Sarah Palin has shown she has the ability to transform a campaign platform agenda into successful results when elected to office. Once in office, she achieved the goals of her agenda. That is one reason why Palin is very popular in Alaska. People want leaders who roll up their sleeves in office and achieve real success.
When running for mayor of Wasilla Palin’s goals were to decrease the budget by decreasing decreasing the mayor’s salary and reducing property taxes. When Palin won the election she:
1) took a pay cut from $68,000 a year to $64, 200
2) cut property taxes from $2 million to $1.2 million and eliminated personal property taxes
Palin also had a beneficial vision:
“Sarah had a vision for the small town. She imagined Wasilla becoming a major economic player in the state, a place where new development could create opportunity and prosperity” (Sarah, by Kalene Johnson, page 45-50).
To create the vision Mayor Palin implemented a $5.5 million road and sewer bond approved by the people to attract new commercial development. During her three-year term Fred Meyer had opened a large department store in Wasilla (page 65).
As governor, Palin again achieved her campaign goals which were:
1) ending corruption in state politics
2) building a gas pipeline that had been stalled for 30 years
3) increasing the state's share of energy revenues.
As James Bennett of the Telegraph reported:
…she has succeeded in each of her objectives. She has exposed corruption; given the state a bigger share in Alaska's energy wealth; and negotiated a deal involving big corporate players, the US and Canadian governments, Canadian provincial governments, and native tribes - the result of which was a £13 billion deal to launch the pipeline and increase the amount of domestic energy available to consumers.
…she has been a major player in state politics for a decade, one who formulated an ambitious agenda and deftly implemented it against great odds (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/09/09/do0904.xml).
Sarah Palin has the ability to transform ideas into reality. Her record is proof. That is the kind of woman we need in the Executive branch and if she breaks the glass ceiling beyond that glass ceiling she will create great achievements that benefit the United States.
