It’s a story of cronyism, personal vendettas, secrecy, censorship and lies. Talk about Four More Years of the Same. Thanks to the New York Times for committing real journalism.
And here’s the Washington Post on Palin’s tenure. In addition to the sharp elbows and social conservative nastiness, we have her experience:
The universe of the mayor of Wasilla is sharply circumscribed even
by the standards of small towns, which limited Palin’s exposure to
issues such as health care, social services, the environment and
education.
Firefighting and schools, two of the main elements of local governance, are handled by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough,
the regional government for a huge swath of central Alaska. The state
has jurisdiction over social services and environmental regulations
such as stormwater management for building projects.
Services in Alaska are heavily subsidized by oil revenues and federal dollars. Palin’s main accomplishment was an ice rink. Meanwhile,
Further constraining City Hall’s role is the frontier philosophy that
has prevailed in Wasilla, a town that was founded in 1917 as a stop
along the new railroad from Anchorage to the gold mines further north.
The light hand of government is evident in the town’s commercial core,
essentially a haphazard succession of big-box stores, fast-food
restaurants and shopping plazas.
Maybe the mayor of Prescott Valley wasn’t willing to serve as McCain’s running mate. Seriously, this person who would be president not only has little knowledge of complex issues, complicated government — or any interest in them — she would be hostile to urban issues, infrastructure, etc.