blogassignment#25sarah palin

During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,Palin cut proporty taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes. Using bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department. She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resource At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.
Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein," including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian. Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her. She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies. She created the position of city administrator, and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.
In October 1996, Palin asked library director Mary Ellen Emmons if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed. Emmons responded that she would, and others as well. Palin explained that she not been proposing censorship but instead, had been been discussing many issues with her staff that were "both rhetorical and realistic in natural Ultimately, no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.
Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city. Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging termanation and violation of his free speech rights. The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one, and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.
Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the anchorige-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.
In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla. A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat. At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.