by Dave Zornow
Today’s announcement by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin that she will resign on July 26 caught media and pundits by surprise. Call me crazy, but her timing says more than her message.
Why would a widely-recognized publicity hound like Sarah Palin pick one of the quietest news cycles of the year to announce her impending resignation? And if she really had presidential aspirations, wouldn’t it be better to finish out her term as a very visible state governor — with an existing publicity machine — than return to private life?
Lots of people have run for president while serving out their gubernatorial terms. Doesn’t she run the risk of being called a quitter for resigning before her term is complete? A governor quitting in mid term is the political equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot (no NRA jokes intended). No politician would want to do that — unless they were trying to get out of Dodge, fast.
The AP weighed in with a little light headscratching. “Palin’s resignation, timed on the eve of the July 4 holiday when many Americans had already begun a three-day weekend, seemed designed to avoid publicity,” in their 7/3 story on the announcement. Palin quickly called a Friday morning news conference at her home in Wasilla, Alaska allowing time for only a few reporters to be present. Security personnel prevented late press arrivals from attending the event.
The head of the Alaska’s Republican Party says Sarah wants to spend time campaigning for other candidates. Fair enough. But if that was true, wouldn’t you make that announcement next week for maximum exposure…and not on a getaway day for most of the national media? “That isn’t a reason. Seated governors just don’t resign in the last year of their term no matter,” Alaska State Representative Mike Hawker told the Anchorage Daily News. “There are a lot more questions than answers,” said the Anchorage Republican. “And until the governor chooses to reveal more of her motive here, it’s just one of those questions we will never know the answer to.”
The Huffington Post speculates that Sarah is trying to slip out of the Governor’s Mansion privately before a criminal probe becomes public.
Alaska-based reporter-blogger Shannyn Moore is hearing potentially more damaging revelations are to come. “For weeks the rumors of a criminal investigation against the governor have been brewing,” she writes. She spoke of the rumors with MSNBC’s David Shuster, saying the talk of a criminal probe into Palin has been circulating for six to eight weeks, and that today’s press conference seemed to be Palin’s effort at “damage control for news to come out later.”
The PoliticalCarnival says SBS, an Alaska building company, received a $13 million contract from Wasilla when Palin was mayor to build a hockey arena, the most expensive construction project in the city’s history. According to the rumor, SBS supplied all of the building materials to construct the site of today’s news conference — Palin’s Wasilla home. SBS is also a longtime sponsor of Todd Palin’s snowmobile team.
We wish Sarah the best. Without her, last year’s presidential election just wouldn’t have been the same. But something tells me we are going to be hearing from her again — very soon. And regrettably, not in a good way.
Sources: AP, Huffington Post, PoliticalCarnival, Anchorage Daily News