wasilla, Palin was in charge of the city Police Department, consisting of 25 officers, and Public Works.She was praised for cutting property taxes by 40 percent while improving roads and sewers and strengthening the Police Department.She also reduced the mayoral salary, reduced spending on the town museum, and opposed a bigger library.She increased the city sales tax to pay for the new Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex,which eventually went over budget due to an eminent domain lawsuit.
Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and was returned to office by a margin of 909 to 292 votes.Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.
During her second term as mayor, Palin hired the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for earmarks for Wasilla. The effort was led by Steven Silver, a former chief of staff for Senator Ted Stevens,and it secured nearly $27 million in earmarked funds. The earmarks included $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project linking Wasilla and the ski resort community of Girdwood.Some of the earmarks were criticized by Senator McCain.
In 2002, term limits prevented Palin from running for a third term as mayor.Her stepmother-in-law, Faye Palin, ran for the office but lost the election to Dianne Keller after Sarah Palin endorsed Keller,her cousin.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Early life and education of Sarah Palin
Palin was born Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the third of four children of Sarah Heath, a school secretary, and Charles R. Heath, a science teacher and track coach.[6] Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.As a child, she would sometimes go moose hunting with her father before school, and the family regularly ran 5K and 10K races.
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.She helped the team win the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds of the game, despite having an ankle stress fracture.She earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play and was the leader of the team prayer before games.
In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant, then finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant,at which she won a college scholarship and the "Miss Congeniality" award. Palin admits to smoking marijuana as a youth, during the time when possession was legal in Alaska, though she says she did not enjoy it.
Palin attended Hawaii Pacific College—now Hawaii Pacific University—in Honolulu for a semester in 1982, majoring in Business Administration. She transferred in 1983 to North Idaho College.In 1987,Palin received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho, where she also minored in political science.
In 1988, she worked as a sports reporter for KTUU-TV in Anchorage, Alaska.She also helped in her husband’s family commercial fishing business.Palin also had a 20 percent ownership in an Anchorage car wash business, according to state corporation records filed in 2004. Palin failed to report her stake in the company when running for governor in 2006; in April 2007, the state issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" because of the company's failure to file its biennial report and pay state licensing fees.
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.She helped the team win the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds of the game, despite having an ankle stress fracture.She earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play and was the leader of the team prayer before games.
In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant, then finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant,at which she won a college scholarship and the "Miss Congeniality" award. Palin admits to smoking marijuana as a youth, during the time when possession was legal in Alaska, though she says she did not enjoy it.
Palin attended Hawaii Pacific College—now Hawaii Pacific University—in Honolulu for a semester in 1982, majoring in Business Administration. She transferred in 1983 to North Idaho College.In 1987,Palin received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho, where she also minored in political science.
In 1988, she worked as a sports reporter for KTUU-TV in Anchorage, Alaska.She also helped in her husband’s family commercial fishing business.Palin also had a 20 percent ownership in an Anchorage car wash business, according to state corporation records filed in 2004. Palin failed to report her stake in the company when running for governor in 2006; in April 2007, the state issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" because of the company's failure to file its biennial report and pay state licensing fees.
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