Governor Palin Wont Play the Special Interest Game

Last week, Jonathan Bernstein filled in for Greg Sargent on The Plum Line. Mr. Bernstein wrote a piece during that time about Governor Palin, which was yet another left-serving piece trying to diminish her 'electability.' The article was titled, "Is Sarah Palin toast," after all... His article was filled with what adds up to be nothing more than a lecture on how Governor Palin isn't doing what he (and many members of the political punditry class, apparently) feel she should be doing. He did however, point out something very important in his analysis. He wrote (emphasis mine):

As for proving herself trustworthy to interest group leaders and Republican politicians, well, I haven't seen any reporting that even hinted at that.

He suggests that one must be cozy with "interest group leaders," as in special interest group leaders to survive in politics. Is their any question why so many of our 'public servants' seem to have their priorities mixed up?

Another thing Mr. Bernstein does in his article, is to list Governor Palin's detractors on the so-called right. Those being the members of the establishment that have been taking shots at her lately.

When you couple the two together, you end up with history repeating itself. This is not the first time Governor Palin has refused to ingratiate herself to special interest groups. Nor is it the first time that Republicans have been her detractors, if not outright political enemies.

Do you remember the name Lyda Green? For those of you who don't know, Lyda Green was the Republican State Senate President in Alaska during much of Palin's term as governor. Shortly after McCain picked the governor to join the national Republican ticket in 2008, Green took a public swipe at Governor Palin by saying:

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

Left-wing media publications lapped this quote up. The fact that Lyda Green was the Alaska State Senate President, a Republican, and from Wasilla no less, was all they needed to pounce on this story as a ringing indictment against Governor Palin. There was one little problem with that however. You see, Lyda Green was an old political foe of Governor Palin's, with ties to the Veco scandal, and the "Corrupt Bastards Club." In response to Green's swipe, Greg Pollowitz at National Review Online wrote:

Doesn’t the far left understand that conservatives — the base of the Republican party — do not care what Alaska Republicans think of her? Alaska Republicans symbolize everything that we think is wrong with the Republican party.

For a good example of the type of stunts Lyda Green pulled on Governor Palin, Dennis Zaki (of all people) wrote a piece for the Alaska Report in January of 2008 called, "Lyda Green refuses to support Alaska's troops." He wrote:

Alaska Senate president Lyda Green is trying to block governor Sarah Palin from seeing her son graduate basic training Thursday at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Palin sent a letter December 18th asking lawmakers to schedule a joint session of the House and Senate to hear the speech at 6 pm on the first night of the legislative session so Palin could make a 9 pm flight that night to Seattle.

The 6 pm timeslot would allow Palin to catch a flight she had paid for and booked in advance.

Green claims that the traditional time is 7 pm and it should stay that way.

Senate Majority spokesman Green's lapdog Jeff Turner claimed the reason the speech can't be at 6 p.m. because the storms over the weekend interfered with many of the flights into Juneau and senators would be coming into town throughout the day Tuesday. Yet, a check with Alaska Airlines showed over 150 available seats Monday, and 125 seats available today from Anchorage. That's not counting legislators already booked on flights. Turner's claim is obviously a smokescreen.

A mother supporting her child at boot camp is as real as it gets.

Green has some explaining to do to her constituents in Wasilla with family members in the military.

And support our troops

Fellow C4P Contributor Adam Brickley live-blogged the governor's speech at that joint session on his "Draft Sarah Palin for VP" site. He reported some of Green's expressions, which you could see on camera while the governor was delivering her speech:

4:00 PM: Senate Pres. Lyda Green is seated right behind the podium, I'll be watching her face the entire time. It's produced by KTOO Juneau, and there are in fact two commentators for analysis.

4:05 PM: Palin lists the accomplishments of here first year; Green looks very teed off, I just watched her roll her eyes.

[...]

4:11 PM: New camera angle, can't see Lyda Green's face anymore. Wondering if that is purposeful.

Adam also wrote about the initial dust-up here.

Lyda Green wasn't the only Republican in Alaska who had problems with Governor Palin. There was good reason for this. The Alaska Republican party was corrupt and not only did Governor Palin refuse to play along, she also brought public attention to the shenanigans her own party members were partaking in. This didn't go over very well with the party leaders, but it earned Governor Palin the respect of the public, who later elected her to be their governor.

Just look at the state of politics today and the amount of public trust that has gone by the wayside due to a lack of ethics by our elected representatives. The negative effects of special interest serving politicians and their cronyism in this nation are drastic. Take for example, President Obama's relationship with the unions. How convenient for them that so many pertinent (and enormous) economic decisions he made over the last two years directly benefited them. Why wouldn't this be the case considering how often Obama hosts union bosses at the White House? When it comes to President Obama's policies... Look for the union label.

Then there is the case of my own former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold's ties to the environmental lobby are so deep, he's even related to them. He wasted a lot of money and time while in office serving this specific interest group. A million pet projects, with the Kennedy family always standing nearby. Of course, all of this came to a head a few days ago when he commuted the sentence of Esteban Nunez, the son of one of his environmental advisers. This decision was a gross miscarriage of justice for the family of the victim. San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith issued a statement after learning about the commutation that said:

"Esteban Nunez -- the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez -- is a criminal who was sentenced by an experienced and well-respected Superior Court judge. Arnold Schwarzenegger reduced the sentence by over half to help his political crony's son. In doing so, he undermined the judicial system and has jeopardized public safety."

This was Schwarzenegger's final appalling act towards the citizens of California, and one he will never live down.


They say "elections have consequences," and they most certainly do. Part of those consequences happen to be the price society pays to tend to the needs and desires of special interest groups and political backscratchers. The American people have had enough of this kind of behavior from our elected officials. Governor Palin not "proving herself trustworthy to interest group leaders" is a good thing! She is not bought & paid for like so many political figures. Governor Palin was not willing to play the games in Alaska and she isn't going to start playing them now. Going along with this unfortunate status quo would make life easier on her no doubt, but at what price?

Shortly after Governor Palin resigned in 2009, Karl Rove and others suggested she rent a place in Washington DC. The reason for that was to bring her in to their own game. So she could rub elbows with the power brokers of the nation's capitol. She didn't take their advice, and remained in her own home with her family in Alaska. When she's not there, she is traveling the country, rubbing elbows and talking with the people she believes should be the real power brokers in this country... The American people.