The resignation of Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...

 as Governor of Alaska was announced on July 3, 2009 and became effective on July 26. Sean Parnell

Sean Parnell

Sean R. Parnell is an American Republican politician who is the tenth and current Governor of Alaska. He succeeded Sarah Palin following her resignation, and was sworn in at the Governor's Picnic in Fairbanks on July 26, 2009...

, the lieutenant governor, took Palin's place as governor.

Reasons for the resignation

Palin announced she was resigning her office due to the costs and distractions of battling the ethics investigations launched against her, and described as “insane” the amount of time and money that both she and the state of Alaska had expended. She said the state had spent $2 million and she and her husband Todd would be spending "more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight." The Anchorage Daily News

Anchorage Daily News

The Anchorage Daily News is a daily newspaper based in Anchorage, Alaska, in the United States. It is often referred to colloquially as either "the Daily News" or "the ADN"...

 reported that much of the $1.9 million cost cited by Palin consisted of the regular salaries of state employees who would have to be paid, regardless. However, the Governor's spokesperson said that in order to respond to the ethics complaints, staffers from multiple state agencies had had to set aside their normal duties, state lawyers had been pulled off other cases resulting in "lost value to the state", and "hundreds of thousands of dollars" had been spent on outside legal counsel and equipment. In addition to responding to the ethics complaints, the state attorneys had to review public records requests to determine what information to release; 238 requests were filed during the Palin administration, 189 of them after she was named as John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

's running mate.

Palin also said she was resigning to avoid becoming a lame duck

Lame duck (politics)

A lame duck is an elected official who is approaching the end of his or her tenure, and especially an official whose successor has already been elected.-Description:The status can be due to*having lost a re-election bid...

 governor once it was known that she was not seeking a second term, stating "it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: 'Sit down and shut up,' but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out".

Palin declared that although she loved her job and it hurt to leave it, her decision was in the best interest of Alaska. She said that she expected to continue her involvement in public affairs as a private citizen, and that the lack of an official title would not bother her, nor would it hamper her effectiveness.
Palin officially stepped down as Alaska's governor on July 26, 2009. She delivered a fiery farewell address in which she admonished the media to leave the new governor's children alone.

Polls

A Rasmussen

Rasmussen Reports

Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...

 poll (published on July 7, 2009) found that Palin's approval by Republican voters had remained stable following her resignation announcement, while a USA Today/Gallup poll (published on July 8) found that her approval by Republican voters had increased slightly. A CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 poll (published July 13) indicated that 22% of all Americans and 33% of Republicans believed Palin has the ability to be an effective president. In a Gallup Poll (published on July 16) on potential Republican candidates for 2012, Palin came in second, behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...

.

Speculation and response

In the wake of Palin's announcement, it was suggested that she was resigning because she was under criminal investigation. The FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 categorically denied that they were either investigating or preparing to indict her. Palin's personal attorney issued a strong statement threatening bloggers and news organizations with defamation lawsuits.

Politicians and pundits

Politicians and pundits had a mixed reaction to Palin's resignation. Republican Alaska State Representative Mike Hawker

Mike Hawker

Mike Hawker is a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives, representing the 32nd District since 2002. He is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Finance Committee and is a member of the Legislative Budget & Audit Committee...

 stated that quitting "gives her unfettered ability to pursue her economic interests, whether it be a book deal or speeches ... without being cluttered by state ethics law." Alaska U.S. Senator

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 Lisa Murkowski

Lisa Murkowski

Lisa Ann Murkowski is the senior U.S. Senator from the State of Alaska and a member of the Republican Party. She was appointed to the Senate in 2002 by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski. After losing a Republican primary in 2010, she became the second person ever to win a U.S...

, a Republican, said she was "deeply disappointed that the governor has decided to abandon the state and her constituents before her term has concluded." Former Alaska governor Tony Knowles

Tony Knowles (politician)

Anthony Carroll Knowles is an American Democratic politician and businessman who served as the seventh Governor of Alaska from December 1994 to December 2002. Barred from seeking a third consecutive term as governor in 2002, he ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2004 and again for governor in...

, the Democrat Palin defeated for governor in 2006, said that "[s]he closed a chapter in Alaska politics on a very weird and bizarre note... Friends or foes alike would have never thought that she would be a quitter, but that's what she did today." Congressman Steve King

Steve King

Steven Arnold "Steve" King is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party.The district is located in the western part of the state and includes Sioux City and Council Bluffs....

, a Republican from Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, said: "I don't know of anyone who has successfully and voluntarily pulled themselves out of political office and been able to leverage that into more political success". Former Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 Governor Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura

James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...

 labeled Palin a "quitter" and said, "if she's got plans of running for higher office, I would never vote for her, because if it gets too hot in the kitchen, she is liable to quit. ... I don't think she was put under any more scrutiny with the media than I was as an independent. My children were attacked in Minnesota. Everything I did [as governor] was put under the microscope. But the point is, you don't quit. When you make an obligation and you take an oath, doesn't it mean anything anymore?"

David Frum

David Frum

David J. Frum is a Canadian American journalist active in both the United States and Canadian political arenas. A former economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, he is also the author of the first "insider" book about the Bush presidency...

, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 said: "Basically, quitting for the stated reason that you can't get anything done in your job and because you can't endure the criticism you're receiving and then cashing in, in order to make a lot of money is not a good resume with which to run for president of the United States." National Review

National Review

National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...

 editor Rich Lowry said Palin had "plenty of time if (as I assume) she wants to run in 2012, and she obviously has plenty of capital with Republicans," but that her "terrible", "rambling" speech was "not an auspicious start." The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 conservative columnist Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat

Ross Gregory Douthat is a conservative American author, blogger and New York Times columnist. He was a senior editor at The Atlantic and is author of Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class and, with Reihan Salam, Grand New Party , which David Brooks called the "best single...

 noted that Palin is "young enough (and, yes, talented enough) to have a second act," and that it may have been her intent to go "off the political map for the duration of the Obama era". Republican political consultant Mary Matalin

Mary Matalin

Mary Joe Matalin is an American political consultant, well known for her work with the Republican Party. She was an assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney until 2003. Matalin has been chief editor of Threshold Editions, a conservative publishing imprint...

 said that Palin's "brilliant" decision left her "freed up and liberated the way Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...

 is to raise money and get political chips". The Weekly Standard

The Weekly Standard

The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...

 editor Bill Kristol opined that the move "could be a shrewd one" because "she can do her book, give speeches, travel the country and the world, campaign for others, meet people, get more educated on the issues ... without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska." Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

 said that if Palin "has any desire for a future, be it in politics, be it in media or whatever, she’s going to have to do it in the Lower 48. She cannot do it in Alaska .... All I know is that she is going to continue to fire-up people in the conservative Republican base as often as she speaks to ‘em."

Cost to taxpayers

According to the Anchorage Daily News, "Early estimates put the cost of Sarah Palin's midterm resignation as Alaska governor at a minimum of $40,000, not including a special legislative session partly linked to her departure. The final price tag will be less than the roughly $2 million Palin has said it cost the state to deal with "frivolous" ethics complaints against her." Information on the cost of the resignation was obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

Changes to Alaska's ethics rules

On December 22, 2010, new rules governing Alaska executive branch ethics, stemming from Sarah Palin's tenure as governor, took effect:

"These include allowing for the state to pay legal costs for officials cleared of ethics violations; allowing for a family member of the governor or lieutenant governor to travel at state cost in certain circumstances and allowing an immediate family member to use an official's state-issued cell phone or BlackBerry if the usage is limited or under monthly or unlimited plans."

The Alaska attorney general clarified several ethics rules, including those related to family travel.

Following

After her resignation, in which she asked the media to "quit making things up", Palin was out of the headlines until an August 7 Facebook note in which she falsely charged President Barack Obama's health care reform contained a "death panel

Death panel

"Death panel", , is a term that originated during a 2009 political debate regarding health care reform in the United States. The death panel claim portrayed the health care bills then pending before the U.S. Congress as encouraging euthanasia for the elderly and as rationing health care for the...

" which would ration care based upon social worth.

External links

• Video of Sarah Palin's resignation announcement, (joined in progress) July 3, 2009, CNN.
• Transcript of Sarah Palin's resignation announcement, July 3, 2009, from Federal News Service.
• Sarah Palin Announces No Second Term: No Lame Duck Session Either Alaska Governor Executive Column
• Video of Alaska Governor Transfer of Power Ceremony (Sarah Palin "farewell speech" at 6:00min) C-SPAN.org 2009-07-26. Accessed 2010-12-16.
• Text of Sarah Palin's farewell speech, July 27, 2009, Huffington Post.