Some Things You May Not Know About Sarah Palin’s Resume

Ted Belman at Israpundit has posted a transcript of  Sarah Palin’s Resume slideshow,  which originally appeared in an article at The Conservative Mind.

Here is an excerpt from the article in which the slideshow originally appeared:

When John McCain introduced Sarah Palin at the Republican convention it was an exercise in contrasts. As the brusk stiff warrior, whose smiles seem to be as much grimaces of pain as expressions of joy (a persona born of old war wounds and a infamous temperament), was replaced on stage by a vibrant enthusiastic woman the difference was like going from dusk back to daytime.  The electorate seem to have all the enthusiasm and energy of a funeral procession before she was chosen. As the left was going hog wild over their “historic candidate” the conservatives were looking for something to cheer about. In Sarah they found it.

She electrified the crowd that night and sent fear into the heart of the left. Vice presidential candidates were not suppose to carry the presidential candidate but this was obviously not an ordinary VP pick. As the elated crowds left the convention floor the media and the left wing political apparatus went into high gear with one thing in mind, destroy Sarah.

Throughout the summer huge crowds followed the messiah around and sang his hosannas. When McCain spoke people came but the crowds were dull and the energy low but not when Sarah showed up. Wherever she went the atmosphere came alive.  Her crowds matched the messiahs in both numbers and enthusiasm. He was the aloof and untouchable media darling, she was a gun toting firebrand that knew what real work was. If Obama had a picture of someone in his head when he complained about the guns and God crowd it would of looked a lot like Sarah Palin.

The fact is before she entered the campaign McCain was an underdog of underdogs. Carrying an 800 pound gorilla called Bush on his back and facing a Democratic candidate with unparalleled enthusiasm from the party faithful the race seemed lost before it began. After Sarah joined the team his polls rose and even put him ahead. Never in the history of politics had a VP pick been such a game changer. Never in modern history had on candidates choice for VP been so reviled by the opposing party and the press alike.

A partial explanation of the mad dog response to Sarah Palin may be found in Obama’s total lack of qualifications. The fact that he was so under qualified and totally lacking in experience meant that his supporters had to keep the spotlight off of him. Add to that the enthusiasm for Sarah meant she was the main threat, not McCain. The natural strategy then was to make her the center of debate as a smoke screen to hide their candidate behind. The media would make sure that Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience was not the issue but Palin’s was. The Democrats and their Media cohorts would collaborate to make the race about the VP pick of the opposing party thus avoid the spotlight being shown on their candidates losing record and radical past. His gaffs would be hidden behind hers (whether real or hyped as such). They would concentrate nearly exclusively on her to protect him. This of course explains some of the media Palin bashing craze but not all.

Everywhere in the press she was decried as a nobody, a lightweight and dumb. That she didn’t have the resume to be president was the tagline they were selling.  A woman that had risen from soccer mom, to mayor, to chairing the Alaska Oil and Conservation Commission to being the youngest and one of the most successful governors in Alaskan history was a lightweight and dumb? A person with a resume that made the Democratic presidential candidate look like a hayseed farmer in comparison wasn’t experienced enough? The fact was her resume was thick and her accomplishments were many. Her main sin it seemed was having charisma and a following that seemed to be on the precipice of toppling the Democratic messiah. If Sarah had one weakness it was the fact she had no experience with the snake pit that was national politics, something she would soon find rectified.

Read the rest here.

Here is an excerpt from our friend Ted Belman’s transcript of the slideshow.    Our mutual friend, Benyamin Korn,  has also posted a very nice excerpt of the transcript at Jews for Sarah. com.

3. Early Leadership

• Councilwoman Palin focused on reducing property taxes and redefining the city government’s role

• Supported 2% sales tax with a corresponding reduction in property taxes. The sales tax was fairer and more optional, and kept reduced government control over what Wasilla residents owned

• Opposed master-planned community type zoning regulations and favored retaining a do-it-yourself approach

• Opposed development plan that would have required residents of new sub-divisions to pay for weekly garbage removal – by a company owned by city council member Nick Carney

• Voted against mayoral pay raise• Personally read and reviewed every line item in city budgets as well as proposed regulations, and ordinances.

• Councilwoman Palin took constituent calls to her home at all hours of the night, including holidays and weekends

[…]

5. Actions as Mayor Fiscally Responsible

• Cut taxes

• Eliminated small-business inventory taxes

• Eliminated property taxes

• Eliminated business license renewal fees

• Cut the real estate property tax mil levy during each year in office

• Did not support proposed city-wide smoking ban Business Friendly

• Built and paved roads

• Extended water and sewer lines

• Paved runway at Wasilla Municipal Airport

• City bond financed by half-cent sales tax to build Curtis Menard Jr. Multi-Use Sports Center

• Wasilla became a major commercial center under Mayor Palin. Established small businesses grew, and major national chains opened their doors in Wasilla. Tough

• Cut her own pay

• Says one of her favorite quotes comes from author and former football coach Lou Holtz, on how to build your team: “Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.”

• Fired police chief who refused cut department budget and who attempted to undermine the Mayor’s authority.

• Requested letters of resignation from all department heads to keep on file. Only two complied. A Leader Among Leaders

• Led dozens of other mayors in dealing with statewide issues, such as municipal revenue sharing, and advocating for local government control.

6. Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Chairman 2003-2004

7. Going Rogue While on the commission she discovered one of her fellow Republicans on the commission waspersonally profiting from his position. She first triedto deal with it directly as she was bound by therules not to disclose information she learned aschairman while part of the commission. When talkfailed she resigned the prestigious and high payingposition in order to legally be able to go public.Going against her party and against advice she wentpublic with her accusations resulting incommissioner Randy Reudrich being found guiltyand fined the biggest civil fine in Alaskan history

8. 2006, First Woman and Youngest Governor in Alaskan History

9. A Run To Remember

• Ran and won a primary against the setting Governor of her own party and against the advice of the Alaskan Republican Party

• Won a series of three way debates handily

• Won the Governorship 48.33 % of the vote in a three way race and took control of the second most powerful Governorship in the country

• Decides to live in her own home and drive the 45 miles to work rather then force the people of Alaska to pay for a chef and servants for her and her family

10. House Cleaning 101

• Put previous governor’s jet on EBay (eventually sold by a broker when bids did not go high enough)

• First bill, a bipartisan ethics bill meant to clean up the legislature

• Vetoed 268 million in pork projects first year

• Put whole budget process on line

11. A Divisive Political Figure or a Victim of Salacious Political Attacks

•  Sarah has had the highest favorability rating in the country and likely of any governor in history with 93% approval rating in 2007 and still was at 86% after two years in office

• A full 75% of all Democrats approved of her after two years

• She drove through much of her legislative agenda with bipartisan support

12. Busy Busy

• Worked with legislature and signed a ethics reform law that put real penalties for those breaking ethics rules

•  Pushed through the AGIA (Alaskan Gas Inducement Act) that laid the foundation for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska and opened up competition to all bidders

• Creates ACES (Alaskan Clear and Equitable Share act) and gets it passed. The act replaced an old system, it gave the state auditing powers and gave the Alaskan royalty collection and distribution much more transparent

• Tells oil Exxon Oil to drill on an unexploited lease or lose lease

• Cut Spending and froze hiring and reduced budget by nearly 10%• Went line by line on bills and vetoed things seen as pork or wasteful (angering legislators but endearing herself to the public)

• Set up the Petroleum Oversight Board to keep honest people honest• Chaired Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) 2007- 2008

13. International Experience While Governor A question that came up often during campaign, funny the press never asked about Obama’sexperience. Maybe it was because he didn’t have any! Palin trumped Obama in her economic, energy , executive and international experience

• Worked with the government of Yukon to renew the Alaska-Yukon Intergovernmental Relations Accord to address joint concerns on the environment, tourism and trade among other things (Met with President of Iceland and made quite an impression on him)

• Hosted, spoke at and worked with many world leaders at the Arctic Energy Summit, part of the discussions included a proposed Bering strait rail tunnel she supported

• Met trade delegates and diplomats from around the world. (more on that from the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition can be had here)• Dealt with cross border issues with Canada.

Read the rest here.

Governor Palin Weighs in on SWATting!

I’ve been following this story for quite some time. I’m joined in this effort by many conservative bloggers, including Michelle Malkin, Stacy McCain, William A. Jacobson, Patrick Frey, Ace of Spades and many, many others.

The game afoot is the use of “lawfare” to stifle the free-speech rights of conservatives. Legal actions are instigated for nefarious reasons and in extreme cases, leftist henchmen have called 911 to communicate an act of violence by someone who has no idea that this has been done. In the past several months, there have been “SWATting” calls that have called out the police to respond to a non-existing event.

I could provide you with a link to all the stories, but you can start out by visiting my first blog post about it HERE.

The conservative blogosphere has been trying, desperately, to get this story on the national media’s radar screen. To date, it hasn’t happened despite movement in Congress to call attention to the goings on.

The fact that Governor Palin mentioned it in her speech at RightOnline underscores its importance.

Now, if she’d only weigh in on the media’s misreporting of “Fast and Furious” like Bill Whittle……