a few words from Alaska

with permission from the author:
Winds of Change in Alaska - and Sarah Palin's questionable political future....

As the election campaign has dwindled down to its end, political writers and news reports have been focusing on the future of Sarah Palin. Is she considering a presidential bid for 2012? Is she the new star of the Republican Party? What can she make of her place in the national spotlight? Is she distancing herself from John McCain in the event of a loss at the polls? All these questionsleft aside one very important fact. If Sarah Palin returns to govern Alaska, how successful will she be in the remainder of her term and how will that effect her political future? Most sories have shown and ignorance of Alaska and omitted any real information about our issues. In the media, Palin was ridiculed in ways that were insulting to many of us - such as being made fun of for knowing how to field dress a moose, or praised in ways that oversimplified the role she has played as Alaska's governor. Now pundits have failed to notice that while Palin has been campaigning, Alaska has been experiencing notable shifts.

Much has been made of Palin's popularity in Alaska, but is she as popular as a vice presidential candidate? In Anchorage, between September 13th and October 4th, three events; the Anti-Palin protest, the Alaskans for Truth protest, and the Obama rally, were all attended by unusually large crowds by Alaska standards. When Palin came back for a visit in September, her send-off rally was attended by 800 to 1,000 people. Later the same day an anti-Palin rally, subtitled "Sarah Palin Doesn't Speak for Me" organized by a few local women was attended by 1,200 to 1,500 protestors. This event inspired Alaskans for Truth, a group angry about the interference of McCain campaign staffers in the state's investigation of 'Troopergate'. Their protest brought together crowd of at least 1,300 people. The next weekend the Anchorage Obama office sponsored an Obama rally outdoors in the chilly autumn air. The rally lasted for three hours and was attended by close to 3,000 people. Rally attenders wrote 1,700 postcards to voters across the country asking them to vote for Obama. At the same time, a McCain/Palin rally held indoors in the city's biggest and newest facility was attended by 300 (that's right, three hundred) people. On October 25th a local woman organized a 'surprise event' for Obama that involved 400 people wearing colored ponchos lining up to create an American flag and then an Obama logo. The resulting video is now up on YouTube. As a consequence of all this activity, it would appear that many like-minded people in the traditionally Republican state of Alaska have found each other, and are having lots of fun in the process. It remains to be seen how this newly energized connections will effect Alaska's politics. On the day Palin's name was announced, the Obama office had a run on yard signs and a small flood of new volunteers and though McCain is expected to carry Alaska, his poll numbers are considerably lower than Bush's were in the last two presidential elections.

Secondly, there is the overall impact of her behavior on the campaign trail. As the reports of the tone and content of Palin's comments and speeches have come back to Alaska, Palin has alienated former supporters. Many Alaskans that were happy with her as a governor are uncomfortable with her campaign rhetoric. And in the state legislature, where Palin has had support in the past from both sides of the aisle, her partisan attacks have damaged established relationships that helped her attain the goals of her administration. On a lighter, but still troubling note, Alaskans are wondering who that strange woman is that is speaking across the country. Where did that accent come from, anyway? Those of us that have heard Sarah Palin speak through the local media are puzzled by the winks, the 'you betchas', and other linguistic oddities. Previous to her performances on the McCain campaign, Sarah Palin was capable of speaking in coherent sentences. Many of her quotes in the national media are fraught with disconnected phrases strung together in an almost incomprehensible fashion. If this is a Republican strategy for communication with the masses, it isn't communicating well with a number of Alaskans.

The change that is most significant and tragic is presently taking place in rural Alaska. A sudden and unprecedented migration of Alaska Natives is taking place as village residents are moving out of their traditional homes and into the cities. The villages have sky-high energy costs, problems with limited public safety services and few economic opportunities. The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), the Mayor of Anchorage and the Superintendent of Anchorage schools have all appealed to the Palin administration to take immediate steps to help rural villages, to no avail. She has formed a rural subcabinet, but the Mayor and AFN have voiced strong displeasure with the governor's response. The Anchorage School District has added more than 400 students to its enrollment and hired over 30 more staff members to meet the increased need. Other concerns are affordable housing, services and employment to name just a few. Some believe that Palin's energy rebate, along with a larger than usual PFD payment (the annual payout to all Alaska residents, funded by investments from oil profits) prompted the out-migration by providing funds for families to move, while doing nothing to address the long-term concerns about energy costs in the rural communities. The mayor, the superintendent of schools and AFN are all concerned that the migration is a death knell to the goals of vibrant village communities and cultural preservation. In the midst of the crisis in the villages, Palin's Rural Advisor resigned, effective in late October, saying that an Alaska Native, someone who has actual personal experience with rural Alaska, should hold her position.

The Rural Advisor's departure brings us to another issue that has been highlighted by Palin's move to the national stage. The Alaska Native and the African-American communities both have had issues with Palin's unresponsiveness to requests of adequate minority representation oin her administration. She has appointed markedly fewer minorities to commissions and other posts than previous administrations. Alaska Native organizations have made some headway on this front, relying on their statewide organization and political clout.

If the limited number of minority appointees is not a direct sign of discriminiation, it is certainly consistent with an overall pattern of non-responsiveness. John Cyr, Executive Director of Public Safety Employees Association stated that when he tried repeatedly to meet with the governor about budget cuts that affected, among other things, public safety in the villages, he was ignored. A recent press release about high school students researching the possible impacts of a proposed mining project close to their home, states "On September 17, 2007, a letter was sent to Gov. Palin inquiring what she planned to do about uranium mining at Boulder Creek which is located north of their community. She has yet to respond to this letter." The phrase, 'she has yet to respond' seems to be a consistent refrain, even before the governor went on the road with the Straight Talk Express.

And last, but not least - we are looking at big changes in the political landscape. Alaska's one House seat and one of the Senate seats are being hotly contested. It is almost certain that the Democrats will succeed against one or both of the old-guard Republicans who have held these offices for decades. In the race for the House seat, Ethan Berkowitz is ahead in the polls against Representative Don Young. Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is in a close race with Senator Ted Stevens and has gained significantly in the polls since Stevens was found guilty of not reporting gifts in his highly publicized trial. Palin's call for Steven's resignation may play well nationally, but in Alaska it shows a lack of respect for an elder statesman who still has many friends in the state. Most of these friends are among the folks most prone to agree with Palin on other issues. Stevens is still fighting for his office and plans to appeal. The Alaska GOP is holding steady in its support for Stevens in his bid for reelection, indicating an increasingly fractured relationship between Palin and other Alaska Republicans.

Add to all these factors the still unresolved ethics questions that have surfaced in Palin's administration before and after her rise to national prominence and her promising future doesn't seem all that certain. All in all, when Alaska is taken into account, there are more questions than answers. Before the rest of the country gets to decide, this great big state, with its tiny population, may have the final say after all.

To top off some unexpected developments, the local newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News endorsed Obama and a few days later, with great reverence to Stevens' years of service and contributions to Alaska, they broke from tradition and endorsed Democrat Mark Begich for Senate. So far, they are holding off on an endorsement for the House.

--
Neva Reece
recommends -
Writing from Alaska
http://freerangewriting.blogspot.com

we, down here in the lower 48 have no real idea of what is happening in Alaska unless we get something like this.. I have had doubts all along that she was going very far nationally and I seriously doubt she will serve a second term up there if she even lasts out this term. She has done considerable damage to her image/reputation overall and most likely will fade away into obscurity as far as national office is concerned.

here with us.

edited to reposition apostrophe

popularity numbers will drop to, now that people really know what kind of person she is.

doesn't bode well for her.

I've read so far on what is going on in Alaska. I've been posting entries from our other bloggers over the past two months, but this very accurately puts it all together.

Sarah's next two years in Alaska are going to be very telling, I would guess. There are three ethics complaints currently pending before the Personnel Board, plus I'm sure there will be continuing questions about her house, and this issue of her disregard of the problems of Native Alaskans is not going away.

I think her future is dim.

I spent a winter in Anchorage as a teen and have a special spot in my heart for that area and the peeps. Need to go back some day.

It is often difficult for those of us in the lower 48 to keep up with Alaska politics.

Sorry about palin. Hope she fades away without too much more harm.

Thank you for posting it.

of this poll, but as I've said, the way the letters to the editor are running, and the huge attendance at our rallies seem to indicate that "there's something happening here." It's like a perfect storm -- Ted gets convicted; Don spends over a million dollars on legal fees; and Sarah embarrasses us from one end of the country to the other. It just doesn't bode well for Alaska's old Republicans.

Alaska was founded as a Democratic state 50 years ago. It's about time we returned to our roots. :)