Dems: Palin's "bizarre behavior"

Timothy McNulty| July 3, 2009

From Politico, Dems say today's announcement is part of "a pattern of bizarre behavior" by the Alaska guv:

After the press conference, Palin asked supporters to "stay tuned" via Twitter. "We'll soon attach info on this decision to not seek re-election."

Palin has been dogged by a series of ethical complaints, many of which her allies consider as frivolous, and has had to set up a legal defense fund to pay her bills.

Just this week, the Anchorage Daily News reported that these complaints against her administration had reached almost $300,000, much of that sum owing to the so-called "Troopergate" probe of Palin.

. . . But the decision to suddenly quit her post will also reinforce some of the very questions about Palin that were raised in the lengthy Vanity Fair story this week - whether she's overly erratic and prone to ignore her own political advisers.

Two of own GOP allies were told this week that Palin would announce that she was definitely not running for re-election, but the move to outright leave office has caught many of her supporters by surprise.

Democrats, delighted at yet another opportunity to hammer prominent Republican office-holders, accused Palin of quitting on her state.

"Either Sarah Palin is leaving the people of Alaska high and dry to pursue her long shot national political ambitions or she simply can't handle the job now that her popularity has dimmed and oil revenues are down," said the DNC's Brad Woodhouse. "Either way - her decision to abandon her post and the people of Alaska who elected her continues a pattern of bizarre behavior that more than anything else may explain the decision she made today."

Palin's office announced Friday morning that she would make an "announcement' at her home in the afternoon but said nothing more until the governor stood alongside Parnell and much of her Cabinet.

Palin transcript

Timothy McNulty | July 3, 2009

Here's the full transcript of Palin's remarks from TPM, and just a bit of them here below:

Some say things changed for me on August 29th last year - the day John McCain tapped me to be his running-mate - I say others changed.

Let me speak to that for a minute.

Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations - such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters' questions.

Every one - all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to "opposition research" - that's money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers - or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the "politics of personal destruction" ... Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn't cost them a dime so they're not going to stop draining public resources - spending other peoples' money in their game.

It's pretty insane - my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more "politics as usual," but THIS isn't what anyone had in mind for ALASKA.

If I have learned one thing: LIFE is about choices!

And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose NOT to tear down and waste precious time; but to build UP this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!

Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and "go with the flow".

Nah, only dead fish "go with the flow".

No. Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time... to BUILD UP.

And there is such a need to BUILD up and FIGHT for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and LIFE... I'll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won't deride them.

I WILL support others who seek to serve, in or out of office, for the RIGHT reasons, and I don't care what party they're in or no party at all. Inside Alaska - or Outside Alaska.

But I won't do it from the Governor's desk.

Palin announcement video

Timothy McNulty | July 3, 2009

Here's the full Palin announcement today from CNN:

Palin video

Timothy McNulty | July 3, 2009

Video report on Palin's announcement today from Fox:

Palin RESIGNS

Timothy McNulty | July 3, 2009

We'll put the roundup of stories on one of the biggest names in the GOP here.

AP:

WASILLA, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she is resigning from office.

She didn't say why she decided to step down, but the surprise announcement stirred speculation that she would focus on a bid for the 2012 Republican nomination for president.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate made the announcement from her home in suburban Wasilla on Friday morning. She said she would step down July 26.

Spokesman Dave Murrow says Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month.

Palin was first elected in 2006 on a populist platform. But her popularity has waned as she waged in partisan politics following her return from the presidential campaign.

NYT:

"We know we can effect positive change outside of government," she said in making the announcement.

Ms. Palin, who was known as Sarah Barricuda when she played basketball in high school, used point guard analogy, saying she knows "exactly when to pass the ball so the team can win."

WashPost:

Palin's decision comes amid polling that showed her losing altitude from the stratospheric heights to which she ascended following her election in 2006 but remained a strong favorite to win reelection.

Palin is the second potential 2012 candidate to decide against reelection. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty chose not to run for a third term last month.

More from the WashPost's Chris Cillizza on why running for prez from Alaska is so difficult:

• Geography is Destiny: Being from Alaska is a HUGE hurdle for Palin's national ambitions from a logistical point of view. Alaska is four hours behind east coast time and takes the better part of a day to travel to or from. That means that Palin, if she is committed to running for reelection, can't simply pop into Iowa or New Hampshire for the day -- she needs to take at least two days away from Alaska (a fact her Democratic opponents are sure to take note of) to do the sort of soil-tilling in these early primary and caucus states that is absolutely necessary for a presidential candidate. If she announces some time soon that she will not be running for a second term, she will not only be more free to travel to key states between now and 2010 but will be able to devote full time to campaigning in the critical year between January 2011 and January 2012.

National Review -- via HotAir -- says resigning hurts her prez ambitions:

David Schuster is offering a typical sneering tone, but it doesn't make it any less accurate: "If it's true that she's leaving the governorship before her first term is complete, her national political career is done." A broken clock can be right twice a day, and Schuster is right here. If Sarah Palin wishes to someday be President of the United States, then she had to serve at least one full term in statewide office. (Yes, Obama had been in the Senate for about two years before running for president, but he had a lot of stars align for him at the right moment. Beyond that, at some point, "but Obama did it that way" isn't a persuasive argument.)

Departing with little or no warning, after about 30 months in office, is beyond surprising. I'm sure the Lieutenant Governor will do fine, but there's definately a sense of leaving with work unfinished and as her career was just beginning to take off.

I know we've heard a lot of chanting "Governor, it's time to resign," but we meant Mark Sanford.

CNN:

A Republican source close to her political team told CNN's John King that it was a "calculation" she made that "it was time to move on." The governor's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of friction" in her home state, the source said, adding that he believes she is "mapping out a path to 2012."

Here's the really long Vanity Fair piece from Todd Purdum that dredged up a lot of Palin stuff from the campaign this week, and sparked new fights inside the GOP.

Her official statement (much shorter than her speech above) is here.

No reelection bid for Palin

Timothy McNulty | July 3, 2009

Sarah Palin will not run for reelection for governor next year in order to focus on the presidency, Politico reports:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has told associates that she will not seek re-election next year, freeing her to pursue a White House bid in 2012, according to two GOP sources.

Palin is to make her decision known later this afternoon from her home in Wasilla with her husband, Todd, and family by her side.

By not running for re-election, Palin liberates herself from the political constraints that come with running for president while still in elected office.

Leaving office at the end of next year, the former vice presidential hopeful will be able to travel the country more freely without facing the sort of repeated ethics inquiries she's been fending off since returning to Alaska earlier this year.

Specter: Banked $8 million

Timothy McNulty | July 3, 2009

Specter says he'll have more than $8 million on hand at the end of the June 30 federal reporting period -- and even more than that if you could contributions coming his way from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. My short breaking news story follows, with a bigger version running tomorrow:

Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., defended the federal stimulus program, criticized Pittsburgh's U.S. Attorney and talked about his re-election campaign during a stop in Oakdale this morning.

Mr. Specter was in the region to praise $13 million in federal funding to improve the interchange between Routes 22/30 and 60 in Robinson and North Fayette, but went on to discuss other subjects with reporters.

He continued to defend the stimulus package -- which he favored while still a Republican, ultimately leading to his switch to the Democratic side -- over criticism that it has not created enough jobs. National unemployment is up to 9.5 percent, which is a 26-year high.

"It's on track. There's still time," he said, noting that its funding did not kick in until February.

Mr. Specter also criticized U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan's three-year prosecution of former Allegheny County coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, saying he did "not think it meritorious" and criticizing Ms. Buchanan's claims after charges were dropped in June that she still believed Mr. Wecht committed crimes even after the case was over. Her office dropped its fraud case against Mr. Wecht after a federal judge supressed much evidence in the case in May.

Mr. Specter noted that one of Mr. Wecht's attorneys, former U.S. attorney general and Pennsylvania governor Richard Thornburgh, had called on current Attorney General Eric Holder to censure Ms. Buchanan for her remarks. Panels are set to meet July 17 to study new U.S. attorney candidates for the state, the senator said.

Mr. Specter faces re-election to a sixth Senate term next year and the latest federal fund-raising period ended June 30. His campaign should end the period with more than $8 million on hand, up from the $6.7 million it had in March. He is expected to face U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak of Delaware County and state Rep. Bill Kortz of Dravosburg for the Democratic nomination, with former Club For Growth president Pat Toomey of Lehigh County the leading Republican name.

Attention, nerds

Timothy McNulty | July 2, 2009

For our data-obsessed friends and/or those interested in Pennsylvania's outrageous, 19th century-level bureaucracy:

The federal government issued Pa and four other states $2 million each to streamline statewide election data last year and now a study report is out looking at how it worked in last year's election.

The good news: the reporting of Pennsylvania election data was three times as good in 2008 as in 2006. The bad news: political pushback from the state's 67 counties kept the statewide data from being completely streamlined. From the report:

The strong tradition of political autonomy at the county
and municipal level determined by the decentralized
character of Pennsylvania's election data collection system
shifted grant program implementation almost exclusively
toward technology solutions and away from streamlining
and integrating the data collection process at state, county,
and precinct levels. In fact, the project team construed
any immediate process changes as politically unpalatable.
As the remaining phases of the program are completed,
the lessons learned during the 2008 data collection effort
will be applied to specific database enhancements to
simplify and streamline data collection efforts.

(Emphasis added.)

The full (60 page pdf) report is here and a press release from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission is here.

Schenley Park fireworks (and tea)

Timothy McNulty | July 2, 2009

We haven't heard as much talk about the July 4 tea parties as we did back in April (here's the P-G's coverage of the rally against Obama's stimulus package in Market Square), but Pittsburgh's rally this Saturday morning in Schenley Park has a spiffy website here with all the details.

The MC is talk show host/venture capitalist Glen Meakem and the main speaker Grover Norquist, president DC's flat tax champions Americans For Tax Reform.

The site is selling the Terrible (tea) Towel knock-off shown above (from the Quinn & Rose show on WPGB-FM).

A list of tea parties across Pennsylvania is here, and another (more detailed) one is here.

Warning: may cause nausea

Timothy McNulty | July 2, 2009

If you're eating lunch, don't read this WSJ story on Congressional travel or you may throw up.

The Journal finds that trips by congressional delegations has jumped 70 percent since 2005, and many of the taxpayer-funded trips (including ride-alongs for family members) are to vacation locales like Paris (that's a picture from a Seine River cruise above), Italy, Jamaica and the Galapagos Islands.

By the way, the supposed reasoning for that Galapogas visit, which included shopping excursions and a boat trip to a sea lion colony? To learn about global warming.

From the story:

The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. Some members of Congress have complained in recent months about chief executives of bailed-out banks, insurance companies and car makers who sponsored corporate trips to resorts or used corporate jets for their own travel.

Although complete travel records aren't yet available for 2009, it appears that such costs continue to rise. The Journal analysis shows that the government has picked up the tab for travel to destinations such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Lawmakers frequently bring along spouses on congressional trips. If they take commercial flights, they have to buy tickets for spouses. If they fly on government planes -- as they usually do -- their spouses can fly free.

In mid-June, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) led a group of a half-dozen senators and their spouses on a four-day trip to France for the biennial Paris Air Show. An itinerary for the event shows that lawmakers flew on the Air Force's version of the Boeing 737, which costs $5,700 an hour to operate. They stayed at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel, which advertises rooms from $460 a night.

The lawmakers were invited to a dinner party at the U.S. Embassy and had cocktails at a private party at the Eiffel Tower. Mr. Inouye attended a dinner sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, a U.S. trade group. Another senator on the trip, Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, took a cruise on the River Seine with defense-industry executives and elected officials from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

Mr. Inouye and Mr. Shelby declined to comment.

Often, lawmakers combine trips to war zones with visits to more tranquil spots. In February, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Democratic lawmakers to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a day. Before landing in Kabul, the eight lawmakers and their entourage of spouses and aides spent eight days in Italy, spending $57,697 on hotels and meals.

A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi says that she was working in Italy, meeting with U.S. troops at Aviano Air Base, laying a wreath at the Florence American Cemetery, giving a speech to Italian lawmakers and visiting the Pope, among other things.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, led a group to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Panama. "This trip further solidified the message that homeland security does not begin or end at our borders," says Mr. Thompson's spokeswoman.

. . . In October, Rep. Bud Cramer (R., Ala.) spent two weeks in Europe on government business. Reports show that Mr. Cramer spent $5,700 on hotels, meals and incidentals. Mr. Cramer wasn't running for re-election and left office just two months later.

"Knowing that I was leaving with my 18 years of seniority, I wanted to conclude some issues that I was working on," Mr. Cramer said. He now works for a lobbying firm in Washington.

Some of the most expensive travel is to exotic locales.

Last summer, Rep. Brian Baird (D., Wash.) took a four-day trip to the Galápagos Islands with his wife, four other lawmakers and their family members. The lawmakers spent $22,000 on meals and hotels, records show. Mr. Baird, a member of the House Science Committee, said the trip was to learn about global warming.

On the first day, lawmakers toured a breeding center for giant tortoise and land iguanas before dining with scientists, according to an itinerary for the trip. The next morning, lawmakers headed to the Galápagos National Park while their family members had the option of hiking, swimming or shopping. That afternoon, the group boarded a boat to visit a sea-lion colony and search for white-tip sharks.

Mr. Baird didn't respond to a request for comment.