A year ago today, I was the guest of John Stein, who was then the City Administrator of Sitka, Alaska. He was the person who advised a very young Sarah Palin to move up from the Wasilla Planning Commission and go for an open seat on the Wasilla City Council. She did. Soon afterward, she ran against John, who was then Mayor of Wasilla, and beat him. By a few votes.Her campaign consisted of challenging John's wife, the late Karen Marie, of having a different last name from Mr. Stein, and of dissing "government schools," a term Palin had picked up from the now imprisoned ex-Representative, Vic Kohring.
Her campaign accused Stein, a Republican, of not being Republican enough. The campaign, very fungelical, stressed that Karen Marie was a prominent Democrat, and pro-choice (they called her a "baby killer").
Palin promised, in her mayoral campaign, to eliminate the Wasilla sales tax and city police department Stein had struggled to get.
She didn't.
Last August, when I was staying with John, we laughed a lot, as we talked about the many contradictions and periods of luck Sarah's rise has seen.
That run of luck may end this weekend...
image of Alexander Baranof in the Sitka town square