When Senator John McCain announced his running mate last week, many people said “who?” Even a number of high-ranking Washington insiders asked that question of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. However, it is also clear that she brings a lot of energy to the ticket—in more ways than one.
First, she is considerably younger than the aging senator. She gives a good stump speech and the conservative base of the party has instantly embraced her.
She also brings the energy issue front-and-center to the campaign, being the governor of oil-rich Alaska, is quite capable of selling drilling in ANWR—and everywhere else for that matter—to the American people. That is worth its weight in gold when Republicans have a strong issue in increasing energy production. While Republicans on Congress work to get an up-or-down vote on more energy for the American people, Mrs. Palin is a worthy advocate on the campaign trail.
But the question remains—will she bring a reform image to counter Washington’s wasteful spending and unethical behavior? A quick look at her resume sheds light on this very important issue.
While serving on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as ethics commissioner, Governor Palin refused to ignore unethical behavior by fellow Republicans. Instead, she passed forward the evidence. But when no progress was made in acting on it, she resigned her position in protest and went public.
She even went as far as to join a Democrat in exposing ethics charges against the Alaska state attorney general, an ally of the Republican governor. He ended up resigning. Her unwavering commitment to ethics standards earned her the enmity of her party’s officials, but the support of a scandal-weary Alaskan populace, as she knocked off the then-current incumbent Republican governor in the primary, and rode to victory in 2006. Truly remarkable.
While Governor, Sarah Palin has come under ethics questions of her own, however. After firing the state’s Public Safety Commissioner, accusations began to fly that the decision was personally-motivated, as the commissioner refused to fire Mrs. Palin’s brother-in-law, a police officer, who just divorced her sister.
Mrs. Palin countered that she wanted the commission to head in a new direction, and that conversations with the commissioner were regarding threats from the brother-in-law. She has gone so far as to order the state attorney general to look into the accusations as well, and Governor Palin belives that she has nothing to hide.
That is good news for those who believe in government transparency. Ethics is not her only strong point, however.
The National Taxpayers Union praised Governor Palin for listing all state expenditures of more than $1000 in an online database, as well as the recipient, their location, and the requesting department.
When she received the first budget—put together mostly by the prior administration—she was on a time-limit but managed to slash $231 million. The year after, she cut $268 million.
Despite her strong qualifications on ethics and fiscal discipline, a major question still remains about this up-and-coming politician. Her strong position for drilling in ANWR clashes with the position John McCain had previously taken—against drilling; when Larry Kudlow asked her about drilling for oil, she replied:
“Senator McCain is wrong on that issue. He’s right on a whole lot of other issues, so thank goodness that he’s understanding and evolving with his position on OCS. So that’s encouraging. I think he’s going to evolve into, eventually, supporting ANWR opening also.”
Will she be able to convince him to tap into this vast resource? Senator McCain had promised, prior to selecting Mrs. Palin, to consult with her regarding the ANWR issue. He also said that he had not ruled out policy change.
Now that she has been selected, it appears to signal that Mr. McCain has made up his mind about ANWR. Sarah Palin means that he will come out in favor of drilling in ANWR, else why choose her and then take her most potent weapon—the energy issue—out of the ticket’s arsenal?
The answer: He wouldn’t. By choosing Mrs. Palin, he has thrown the gauntlet down on the issue of drilling—off-shore, on-shore, in ANWR, and anywhere else that is necessary to increase energy supplies—and reducing prices at the pump. Stay tuned/