Wednesday, September 10, 2008

"Sarah Palin's Record on Alaska Native and Tribal Issues"

After struggling over this one, I'm going to go ahead and just post it, and let you make up your own minds.

Sarah Palin's Record on Alaska Native and Tribal Issues

This document has been floating around, and is factually true. But the other fact is, our governor is very good at staying off the record on important Alaska Native issues. Or any Alaska Native issues, really. I refer you to my earlier posts (below or to the right) to view where her lack of attention has gotten us, as Alaskans and Alaska Native people.

This document asserts that:

1. Palin has attacked Native subsistence fishing
2. Palin has attacked Native subsistence hunting
3. Palin has attacked Alaska Native tribal sovereignty
4. Palin has attacked Alaska Native languages

This is not new, but I think "Palin's administration" or "Palin, through her staff" is the most accurate wording. Palin has released only a "supportive" letter to Alaska Native people during her campaign for governor, and other than that has remained publicly silent on Alaska Native issues.

The Alaska Native languages attack, for instance, was actually on an issue I've covered here before - the Yup'ik language ballot. In this instance, "Bethel and the State of Alaska" fought against providing Yup'ik voting materials to the highly Yup'ik area of Bethel. The Lt. Governor, Sean Parnell, is listed as one of the defendants, but not Palin directly. She's done this many, many times before (most notably in the Troopergate investigation,) - letting her people take care of the highly controversial issues, while she visibly takes on highly popular issues (gas pipeline, $1,200 checks to all Alaskans.)

For those of you who do not know Alaska, Alaska Native people make up nearly 20% of the population. To say something publicly against solid Alaska Native issues would be devastating to a campaign - and we vote to the tune of 90% in some boroughs.

Again, the facts of this document are true, I'm just a bit cautious about saying "Palin believes this" about anything that she will come in and say "Oh, but that was my staff, not me" on. Which she has done. Frequently.

8 comments:

Ediethelilwieny said...

That isn't true. Palin worked for Smith who appropriated the money for the bridge to nowhere. She didn't say she wanted it or didn't want it. She said she wouldn't stand in the way of progress. When she found out Smith and others were fraudulent she became a whistleblower and brought them down. Then she took the money and spent it on roads for all over Alaska. Why? Because she knew that many communities didn't have proper sewage, they weren't growing, and many didn't even have a proper water supply. She didn't run down the Natives like many politiciams or say they were needy. She knew what would help, a decent infrastructure. That without proper roads therre would be no progress. No new industry or progress would come to those communities. She knew people given a chance will improve their lives and do what is best for there own villages.

Writing Raven said...

Interesting you should mention roads.

When it was clear that the "bridge to nowhere" was not being built, Palin still let the "road to nowhere" be built. Worse than the bridge, as the bridge would have provided access to the airport, the road literally leads only to the beach where the bridge would have begun.

From the Anchorage Daily News:

"Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government."

This "proper road" is not providing a smidge of progress. I wish someone would tell me why she would prefer to continue construction on a road that will provide no "progress", when that $25 MILLION could have gone to something else? Actual progress?

Unknown said...

Last night I sent a long diatribe to my complete address book detailing my understanding of Sarah's work to date in Alaska. I left out her lack of effort regarding Native Alaskans ( I just got too long winded and too incensed that she would have the cojones to charge a rape victim for a testing kit). This morning I got an email from my high school girlfriend, a Navajo who had received the email you mentioned in this post. It was with a deep pain that I had to acknowledge that my Governor, the woman who wishes to be VP was accurately portrayed.......thank you for talking about the ugly side of Sarah.

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