Sarah Palin's Shortsightedness

Is there anyone out there who believes Sarah PalinSarah Palin truly knows what she is doing? Does she take the time to think ahead and realize the consequences of her rambling press conferences? Perhaps she wasn't that far off when she told Time Magazine, "We can't predict the next fish run, much less what's going to happen in 2012." Perhaps she should have thought about what would happen during the next 30 days.

It appears that Sarah neglected to remember that the transfer of executive power won't be as easy as waving "bye-bye" to the Capitol and let Lt. Governor Sean Parnell step in. What? You ask... It seems that this strange set of circumstances began in February 2009. Remember the when the Alaskan Legislature found "First Dude" Todd Palin and others in contempt when they refused to comply with subpoenas filed over the Branchflower Investigations? Yes, Mr. Palin decided he was above the scope of justice and could just ignore that little piece of paper.

Following this episode, Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg resigned. It is believed Colberg gave Palin and others counsel to ignore the aforementioned subpoenas. (Keep in mind that the Attorney General is third in line of succession to the governor).

This chain of events led the Alaskan Legislature to confirm Joe Schmidt as the third in line if the Governor and the Lt. Governor are unable to fulfill the duties. That would be great, except as soon as Sarah Palin announced her resignation, Schmidt immediately sent a "no thank you" memo to Palin's administration. Not to be outdone, Palin quickly appointed Alaska National Guard Lt. General Craig Campbell.

Whew! Things are all in place in Alaska, right? Nope. It seems that there is the small fact that it will be extremely difficult to convene the State Legislature since many of the elected officials have gone for summer vacation. Some are on official business, some are off fishing, others traveling to the Lower 48. Forty of the sixty politicians must be present to call a special session. It is estimated that the Legislators can reconvene during the second week of August - two and one-half weeks after Governor Palin leaves office.

The appointment of Campbell is not the only item on the docket - a group Legislators were planning to override Palin's veto of federal stimulus funds that could be targeted for energy-related needs in the state of Alaska.

The Anchorage Daily News reminds us of Palin's alleged reasons for leaving office.

"Palin defended the decision because "pragmatically, Alaska would be better off" if her state weren't spending time on ethical complaints against her." [Anchorage Daily News, 7/13/2009]. She implied the state would not need to spend money on these issues as well.

What will her pre-emptive resignation cost the state? Conservative estimates place that figure at $150,000. How does this save Alaskans money? Perhaps Sarah Palin should consider remaining in office, keep her nose to the grindstone of Alaska State Business, and stop wondering what the next fish run entails.