More Negative News Trouble For Sarah Palin

Yet another unflattering story is out about Republican Sen. John McCain’s Vice Presidential pick Gov. Sarah Palin — and whether or not it pans out and has “legs,” it’s yet one more indication of how the fact that while there is debate over how thoroughly McCain vetted Palin, she is most-assuredly going to be vetted by the mainstream media and tabloid press now. ABC News reports:

Gov. Sarah Palin is already facing ethical questions over her firing of the Alaska public safety commissioner, and now she faces questions over the firing of a longtime local police chief.

After taking over as Mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Palin fired the longtime local police chief. The former police chief, Irl Stambaugh says he was fired because he stepped on the toes of Palin’s campaign contributors, including bar owners and the National Rifle Association.

Stambaugh’s lawyer, William Jermain, says the chief tried to move up the closing hours of local bars from 5 a.m. to two a.m. after a spurt of drunk driving accidents and arrests.

“His crackdown on that practice by the bars was not appreciated by her and that was one reason she terminated Irl,” said Jermain.

In his 1997 lawsuit, Stambaugh also alleged that his stand on restricting concealed weapons upset the NRA.

“Mayor Palin has stated on several occasions that the National Rifle Association encouraged her to fire Chief Stambaugh because of his stance against the concealed weapons legislation,” the lawsuit claimed.

Palin says she was up against entrenched insiders when she was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996.

“We had a lot of people that were kind of dead wood,” said Colleen Sullivan Leonard, a staff member in Palin’s office. “We needed people with new energy and a new vision.”

A judged ruled she had the right to fire the police chief for any reason. But, ABC notes, “Palin is now facing similar allegations in the state capitol, that politics played a role in her firing of the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan.”

The significance of this story is not really the story in itself. It’s that an intensive media vetting has now begun — and since she is a new “product” on the national political scene, there could be a drip-drip-drip of stories heading up to the election. If the campaign or supporters try to squelch stories, that will become a story.

Although it has been reported that her partisan supporters will dismiss negative press as sexism on the part of the media, that charge won’t stick if there’s a steady stream of stories. And it’s unlikely to encourage swing voters who don’t already want her to vote for the GOP ticket.