Jackson Free Press

A Los Angeles Times investigation found:

* More than 100 appointments to state posts -- nearly 1 in 4 -- went to campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications.

* Palin filled 16 state offices with appointees from families that donated $2,000 to $5,600 and were among her top political patrons.

* Several of Palin's leading campaign donors received state-subsidized industrial development loans of up to $3.6 million for business ventures of questionable public value.

* Palin picked a donor to replace the public safety commissioner she fired. But the new top cop had to resign days later under an ethics cloud. And Palin drew a formal ethics complaint still pending against her and several aides for allegedly helping another donor and fundraiser land a state job.

Most new governors install friends and supporters in state jobs. But Alaska historians say some of Palin's appointees were less qualified than those of her Republican and Democratic predecessors.

University of Alaska historian Steve Haycox said Palin has been a reformer. But he said she has a penchant for placing supporters, many of them ill-prepared, in high posts. He called it "cronyism" far beyond what previous governors have done and a contradiction of her high-minded philosophy.

Previous Comments

ID

139686

Comment

And: In other state appointments, records show that all five Palin selections for the powerful Natural Gas Development Authority, which oversees a proposed gas pipeline project, were donors. They included Kathryn Lamal, wife of Tom Lamal. She appointed Kristan Cole, a school friend and a campaign donor, to the Board of Agriculture and Conservation, a farm regulatory position that by state law must go to people with strong business experience. Cole is a real estate agent. All three appointees to the Board of Public Accountancy, which oversees the accounting industry, gave to her campaign for governor, as did all three appointees to the Local Boundary Commission, which regulates contentious land annexations by local governments. Palin reappointed donor Steve Frank to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., which manages Alaska's $29-billion oil revenue nest egg. Frank, a former Republican legislator, is married to another leading donor, Linda Anderson, a lobbyist for power and tourism companies, among others. A penchant for pricey clothes and luxury hotel rooms for her kids sure isn't her only weakness as a reformer.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-10-24T16:43:31-06:00

ID

139692

Comment

Derailin' Palin is a joke, no doubt. Brian Williams has just asked her what things she wants to correct that's being said about her and she could only think of one thing - something about censoring book before saying ol' shoots, etc. We all know shoots is a dressed up cuss word that naturally comes out when the headlights hit the deer. How can anyone in that situation not improve in 2 months?

Author

Walt

Date

2008-10-24T16:56:32-06:00