For Sarah

Posted by Paulette Simpson

Posted: July 5, 2009 - 5:52 pm

Comments (0) |

Sorry, unlike everyone else on the planet, I’m not going to theorize about Sarah Palin’s resignation. For one thing, I have no inside information about her reasons for leaving office early – but it’s little more than chatter and conjecture anyway.

As a political entity, Sarah Palin has never been predictable or remotely conventional. That’s been a big part of her appeal, especially to independent-minded voters. I do find it ironic that many of the very same people who are criticizing her for “abandoning” the state are the people who most venomously wanted her gone.

It’s also hysterical that anyone in Juneau could actually criticize her for leaving mid-term when no one in this town seemed to mind one bit when our state senator took a hike half way through the legislative session to go be an Obama minion. At least Sarah had a successor in place.

That Juneau never embraced Sarah Palin was hardly surprising. When she was elected in 2006, she captured only 22 percent of the Juneau vote. While the Chamber of Commerce and local Republicans graciously welcomed her to town in December 2006, most people here were never predisposed to make it easy for her, and that reflects poorly on all of us.

Sarah moved her family into the Governor’s House and enrolled her three daughters in Juneau public schools. For a variety of personal reasons, by the spring of 2009, only her youngest daughter was still being schooled in the Capital City, and only during legislative session.

Obviously, the Governor’s support system has always been in Wasilla, but, as many Juneau bumper stickers reminded her and the rest of us, the job she took was in Juneau.

One reason our town never warmed to Sarah Palin was because she was a conservative Republican and a former Wasilla mayor from the dreaded Mat Su Valley. For the elitists and the paranoid in Juneau, Wasilla is the bogeyman – a breeding ground for the religious right and capital movers.

As a resident of Juneau, I do thank Gov. Palin for her critical support of our Kensington mine and Juneau road. And like most Juneau residents, I am grateful to her for selecting Dennis Egan to fill our Juneau senate seat.

Sarah Palin has moved on. Her detractors should do likewise.

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