By author, Sharyn. Originally posted at Partizane on November 2, 2008. Reposted with author’s permission.

[Editor's Note: The author asks the following question at the end of her article. I think the reader needs to hold this question in mind while reviewing the facts about Gov. Palin.]

…my initial reason for writing this up, does all this sound like the supposedly clueless Sarah Palin you’ve been hearing about in the mainstream media? Maybe there are sound reasons that Governor Palin is so popular with her state’s citizens, including many Democrats and Independents.

When John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, I was interested in learning about her and her accomplishments. I’ve had a long wait. The main stream press not only failed to provide the salient points of her executive career, it instantly began creating its own Sarah Palin with a portrait not exactly flattering. So, I had to do my own research. Even the media couldn’t suppress the fact that she has polled as the most popular governor of all 50 states. Another testament to her broad support: when she served as mayor, she was elected by her fellow Alaskan mayors throughout the state as president of the Alaskan Conference of Mayors. I wanted to find out the reasons behind her popularity, and here’s a small summary of some of her accomplishments as Governor that most impressed me.

1. Natural Gas Pipeline: Before becoming governor, the plans for a natural gas pipeline were in the works. Governor Palin’s predecessor, however, was cozy with big energy corporations and was pushing pipeline legislation which signed off on a plan he had already worked out with oil companies, which would have relinquished the state’s sovereignty vis a vis the pipeline as part of the package deal. When Palin came into office, she wanted to limit big oil’s influence over the state’s affairs, and when she took over the project (from the executive end), she absolutely insisted there would be no deal with any company unless the state retained its sovereignty.

The Bush Administration got wind of this and not surprisingly tried to intervene on behalf of Big Oil. Cheney himself even put in a couple calls to Palin asking her to kill it. “Cheney’s staff pressed the Palin administration to draw in the energy companies, said current and former state officials involved in those discussions.” “Palin had been warned twice by Vice President Dick Cheney, to bring in the oil producers to the pipeline project.” (AP; Alaska Daily News) Sarah Palin, however, stood up to Big Oil and the good ole boys and the state of Alaska has now finalized a plan with TransCanada which, as a result of the governor’s firmness, includes the sovereignty provision. After Alaska’s Senate vote in favor of providing the AGIA license to TransCanada, Gov. Palin praised the Legislature: “Our lawmakers have protected Alaska’s sovereignty. They’ve really taken it back.”

2. Big Oil Companies’ Tax: Gov. Palin stood up to the big energy companies again when she worked with Alaska’s lawmakers to increase the state’s share of its oil wealth through new legislation that revamped the Alaska’s state oil tax to include a progressive net-profits tax. Through this legislation known as ACES,”Alaska’s Clean and Equitable Share” Plan, the state has achieved a budget surplus in the billions. The state’s increased revenues have been put to good use by Gov. Palin.

For example, under her governance, funding for special needs in education has tripled in per-pupil funding for over the course of the next three years. Palin also has implemented the Senior Benefits Program, which provides financial support for low-income older Alaskans, reduced the state’s pension liability, established a revenue-sharing fund for local governments, helped homeowners directly with weatherization and home-heating costs, and has suspended the state’s gasoline tax (at the pump) for one year. Alaskans will also be receiving a $1200 tax rebate. And the state’s projected budget appears to be headed to a significant surplus into the foreseeable future.

(For a detailed outline of Palin’s energy-related goals and accomplishments, click this link from Alaska Daily News:   http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/553653.html )

3. Ethics Reform: One of Sarah Palin’s greatest initiatives upon becoming Governor was to immediately begin an overhaul of the state’s ethics laws.

This was a big concern for the governor before taking office. She actually had resigned her membership (pre-Governor years) on Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, where she served as Chair, when a fellow member (who happened also to be head of the state’s Republican Party), refused to stop conducting Party business on the commission’s time. He was actually working closely with the companies he was supposed to be regulating. She brought it up in private initially, and asked him several times to stop his unethical practice. He ignored her request, and she resigned in protest, and forthwith filed a formal complaint. He himself eventually was forced to resign and pay a fine for ethics violations.

After she was elected governor, she right away enlisted a Democrat and a Republican to work together to write up a position paper for the state on government ethics. This resulted in legislation, enthusiastically signed into law by the Governor, which included: tougher conflict of interest laws, greater restrictions on lobbyist gifts, a banning of lobbying activities by the spouses of legislators, and a ban on lobbying activities of recently resigned state officials.

4. Alternative Energy: As Governor, Sarah Palin knows she is working for all the citizens of her state, including Democrats. Alaska’s Democratic legislators had been working hard to create a state-level Climate Control Cabinet. Soon after taking office, Gov. Palin threw her support behind this effort and made the CCC a reality, one of the first states to do so. Also in the environmental vein, she earlier had served as chair of the Alaskan Conservation Commissions, and is currently chair of the National Governors Association’s Natural Resources Committee. In January of this past year, she announced the appointment of an Energy Coordinator to activate a statewide energy plan, which would include earnings from a Renewable Energy Fund for implementing alternative projects, including hydro, wind, geothermal and biomass. This proposal has been approved by Alaska’s legislators.

5. Across the Aisle: Although herself a conservative Republican, Gov. Palin has been known for reaching across the aisle to work for her state to achieve the best for its people, all the people. In this capacity, Gov. Palin made sure gay workers’ rights were protected in her administration. Indeed, Gov. Palin’s first veto was used to quash a bill that would have barred the state from granting benefits to the partners of gay state employees. Working with Alaska’s Democrats, Governor Palin also established the Alaska Health Care Strategies Planning Council within the first two months of taking office, and later that spring created a State Council for Alaska’s Homeless.

Here’s a quote from Alaska’s own Democratic Leader, Beth Kerttula, on Gov. Palin:

“On the issues I worked with her, she listened, and in the long run, she even overrode her own party on things House Democrats thought were important.”

Getting back to my initial reason for writing this up, does all this sound like the supposedly clueless Sarah Palin you’ve been hearing about in the mainstream media? Maybe there are sound reasons that Governor Palin is so popular with her state’s citizens, including many Democrats and Independents.

Short post script: Governor Palin’s personal gubernatorial expenses have been reduced, by her own modifications, 80% below her predecessor’s.