Governor Sarah Palin is an Alaska Republican that has rocked the party boat in Alaska. Palin is a two term City Councilor and former Mayor of Wasilla, and a losing candidate for Lt. Governor in 2002. She also interviewed to replace then senator Frank Murkowski, who had been elected governor. Murkowski selected his daughter to suceed him in the Senate, passing Palin by. In retrospect a bad political choice for Gov. Murkowski. Governor Murkowski appointed Palin as Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, where she promptly blew the whistle on fellow Republicans for conflict of interest and other legal violations. The Alaska Republican Party Chairman and a former Alaska Attorney General were forced to resign from the Oil and Gas Conservation Committee, and she made a name as a clean government politician.

In 2006 she took on Republican Governor Frank Murkowski and defeated him in a big upset. She then went on to defeat Democratic former Alaska governor Tony Knowles in the final.

Palin is a life member of the N.R.A., and is pro-life. She is a life-long hunter and rather than hunting varmints like our former governor she hunts moose. Palin is against gay marriage, but her first act as Governor was to veto a bill passed by the Alaska legislature that would have barred benefits to gay employees of the state.

Palin is embroiled in a controversy relative to her dismissal of Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety. Monegan has alleged that he was fired because he had not terminated a state trooper who is the former brother-in-law of Governor Palin after a series of incidents involving the trooper and Governor Palin’s family. The Alaska legislature has hired an investigator to look into this situation, although the trooper was disciplined before Palin became governor. The Governor has denied the allegation, and cabinet Commissioners serve at the pleasure of the Governor.

Palin is married to Todd Palin, a native Eskimo, who is a fisherman and an oil field worker for British Petroleum. Palin has three daughters and two sons.