"
Palin was the first
female and
youngest governor to be elected in Alaska, which is tied for the
second most powerful governorship in the United States, according to Thad Beyle, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina.
Palin's approval rating average from the time of her inauguration until John McCain selected her as his running mate was
77.38%. Her consistently high approval ratings reached their zenith in May of 2007, at
93%. Alaska pollster David Dittman said at the time, "Her strength is her independence. She distanced herself from the old boy Republican regime and has been completely non-partisan.” Alaska Democratic Party Chairman Jake Westbrook gave Palin credit for “working across party lines on issues where there is agreement."
Budgeting and Spending
Palin cut state spending between 2007 and 2010 by
9.5% while also reducing federal
earmark requests by more than 80% during her tenure. She used her line-item veto to cut more than a quarter billion in superfluous spending in both
2007 and
2008. In 2009, she
instituted a temporary hiring freeze, while at the same time
reducing spending by more than 33% between FY2009 and FY2010.
But she didn’t just cut spending; she saved, reformed, and prioritized like a good fiscal manager. She invested
$5 billion in state savings, overhauled education funding, paid down debt, invested $2.6 billion in an
education fund for the future, and funded a Senior Benefits Program to provide support for low-income Alaskan seniors.
Her recently released emails prove that she did indeed kill the "Bridge to Nowhere." In fact, Palin wanted to redirect the federal funds to Minnesota after the bridge there collapsed in 2007, as she indicated in an
email to her staff. Palin also
rejected much of President Obama's "stimulus money" in 2009."
Who Is the Real Sarah Palin?
