Alaska

(AP) - When Sarah Palin ran for governor, she made a point of not taking any money from VECO, an oil company at the center of a corruption scandal. But she did take, and will now give to charity, donations of $1,000 each from two politicians indicted for their role in the scandal, and another $1,000 from one of their wives. More »

(Newser) - Sarah Palin accepted gifts totaling over $25,000 during her 20 months as governor of Alaska, the Washington Post reports. The gifts to Palin, who made a crackdown on gift-giving a central plank of her reform agenda, included expensive artwork and free travel for a family member. Donors included industry execs and a cultural center whose board includes powerful mining industry officials. More »

(Newser) - Prosecutors say Republican Sen. Ted Stevens deliberately failed to disclose gifts from an Alaska oil company, including $240,000 in home renovations and a $2,700 massage chair, the Los Angeles Times reports. “Veco acted as his own personal handyman service,” the prosecution said in the opening arguments of Stevens’ corruption trial today in Washington. “If the defendant needed an electrician, he would contact Veco.” More »

(Newser) - Alaska is melting, but Sarah Palin doesn’t believe man’s to blame. Then again, McCain’s VP pick is also skeptical about evolution, “which is like not believing in gravity,” writes Robert F. Kennedy Jr in the LA Times. Kennedy recalls his childhood, when Virginia had ski slopes and uncle JFK would come toboggan in his top coat. More »

(Newser) - Critics who say Sarah Palin is not as fiscally conservative as she claims are questioning extended subsidies paid to a state-run creamery, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Alaska Creamery Board recommended closing the operation in 2007 after it fell $1.5 million in the red. Palin instead fired the board and replaced it with one headed by a childhood friend. More »

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's Alaskan hometown billed rape victims and their insurance companies for the cost of rape evidence kits while she was mayor, AP reports. The state had to pass a law—over the objections of Wasilla's police chief—to stop the practice. It was the only town in Alaska to charge rape victims for the kits, according to a former governor. More »

(Newser) - On the campaign trail, Sarah Palin has been touting her role in brokering a deal for a $40-billion natural gas pipeline in Alaska that, she says will "help lead America to energy independence." But the New York Times, investigating the status of the project, finds that the Alaska governor has overstated "both the progress that has been made and the certainty of success," and that some supporters, on closer inspection, have turned against the deal. More »

(Newser) - An attorney who acted as an informal ethics adviser to Sarah Palin urged her to apologize for her role in firing Alaska's safety commissioner before it grew into a scandal, the Wall Street Journa l reports. "The situation is grave," he wrote shortly before Palin was picked for the GOP ticket. The safety commissioner has accused Palin of having him fired because he refused to ax a state trooper who divorced Palin's sister. More »

(Newser) - Maybe Sarah Palin is better than all the rest of us because she's a small-town hockey mom, Michael Kinsley writes in Time, but “spare us, please, any talk about how she is a tough fiscal conservative.” Palin’s state ranks first in the nation in taxes and spending per resident. The trick is that while Alaska spends lavishly on its residents, it gets most of the money from taxes on the rest of us. More »

(Newser) - Those who have worked with Sarah Palin in Alaskan politics—Democrats and Republicans alike—are split on the governor's leadership style. While most praise her bold, tough approach, they also point out her lack of follow-through and seeming disinterest in the details of governing, and her inability to work with those who disagree, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »

(Newser) - The Alaska state trooper at the heart of the "Troopergate" scandal dogging Sarah Palin wants to put the whole thing behind him, the Washington Post reports. Mike Wooten said he regrets his mistakes, and is proud to have been part of the Palin family. Palin is under investigation for her role in the firing of a government official who refused to ax Wooten while the trooper was divorcing her sister. More »

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's pastors say an abiding faith in the Bible is at the core of her personal and political life, the N ew York Times reports. She attends the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church. Its links to groups which seek to convert Jews and "cure" gays have caused concern—but townspeople say the unassuming, conservative church is a true reflection of Alaska. More »

(Newser) - Alaska, with its short history as a state and its independent spirit, continues to earn its nickname as America’s “last frontier.” But it’s the state’s oil revenues, corruption, and very local politics that enabled Sarah Palin to thrive, the New York Times reports. And as governor it's left her with unique challenges. For instance, high energy prices fueled a $5 billion budget surplus while the rest of the country faced shortfalls. More »

(Newser) - Sarah Palin railed against the "joke" investigation of her former brother-in-law, a state trooper embroiled in a nasty custody battle with her sister, in emails sent to the ex-public safety commissioner she fired in July. “This trooper is still out on the street, in fact he's been promoted," she wrote in an email Walter Monegan showed the Washington Post . More »

(Newser) - Sarah Palin’s Alaska experience gives her just the right expertise for a year when the price of gasoline is going to be the hot-button issue, writes Larry Kudlow in National Review . Her energy policy? “I call it drill, drill, drill,” says Kudlow approvingly. "Our abundant country can produce more energy at lower cost if government gets out of the way." More »

(Newser) - Requests from Sarah Palin made it onto John McCain's "pork list" of objectionable spending three times while Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the Los Angeles Times reports. McCain's lists came as part of his long campaign against the earmarking system in which members of Congress can chuck cash at pet projects with little or no scrutiny. More »