ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Early estimates put the cost of Sarah Palin’s midterm resignation as Alaska governor at a minimum of $40,000, not including a special legislative session partly linked to her departure.
The preliminary figures obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request show it cost the state almost $14,100 for the July 26 swearing-in ceremony of new Gov. Sean Parnell.
The price tag for moving Palin – the former GOP vice presidential candidate – and her family from the governor’s mansion in Juneau amounted to roughly $3,328.
Palin’s spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, says suggesting the resignation cost the state is “incredibly misleading.” She says the resignation ceremony was added to a previously scheduled governor’s picnic and was organized by the lieutenant governor’s office.
The tally doesn’t include the estimated $100,000 it cost for a one-day special session last month in which lawmakers approved Palin’s pick to replace Parnell as lieutenant governor and overrode her veto of federal stimulus funds intended for energy efficiency projects. (Source: HP)
And so Sarah Palin resigns. She made mistakes. I don’t think they’re huge mistakes but well, anyway, here’s the news:
Palin to Resign As Governor, Citing Probes, Family Needs
The announcement that she would step down by the end of July, with 18 months left in her first term, stunned the political establishment, providing an endpoint to this chapter of her career and fueling speculation about her future plans.
Palin said she arrived at her decision in part to protect her family, which has faced withering criticism and occasional mockery, and to escape ethics probes that have drained her family’s finances and hampered her ability to govern. She said leaving office is in the best interest of the state and will allow her to more effectively advocate for issues of importance to her, including energy independence and national security.
Palin, 45, said that she knew she would not run for reelection as governor and that she did not want to be a “lame duck” merely for the sake of serving out the remainder of her term.
…some lawmakers and activists in Alaska have been doing “everything they can to stymie her progress” and that Palin determined she could no longer “make significant change in the state.”
Recent Alaska polls put Palin’s approval rating in the low to mid-50s, a far cry from her high of about 90 percent.
Palin said her children encouraged her to leave office, in part because they were upset at seeing their little brother, 14-month-old Trig, who has Down syndrome, “mocked and ridiculed by some pretty mean-spirited adults.” She said her decision had been in the works “for a while” and was based on prayer and talking with her family.
Sarah Palin teared during John McCain’s concession speech. Campaign strategist Steve Schmidt also vetoed her request to speak during the concession.
McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request. (Source: Newsweek)
Let’s put it in this way, she’s not exactly my favorite speaker. McCain is very gracious in his concession speech. Much better than John Kerry’s concession speech in 2004.
John McCain Concession Speech
And for Sarah Palin, she probably return to Alaska and would be not remember favorably. She’ll be remembered for spending lots of money for her clothes though.
NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin’s shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain’s top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy.
Palin is quite defiant too it seems:
Palin launched her attack on Obama’s association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. (Source: Newsweek)
All these little things cost Republicans to lose votes. Choosing Sarah Palin as the veep is the worst decision the GOP has made in this election.
Oh my god, Sarah Palin got punk’d by DJs. Is she stupid or what?
Sarah Palin Got Pranked
A Quebec comedy duo notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state has reached Sarah Palin, convincing the Republican vice-presidential nominee she was speaking with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
I guess the crazy names don’t end, Palin has commented that she always wanted a son named Zamboni.
Palin said if she and husband Todd had had a sixth child, they had already picked a name for a boy joining siblings Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig.
“I always wanted a son named Zamboni,” she said. (Source: Washington Post)
