Since republicans are trying to convince voters that Palin (mayor of a town of 6,000 for 6 years, governor of one of the least populated states for almost two years versus Obama’s eight years as a state legislator and two years as senator) is more experienced than Obama due to the fact that she has executive experience and he does not. Of course, as I have pointed out elsewhere, McCain doesn’t have executive experience, either, which should trouble folks who seem to value it above legislative experience. But since this executive experience is supposed to convince us Palin is ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, then I’d like to analyze her executive experience.
1. I have already noted elsewhere that she showed poor judgment and management skills by choosing Kopp to replace Monegan as the state’s top cop. He had to resign very quickly after the brouhaha caused by his appointment due to having been accused of sexual harassment, reprimanded, and removed from that position. Palin then apologized for making an appointment that disrupted governance… which is my point. She showed poor judgment in making an appointment that a more skilled executive would recognize would disrupt governance.
2. Palin cost Wasilla a heck of a lot of money in her biggest project, building a town hockey rink:
Wall Street Journal The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.
The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.
"It's too bad that the city of Wasilla didn't do their homework and secure the land before they began construction," said Kathy Wells, a longtime activist here. "She was not your ceremonial mayor; she was in charge of running the city. So it was her job to make sure things were done correctly."
3. Palin reduced her mayor salary by 4,000 dollars, but far outset this by hiring a full-time city-administrator. This is very unusual for a town the size of Wasilla. Reportedly, this city administrator, John Cramer, had a salary of 50,000.
Former Professor of Public Administration Speaks Out About Palin In my experience, the city’s form of government is atypical for such a small community. Wasilla has what’s considered a “strong mayor” system, where the mayor has executive responsibilities. This system is usually associated with larger communities (250,000 or more), where there is a significant number of interest groups in competition with one another. It is therefore important for the mayor to have the executive power and political leverage to garner sufficient support for his/her goals and policies. In cities of this size, the mayor is also likely to have a deputy trained in public administration.
Some large cities instead adopt a strong mayor/administrator model where the administrator reports to the mayor but has the primary responsibilities for day-to-day operations. The mayor would be more concerned with relations with the city council, business and civic organizations, and state and federal governments — in other words, the “politics” of running a large municipality.
Small or medium-sized communities often adopt the council/manager form, where executive power is given to an appointed manager who has appointment responsibilities, oversees all departments and presents the budget to the elected council members for approval. The manager, who serves at the pleasure of the council, is usually trained in public administration and has earned the MPA degree. The MPA program is analogous to that of the MBA, but with courses focusing on public finance, intergovernmental relations, and other areas relevant to local government management.
In communities under 10,000, such as Wasilla, we usually see the “weak mayor” system, which simply means that the mayor is a member of the city council with no additional powers or duties except ceremonial ones; hence the term “ribbon cutter.” That’s because in most small communities, especially those that are not undergoing rapid change, a full-time executive would spend a lot of time daydreDespite being elected as a full-time mayor with executive responsibilities and a salary of $68,000, which she subsequently reduced to $64,000, Palin hired a city administrator, John Cramer, thus adding another salary to Wasilla’s budget. Apparently this was brokered by Republican party leaders after some Wasilla residents, upset by Palin’s inability to differentiate between official responsibilities and personal preferences, threatened a recall.
To have a full-time administrator in a municipality of less than 7,000 residents, when you already have a full-time mayor, smacks of managerial overkill or a mayor that can’t do the job.
On the other hand, maybe Palin was simply too busy seeking earmarks from Alaska’s federal legislators (something her campaign partner John McCain bitterly opposes) to pay attention to how the streets were being cleaned or whether the garbage was being picked up.
But this doesn’t fly, either, because although Palin traveled to Washington annually in search of pork barrel items, and successfully obtained $27 million for her small locality, she did it with the help of a paid lobbyist. Prior to the recent corruption scandals, getting earmarks was no big deal; the Alaskan delegation garnered more earmark dollars on a per capita basis than any other off the 49 states.
As a municipal manager would say, here’s the bottom line: Hiring an administrator to help a full-time mayor run a municipality of the size of Wasilla is practically unheard of and raises serious questions about Palin’s executive abilities — the very same abilities that have been touted by the McCain campaign as one of the reasons she was selected to be the their VP candidate.
In all fairness, it may be that Palin was as good as or better than the many thousands of other small government mayors. But it’s noteworthy that none of them have been nominated to be vice president of the United States, a heartbeat away from the most powerful position in the world.
As for the argument that Palin has 20 months worth of executive experience as governor, well, the differences between being governor of Alaska, which is ranked 47th in population, and being governor of a state with less oil money and less federal funding and more people and more problems is the subject of another column.
Anthony A. Cupaiuolo is professor emeritus of Pace University where he taught public administration for 26 years and was director of the Edwin G. Michaelian Institute for Public Policy and Management.aming or, worse, interfering unnecessarily in municipal operations.
4. Palin claims to oppose earmarking, but hired a lobbyist who obtained
27 million dollars in federal funds for Wasilla. She actually supported the “bridge to nowhere”, despite the current spin being put on her stance.
5. On the plus side, she did fight corruption in the oil-tax, although it was the democrats who insisted on the final tougher standards. But she did work with the Democrats on this issue.
6. Palin asked “rhetorical questions” about the librarian’s willingness to ban books.
NYT Book Ban? Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.
Anne Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.
In 1996, Ms. Palin suggested to the local paper, The Frontiersman, that the conversations about banning books were “rhetorical.”
7. Palin raised taxes and encouraged debt
Palin taxed oil companies Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has joined the Republican national ticket as a tax-cutter, was a driving force in raising a tax on oil companies last year that will help swell the state's budget surplus.
The increase backed by the Republican vice presidential nominee will, at current prices, raise oil revenue to $11 billion this year -- almost twice what the state needs to fund its government -- state documents show. Alaska also has gotten more money from the federal government than its residents pay in taxes -- $1.75 per tax dollar in 2006, the most recent year available, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington research group.
Palin increased sales Tax for Wasilla As vice presidential nominee, Palin has declared herself a tax fighter. As a mayor, she backed a 0.5-cent sales tax increase to build a $14.7 million sports center.
Wall Street Journal Ms. Palin marched ahead, making the public case for a sales-tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue to pay for the sports center, which was to feature a running track, basketball courts and a hockey rink. At the time, the city's annual budget was about $20 million. In a March 2002 referendum, residents approved the mayor's plan by a 20-vote margin, 306 to 286. The city cleared roads, installed utilities and made preparations to build.
Here’s an article that also analyzes Palin’s executive experience. It is very balanced, noting her good accomplishments as well as poor accomplishments.
Palin’s Executive Experience
