The Governor Has Two Faces

Even Palin fans, and there are many, to be sure, were stunned at her election to the Governor's chair in Alaska. According to Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article, Rebecca Braun, publisher of the Alaska Budget Report, saw the Palin victory as "something 'far beyond anything you could explain in terms of intellect or training.'"

But Sarah Palin made three promises to the state of Alaska, and she came through on all three; she increased oil taxes, won legislative framework for that natural gas pipeline, and initiated significant ethics reforms. Telling, since now she is under fire for so many ethics complaints, but I digress. You see, even with her accomplishments, it wasn't all sweetness and light in the Palin government.

• As a mother to several children already, Sarah Palin, for unknown reasons, kept her last pregnancy a secret from friends and family, going so far as to travel from Texas back to Alaska, arrive in Anchorage and then drive forty-five minutes to a hospital in Wasilla, all the while leaking amniotic fluid, just so her child could be born in Alaska. But, seriously, why all the secrecy surrounding the pregnancy and the birth?
• Of course, then there is the famous 'bridge to nowhere' on Gravina Island that Sarah Palin at first supported, then didn't support, then ultimately denied she'd ever supported it when nationwide criticism began to turn against her.
• And then we have the Sarah Palin who filled her government with friends from high school, neighbors from Wasilla, and any other form of Yes Person she might find. Her pick for director of the state Division of Agriculture gave a "childhood love of cows" as a qualification for the position.
• And while most of her staff was comprised of friends and family, she would only communicate via Blackberry or a personal email account so she could "avoid having to disclose documents under the state public-records laws."
• Sarah Palin, after spending ninety minutes in a closed door session with legislators then immediately appeared on television to deny that she, or anyone on her staff, ever held closed door meetings. Lyda Green, one-time friend, now Palin foe, was at that closed door meeting and was stunned by Palin's denial. Many thought Green's sudden dislike of Palin was jealousy over Palin's meteorite rise in the political chain of Alaska, but Les Gara, a Democrat who once worked with, and supported Palin now says of her: "She didn't work very hard. You would speak to her on particular issues, and it was like she didn't know anything about them and she never seemed very engaged...[but]...if your priorities happened to be her priorities, you could build a coalition."
• Palin wants what she wants, and works with you if you agree, works against you if you don't. Case in point: John Bitney, who worked tirelessly for her campaign, and was praised on high after her election, was summarily fired; he says it was due to the fact that he had the misfortune to fall in love with the wife of a friend of Palin's. For the record, Palin announced that his departure was amicable, but later, to The Wall Street Journal, she said he was fire due to "poor job performance." Sarah Palin had a one-way view and if you stepped out of line or in her way, you were gone.

Todd Purdum says he spoke to many people in Alaska and many independent sources each cited the theory that Sarah Palin suffers from narcissistic personality disorder. This is quite evident in the emails she sent out upon the birth of Trig, her last child; the pregnancy that she kept secret fro so long. In the email, she talked of her pregnancy and of the birth of Trig "not in her own name but in God's" name. She actually signed the emails "Trig's Creator, Your Heavenly Father."

And one of the biggest missteps in the Palin government was her personal vendetta against a state trooper, was the so-called Troopergate. During her first year as governor, Palin, her husband Todd, who reports say spent nearly every day in the governor's office with Palin and sat in on all government meetings, and her aides complained incessantly to Walt Monegan about Mike Wooten, married to, but now divorcing Sarah's sister Molly. Wooten, by all accounts, was a horrible trooper, but he'd been disciplined many times, so Monegan was not about to continue the harassment at the whim of the governor.

Then, in June of 2008 Monegan sent Palin an email saying that a state legislator had seen Palin driving through Wasilla with baby Trig not in a car seat. "'I have never driven Trig anywhere without a new, approved car seat,' Palin fired back. 'I want to know who said otherwise--pls. privide me that info now.'" Less than two weeks then passed before Sarah Palin fired Walt Monegan.

One does not cross Sarah Palin, for fear of retribution. One does not disagree with Sarah Palin without threat of punishment. One does not get in her way, does not live life in a way she deems unacceptable, without fear of losing your job.

There is the truth, and the truth as Sarah Palin sees it.

More to come.
The Vanity Fair artcile is HERE.