The Caliber of Sarah Palin

Recently my local weekly paper, The Sandpaper, published a letter to the editor in which the writer asserted that the Democratic party would give this country its first female president (or Latino president or gay president, etc.) and went on to state that Sarah Palin was not of the same “caliber” as the numerous Democratic women she went on to list.  Here’s a portion of the letter written by Karen Bosley of Long Beach Township, NJ and you can read the rest of it at the provided link should you desire to do so:

To the Editor:

When a woman becomes president of the United States, she will be a Democrat. The same will be said for a president who is Latino or Native American or gay. I know this because, while it is the Republican Party that gives us women of the caliber of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann – not very often of the caliber of Margaret Chase Smith and Sandra Day O’Connor – it is the Democratic Party that regularly gives us women of the caliber of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Shirley Chisholm. It is the Democratic Party that recognizes, has confidence in, promotes and celebrates the diversity that is the strength of the United States of America.  More

 

It’s clear that Ms. Bosley is ill-informed when it comes to Governor Palin’s accomplishments.  In an effort to set the record straight, I have responded to her letter and submitted the following response for publication consideration.  We’ll see if it gets published.

 

This letter is in response to the September 19^th letter from Karen Bosley entitled “Democrat at Heart”.  In that letter, Ms. Bosley stated that former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, was not of the same “caliber” as were the numerous Democratic women that she cited who, in her opinion, possessed the qualities to be president.  It’s obvious that Ms. Bosley is unaware of Governor Palin’s record of achievement as a small business owner, a city council member, a mayor, a gas and oil regulator and as governor of the largest state in our country. 

In the interest of brevity, I will focus on Palin’s tenure as governor.  All stated items are a matter of record. 

–          Reformed ethics laws with bipartisan support. 

–          Cut state spending by 9.5% between 2007 and 2010. 

–          Forward funded education to give districts greater flexibility. Increased funding for special education by 175%.  Governor Palin also offered to personally speak with students considering dropping out of school. 

–          Implemented a Senior Benefits Program to assist low-income older Alaskans. 

–          Reduced federal earmark requests by more than 80%.

–          Forced Exxon’s hand to drill at Point Thomson after they held a lease for almost 3 decades thus creating jobs and tax revenues. The “good ole boys” just kept renewing the lease.

–          Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) Alaska’s law to advance construction of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to market. This had been attempted for decades without success. Palin became governor; it got done.

–          In 2007 Governor Palin signed ACES (Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share) – a net tax on oil profits that was passed in a bipartisan and transparent manner.  Result?  A record number of oil industry jobs were created and it helped Alaska bank 12 billion dollars.

–          During Palin’s tenure, Alaska was second in job growth compared to all other states.

–          Palin’s tenure as governor resulted in a bond rating increase by Moody’s Investor’s Service from Aa1 to Aaa.

–          As governor, earned approval ratings of 89% and 93% (May 2007) and was credited by Democratic Party Chairman, Jake Westbook, as a leader that worked across party lines.

–          Business license fees were cut in half.

Let’s see, important legislation passed in a bipartisan and transparent manner, job creation, development of natural resources, reduced spending and an increased credit rating, all while looking out for education and senior citizens.  If you’ve formed an opinion of Sarah Palin based upon Saturday Night Live skits and a certain media narrative, I’m betting the above performance is quite surprising.  With great ease, I could continue this list with examples of what a real reformer can do.  Not the same “caliber”?  Perhaps the simple truth of Sarah Palin’s executive accomplishments sets the record straight.

Information source here.

Cross posted at Sarah Palin Information Blog