"During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
"She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.
"At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda.“People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day.”
Per Kilkenny, many of Palin's high school classmates still openly refer to her by her high school nickname “Sarah Barracuda,” which the GOP embraced when playing Heart's song, Barracuda, as Palin took the stage on the 4th at the Republican National Convention.
“The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here,” an insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. “It’s corrupt and arrogant. They’re all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to ...Once Palin became mayor she became part of that inner circle.” [Interviewed but declines to give name]
According to one reporter, Charlie James, who has interviewed various residents, one local Wasilla newspaper reporter told him that when she "dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes," Palin attempted to get her fired from her job with the local newspaper.
“She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids,” said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. “I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak, but it’s nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you.”
John Bitneym, legislative liaison for Governor Palin, and personal friend of the Palin family for more than thirty years, abruptly left the governor's office on July 9, 2007 citing "personal reasons" stating that Todd and Sarah Palin were "upset with me about my divorce and who I was dating and they didn’t want that in the governor’s office. I wanted to stay with the governor and support the governor but I understood it and I have no ax to grind over the whole thing." It has been reported the Commissioner received his first indication that Governor Palin was "upset" with him was when his government Blackberry stopped working.
There were other firings, most of which have already been taken into account by the online betting sources when posting their odds, such as the controversial firing of Mary Ellen Emmons and the firing of Police Chief Irl Stambaugh. It has been reported that Public Works Director Jack Felton and City Planner Duane Dvorak were asked for their resignations and that rather than fire John Cooper, Director for the city's museum, Plain simply eliminated his position. Information continues to come to light on these firings as more outside reporters speak with the residents of Wasilla. Kristie Smithers, a Wasilla City Clerk, in response to my F.O.I.A request, states that John Felton and Duane Dvorak were "not asked to terminate employment by Mayor Palin" and that "John Cooper, Director for the Wasilla City Museum position was eliminated due to department re-origination on 10/14/1996."
Sarah Palin took office as mayor of Wasilla on October 14,1996.
"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.' [ABC News]
"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." [ABC News]
"His crackdown on that practice by the bars was not appreciated by her and that was one reason she terminated Irl," said Jermain." [ABC News]
Under pressure from the residents of Wasilla protesting Palin's abrupt removal of many well respected city officials, Palin backed off from firing Emmons, but the other city officials remained terminated, some of whom have, like Stambaugh, have since filed suit against the City of Wasilla and Mayor Sarah Palin.
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