Monday, September 08, 2008

More Executive Experience

The Seattle Times has a really interesting article on Palin's time as Mayor of Wasilla, based on records from a federal wrongful termination lawsuit against Palin.

Some highlights:

Palin introduced abortion and religion into a non-partisan race for mayor

Palin's explanation that she could run Wasilla after firing all the experienced department heads because 'It's not rocket science. It's $6 million and 53 employees.'

Her plan to make city government more positive:

The day after Christmas, Palin sent a memo to Stambaugh and the other department heads. "What a wonderful time of year!" she wrote. "As we enter 1997, let's take this opportunity to start the new year off on a positive note."

From now on, the memo said, Palin wanted each department head to send her a weekly report, due Friday, with an "update of activities" and "at least two positive examples of work that was started, how we helped the public, how we saved the City money, how we helped the state, how we helped Uncle Sam, how we made operations run smoother, or safer, or more efficient."

"Please use numbers when appropriate," she wrote, adding: "Staff, I believe if we look for the positive, that is what we will ultimately find. Conversely, look for the negative and you'll find that, too. ... Wasilla has tremendous assets and opportunities and we can all choose to be a part of contributing to the improvement of our community ... or not. I encourage you to choose the prior because the train is a'moving forward!"

"I realize this is an added chore, but at least it's a positive one!" she wrote.

Her way of handling layoffs: When three women who worked at the city's museum were asked to decide among themselves which one should be let go, all three quit.

Given that it doesn't seem like she was even able to handle being mayor of Wasilla, I have a hard time imagining how voters will think of her as able to run the country.

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