Palin stepping down as governor

  WASILLA — Gov. Sarah Palin announced this morning that she doesn’t intend to seek re-election and intends to step down as governor in a couple of weeks.

    “It hurts me to make this choice but I’m doing what’s best for Alaska,” the governor said.

    Palin made the announcement in the backyard of her home on Lake Lucille. The news seemed to come as a surprise, at least to most local politicians contacted Friday.

    State Sen. Linda Menard, R-Wasilla, a long time friend of Palin and her family, said she didn’t know what was going to happen.

    “She kept that very close just like she did when she was pregnant. Her mom didn’t even know,” Menard said.

    As reasons for stepping down, Palin said she’d accomplished nearly everything she set out to do, naming as accomplishments pushing for a natural gas pipeline, slowing the growth of state government, breaking ground on a new state prison and passing ethics reform.

    With those accomplishments behind her, Palin said that since her run for vice-president, the national political machine has descended on Alaska and is attacking her, distracting her from the business of the state. Frivolous ethics complaints that have drained state resources.

    “You are naïve if you don’t see a full court press right now on the national level picking apart a good point guard,” she said.

    Borough Mayor Talis Colberg, who was Palin’s attorney general when the governor hit the national stage, said the attacks were intense.

    “There was so much petty attacking of her that it was incredible the amount of volume that came with the national campaign,” Colberg said.

    Palin said she’d thought about continuing on as, in her words, a lame duck governor.

    “That’s the quitter’s way out,” she said. “It would be apathetic to put your head down and go with the flow.”

    She said she discussed the decision to step down with her family. They took a vote.

    “It was four yeses and one hell yeah,” she said.

    Once Palin steps down, the highest office in the state will be handed to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell. Palin said the plan is to swear in Parnell at the end of the annual governor’s picnic, scheduled for July 25 in Fairbanks.

    Menard said she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach when she heard the news. Still, she backed up Palin’s decision. The one bad thing she sees in the decision was that it seems those who have been attacking Palin have won.

    “Now a lot of these meanspirited people get their will,” Menard said. She joked that she feels they all should start their own little town in Point MacKenzie, far away from the Valley’s population.

    “Make that Meansville and have a grocery store,” she said.

    State Representative Wes Keller, R-Wasilla, whose initial arrival in the state House was due to a Palin appointment, said he was surprised and saddened Friday to hear the news.

    “My initial reaction is that I sure don’t blame her. Personally, she’s really been put through the ringer,” Keller said. “I’m very disappointed. I, like for the rest of the USA, I had some high hopes that maybe we’d turn this around.”

    He said he believes Parnell will be a good governor.

    “The silver lining is that Sean is just top of the line,” Keller said.

    Keller said he would also throw his support behind Palin if she ever chose to run for some other office.

    “I think she’s bright, I think she’s got nerve and you bet, I would be very supportive,” Keller said.

Mark Neuman, whose state House seat represents the Valley north of Wasilla, said that he, too, was shocked at the news.

    “I don’t know if I’m disappointed. She’s the only one who knows why she is stepping down,” Neuman said.

    And if the governor’s family played a role in that decision, Neuman said he can certainly sympathize.

    “She has a son, a new son with some difficulties. She has a family,” he said. “If those are reasons why she’s stepping down that’s just so honorable.”

On the subject of attacks on Palin, Neuman was slightly more ambivalent, saying that sort of thing tends to come with the job when one signs up to be a politician.

    “You can decide to defend them or just say you know what, make the accusations do what you want to do I’m going to go on with my life,” Neuman said.

    Neuman said whoever takes over as governor is going to have a tough couple of years going forward, since he sees big budget cuts on the horizon.

    “(The) governor and the Legislature are going to have to shoulder a lot of difficult decisions,” Neuman said, before adding, “I’m not saying that she’s stepping down because of that.”

    Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, who holds the office Palin once did, said he’s been a fan of Palin’s from the start.

    “I’ve known Sarah a very long time and you know, she’s her own person and I’m sure there’s good things going on in her decision,” Rupright said.

    “What an appropriate day on the eve of the Fourth of July . . . If you heard her statements she’s declaring independence,” he said. “Her message was about independence and doing the right thing.”

    As to what’s next for Palin, her speech didn’t say, besides vague mentions of being more effective from outside of the governor’s office.

    Keller, Menard and Rupright all said they would happily support Palin if she decides to try for a different office.

    “I was behind her 100 percent as the governor, I have so many signs in my barn that belong to her and I would do the same thing,” Menard said. “Certainly I wouldn’t do anything that ethically wasn’t allowed in my position but I am unwavering in my support for her.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.