Executive Experience
The McCain campaign continues to stand by its selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the vice-president running mate. After all, Gov. Palin has "executive experience," something neither Sen. Obama nor his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden has. I'm not quite sure just what that experience entails in Gov. Palin's case. She was elected governor in 2006. She has spent most of the summer of 2008 campaigning for the McCain. That leaves her about 20 months of active governing in her state. What did she do in terms of governing during that 20 months that makes her qualified for a national position that could very well put her in charge of the nation?
Two articles appeared in two separate major newspapers today which suggest the nature of her "executive experience." The first article is from the NY Times.
The 2007 state fair was days away when Alaska’s public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, took another call about one of his troopers, Michael Wooten. This time, the director of Gov. Sarah Palin’s Anchorage office was on the line.
As Mr. Monegan recalls it, the aide said the governor had heard that Mr. Wooten was assigned to work the kickoff to the fair. If so, Mr. Monegan should do something about it, because Ms. Palin was also planning to attend and did not want the trooper nearby.
...To Mr. Monegan and several top aides, the state fair episode was yet another example of a fixation that the governor and her husband, Todd, had with Mr. Wooten and the most granular details of his life.
“I thought to myself, ‘Man, do they have a heavy-duty network and focus on this guy,’ ” Mr. Monegan said. “You’d call that an obsession.” ...
Ms. Palin has denied that anyone told Mr. Monegan to dismiss Mr. Wooten, or that the commissioner’s ouster had anything to do with the trooper. But an examination of the case, based on interviews with Mr. Monegan and several top aides, indicates that, to a far greater degree than was previously known, the governor, her husband and her administration pressed the commissioner and his staff to get Mr. Wooten off the force, though without directly ordering it.
In all, the commissioner and his aides were contacted about Mr. Wooten three dozen times over 19 months by the governor, her husband and seven administration officials, interviews and documents show. [Emphasis added]
That "obsession" over Gov. Palin's former brother-in-law is currently being investigated by the Alaska state legislature to determine whether the governor abused the power of her office in what looks to be a family feud. The extent to which the governor, her husband, and her staff engaged in that obsession is somewhat boggling, given the short time frame involved.
But what else kept the governor occupied during that 20 months? This article in the Washington Post suggests that she was busy, but mostly in self-promotion.
During her first months in office, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin kept a relatively light schedule on her workdays in Juneau, making ceremonial appearances at sports events and funerals, meeting with state lawmakers, and conducting interviews with Alaska magazines, radio stations and newspapers.
At the state Capitol, Palin agreed to be "shadowed" for days by some national reporters, and her dealings with the legislature dropped off so dramatically that some House and Senate members donned red-and-white "Where's Sarah?" buttons to show their disapproval. But her high-visibility campaign paid off, helping Palin win notice from political pundits, who began including her on lists of long-shot choices for the GOP vice presidential spot.
But Palin's typical day during her first months in office was far more mundane, the calendar shows. Her schedule shows long gaps in her official business on school holidays, appearances at local events and festivals, and frequent out-of-town trips with a child or two in tow. [Emphasis added]
Now, this is not to say that the governor wasn't doing anything. She had run on the controversial issue of getting a natural gas pipeline for her state, and, to be fair, she did meet with a lot of oil company executives, in private, of course. But she did make sure the issue generated some buzz, buzz that would ultimately reach the national press.
She even made it easy for the press to notice. She hired a PR firm to make sure folks across the nation knew all about her, and, from most accounts, that PR firm was quite successful. That contract ended when Gov. Palin was tapped by Sen. McCain, but (and here's the interesting part), the firm's representative made the following comment:
"We'd achieved our objective with getting the national attention," Gibson said. "There was no need anymore to use state money to achieve that. ... [Emphasis added]
So, it appears that "our Sarah" used state money to promote herself to national office, just like she used her state office to dog her former-brother-in-law. All that in just 20 months of active governing.
And that, my friends, is executive experience we can believe in.
Two articles appeared in two separate major newspapers today which suggest the nature of her "executive experience." The first article is from the NY Times.
The 2007 state fair was days away when Alaska’s public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, took another call about one of his troopers, Michael Wooten. This time, the director of Gov. Sarah Palin’s Anchorage office was on the line.
As Mr. Monegan recalls it, the aide said the governor had heard that Mr. Wooten was assigned to work the kickoff to the fair. If so, Mr. Monegan should do something about it, because Ms. Palin was also planning to attend and did not want the trooper nearby.
...To Mr. Monegan and several top aides, the state fair episode was yet another example of a fixation that the governor and her husband, Todd, had with Mr. Wooten and the most granular details of his life.
“I thought to myself, ‘Man, do they have a heavy-duty network and focus on this guy,’ ” Mr. Monegan said. “You’d call that an obsession.” ...
Ms. Palin has denied that anyone told Mr. Monegan to dismiss Mr. Wooten, or that the commissioner’s ouster had anything to do with the trooper. But an examination of the case, based on interviews with Mr. Monegan and several top aides, indicates that, to a far greater degree than was previously known, the governor, her husband and her administration pressed the commissioner and his staff to get Mr. Wooten off the force, though without directly ordering it.
In all, the commissioner and his aides were contacted about Mr. Wooten three dozen times over 19 months by the governor, her husband and seven administration officials, interviews and documents show. [Emphasis added]
That "obsession" over Gov. Palin's former brother-in-law is currently being investigated by the Alaska state legislature to determine whether the governor abused the power of her office in what looks to be a family feud. The extent to which the governor, her husband, and her staff engaged in that obsession is somewhat boggling, given the short time frame involved.
But what else kept the governor occupied during that 20 months? This article in the Washington Post suggests that she was busy, but mostly in self-promotion.
During her first months in office, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin kept a relatively light schedule on her workdays in Juneau, making ceremonial appearances at sports events and funerals, meeting with state lawmakers, and conducting interviews with Alaska magazines, radio stations and newspapers.
At the state Capitol, Palin agreed to be "shadowed" for days by some national reporters, and her dealings with the legislature dropped off so dramatically that some House and Senate members donned red-and-white "Where's Sarah?" buttons to show their disapproval. But her high-visibility campaign paid off, helping Palin win notice from political pundits, who began including her on lists of long-shot choices for the GOP vice presidential spot.
But Palin's typical day during her first months in office was far more mundane, the calendar shows. Her schedule shows long gaps in her official business on school holidays, appearances at local events and festivals, and frequent out-of-town trips with a child or two in tow. [Emphasis added]
Now, this is not to say that the governor wasn't doing anything. She had run on the controversial issue of getting a natural gas pipeline for her state, and, to be fair, she did meet with a lot of oil company executives, in private, of course. But she did make sure the issue generated some buzz, buzz that would ultimately reach the national press.
She even made it easy for the press to notice. She hired a PR firm to make sure folks across the nation knew all about her, and, from most accounts, that PR firm was quite successful. That contract ended when Gov. Palin was tapped by Sen. McCain, but (and here's the interesting part), the firm's representative made the following comment:
"We'd achieved our objective with getting the national attention," Gibson said. "There was no need anymore to use state money to achieve that. ... [Emphasis added]
So, it appears that "our Sarah" used state money to promote herself to national office, just like she used her state office to dog her former-brother-in-law. All that in just 20 months of active governing.
And that, my friends, is executive experience we can believe in.
Labels: Election 2008
posted by Diane at 4:16 AM
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