Sarah Palin will change the way government does business

And let’s face it, she has some experience in this area. In fact, Sarah Palin has apparently made some major changes in the way Sarah Palin does business, and has done so in only six months. Buried at the very end of this Washington Post article on Palin’s somewhat-dubious history as a champion in fighting the “old boys network” regarding pork-barrel spending comes this little-noted statistic.

In February, Palin’s office sent Sen. [Ted] Stevens a 70-page memo outlining almost $200 million worth of new funding requests for Alaska.

For the benefit of those who may have been living under a rock for the last year, Stevens is the Republican “King of Pork” currently cooling his heels while awaiting trial on charges involving the receipt of “unreported gifts.”

The linked article is a good read for anyone interested in Palin’s history as a government reformer. Her copious comments about the time she spent as mayor of the small town of Wasilla don’t generally include some of the serious changes she made in her home town’s government and how they do business. Some examples:

Pre-Palin: Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996 on a campaign theme of “a time for change.” According to a review of congressional spending by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, Wasilla did not receive any federal earmarks in the first few years of Palin’s tenure.

Post-Palin: Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor

Pre-Palin: The town of Wasilla had no long-term debt.

Post-Palin: Wasilla was approximately $22M in debt and was saddled with a sports center of dubious fiscal merit built on land to which the town did not hold clear title as construction was beginning, while still not having a waste treatment facility.

On the day that Governor Palin was announced as John McCain’s choice as running mate, she proudly told the world, “As governor, I’ve stood up to the old politics-as-usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good-ol’-boy network.” However, Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, wryly noted:

“She certainly wasn’t shy about putting the old-boy network to use to bring home millions of dollars. She’s a little more savvy to the ways of Washington than she’s let on.”

Palin recently made the wise decision to throw Stevens and the Bridge to Nowhere under the bus when it was clearly becoming a political liability. (Previously she had told the target island’s residents that she was running a “build the bridge” campaign.) Is this the track record of someone who has a long history of fighting pork and wasteful spending? Six months ago she was sending a War-and-Peace-sized request to Ted Stevens with her hand out for several hog-sized portions at the government feed bag. Did she undergo some major revelation in the last 180 days causing her to see the light? Or might she actually be “just another Alaska politician” who is conveniently re-packaging herself again to be as salable as possible on the McCain ticket?

I had originally criticized the wisdom of Big Mac selecting Palin based on her limited experience. But now, if McCain was looking for someone to help him “change the way government works,” I guess he went with the experienced candidate after all.