From Sarah Palin and Wasilla Sports Complex land deal:
Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002. Her record during that time can tell us a lot about her. The biggest deal during her tenure is perhaps the construction of the sports complex that was built on someone else’s land. She had to raise sales taxes to pay for it. The whole episode of incompetence, arrogance, and lack of respect for the law is exactly the style of governance that we’ve seen from Bush and co in the past seven years.
The $15 million multi-use indoor ice arena was supposed to be her legacy as the mayor. This was a very big deal for a city that had a budget of $3.9 million in 96 (increased to $5.8 million in 2002). Although the city subsidy has gone down from the initial $600k per year to about $125k per year, the sports complex still does not break even.
The biggest problem, however, was the process of how the land was acquired. The whole thing was handled with exceptional incompetence and arrogance, ultimately costing the city an extra $1.7 million in settlement and court cost for a piece of land that would have costed only $125k if they had handled it right from the beginning in 1998.
Click the link and read the whole story, it’s well worth it. Republicans, please pay special attention to the part I bolded for emphasis – this woman had the temerity to raise taxes while she was mayor!
Once she assumed the governor’s chair, she couldn’t wait to abuse that power – read all about her troopergate scandal here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…
From the way this looks, Sarah Palin couldn’t govern her way out of a paper bag with a stick of dynamite. To my differently-winged citizens, it’s time to face facts – your party leadership is throwing this election. Continuing to say that you’re going to win will only make you look very, very foolish, though I suppose that’s never stopped you before…
Your obsesion with trashing smalltown America is part of the reason you will always lose.
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p>http://www.cityofwasilla.com/i…
…it seems that Palin is the one who trashed this small town. Do you care?
Because I said it had a bustling downtown and showed a picture of the actual downtown, which apparently doesn’t bustle all that much? Give it a rest – I grew up in a small town in Connecticut, and I live in a small town in Massachusetts. I’m involved in my local government, and I gave a presentation to the finance committee a few weeks ago – so I suppose that means I’m qualified to be vice-president too, right?
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p>Do you have anything to say about the substance of my post? Care to defend the mayor who raised taxes in her town to pay for a boondoggle? Are you aware that she also raised state taxes as governor? Aren’t tax increases anathema to you and yours?
One would wonder why from all the available images of the city of Wassila you would select a photo of the sides of the mini mart as being somehow representative of the values of that locale.
Is this represenative of the merit of the rest of your useless and unsubstatiated post?
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p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/s…
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p>Perhaps if Palin hailed from Laconia you would show us the town landfill to substantiate whatever rave suited you?
It illutrates that she didn’t have much of a town to lead, that’s all. Had she hailed from Laconia, I would have shown a picture of downtown Laconia, which at least would have been marginally more impressive. If being mayor of Wasilla quailifies her for VP, then everyone I know in my town government is equally qualified, or perhaps moreso.
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p>The rest of my post is hardly useless and unsubstantiated – click through and check the sourcing, it’s all true and it’s relevant to this experience meme you guys are pushing. She was a lousy mayor who pushed through a tax increase for a boondoggle of a public project, leaving Wasilla in a financial mess when she left office. As state governor, she has abused her power and she apparently allows her husband to function as a shadow governor – this is not a person who should be an aging heartbeat away from the presidency.
I’ll give you credit for gall if nothing else, clinging to your image of the “mugshot Saloon” as downtown Wassila.
Any quick cursory search of the internet yields ample images of a relativly vibrant area that is GROWING … unlike our precious commonwealth.
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p>This leads any rational person to dismiss the rest of your story telling in deference to letting whatever needs to come out do so on the national stage.
Why do you truly dispise small town america so much that you would attempt to use it as some kind of weapon in your character assasination attempts?
Every time I looked at a voting map in any dem primary this year it seemed striking to me that OBAMA got smoked in every location outside of the urban sprawl. Everywhere.
Hmm .. judging by his supporters I dont think I need to wonder why, now do I?
I don’t despise small town America, I live in small town America and I hold no illusions that my first selectman is ready to be VPOTUS. There is no character assassination in my post – there’s a thorough discussion of how Sarah Palin governed as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and it doesn’t reflect well on her abilities. That’s not my fault – that’s her fault, for being a lousy mayor who made bad decisions…
I for one do not beleive that you live in small town america. Could you show us a picture of your exxon station?
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p>And because as everyone knows, people elect as governor those who’ve done lousy in prior positions.
On the other hand, partisan Republican hacks have been seen doing just that – ever hear of George W. Bush and the mess he made in Texas as governor? How did that turn out?
I think you just insulted the majority of all Alaskans.
That tax increase was the result of a ballot decision.
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p>America cannot afford another Kerry/Edwards campaign!
Sarah Palin was leading the town on the decision to fund this boondoggle with a tax increase – that she convinced many of her fellow Republicans to go along with this folly makes it no less a folly, and it speaks volumes about her ability to govern. That you can ignore it and try to blame it on the people she was leading speaks volumes about you as well.
if you think this will work, you’re as naive as the people who think HRC’s supporters are going to vote for Palin because she’s a woman.
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p>I mean, she has plenty of stuff to go after: views on abortion and same-sex marriage, suspension of the gas tax. And yet you choose to focus on an admittedly liberal blog’s selective quoting of a couple of news articles? Do you even know how something is placed on the ballet in Alaska? So what? The conservative spin machine is just going to point out the things she has done that reinforces her fiscal conservatism (the jet, tax rebates, etc.).
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p>Sure, you can pass around these little jabs if it makes you and your small circle of Dems feel good. But the majority of us will actually try to craft arguments that will hold up with the majority of Americans.
I guess I have to repeat that, ‘cuz you didn’t read it above. People were saying she had “executive experience” in the other thread – so I pointed out that her executive experience sucks, and posted links to back that assertion up. My apologies for somehow not meeting your expectations…
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p>I know she has lots of problems, and they’re getting worse by the minute – have you heard about the Shadow Governor yet?
particularly given who we have selected as our candidate for President. Palin apparently has the highest favorable rating than any other governor in the country. Doesn’t that concern anyone in regards to her electability? Attacking her experience is just not going to work and saying sarcastic things about small town America, similar to the message implied by posting the lead-in picture, is going to help John McCain win. BTW, Palin has more experience governing than Mitt Romney and the Governor of Louisianna, both of whom were considered as serious candidates for the VP slot. Democrats are in danger of appearing to be sexists if we continue with this tactic of attacking Palin’s experience. Please stop it.
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p>I would have found it sexist if anyone gave a free pass to an unready and unqualified candidate solely because she was a woman.
I can just as easily tell you to please stop it.