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[On July 6, 2009], Governor Palin took a brief break from fishing with her family to grant interviews to several news outlets. Standing on the edge of the water, wearing waders and rubber gloves, she answered questions concerning her surprising decision to step down from the governorship.
“It’s cost thousands and thousands of hours in state time and millions of dollars in state resources to continually fend off these frivolous, ridiculous, wasteful ethics violation charges,” she said when asked to explain her decision. “Knowing I wasn’t going to run for another term, I didn’t want to be a lame duck.”
Upon first hearing the Governor’s news conference on July 3rd, I was surprised along with the rest of America, but understood her reasons. Since last year, she has been hit with ethics charges, an obvious ploy by her political opponents to diminish her effectiveness. It costs them nothing to file these frivolous complaints, but has cost the Palins almost half a million dollars in personal funds, and the state millions of dollars in the process. There was no reason for them to stop – unless she took herself out of the picture.
I take her at her word – she truly cares about Alaska! She knows that as long as she is in office, the suits are not going to let up, the malicious slander will continue, and Alaska will suffer because of it. By taking herself out of the picture and handing the reins over to the Lt. Governor, she will be doing what is best for Alaska, herself and her family. She said, “I don’t need a title to do what is best for the country”.
It is obvious that some reporters, pundits, commentators, Washington insiders, and political elite do not understand why Governor Palin is so popular. Governor Palin is NOT politics as usual. She is Middle America. She is a hard worker who loves her family. She believes in God and Country. She is one of us, and we love her for it.
