It seems that in 1997, she almost got recalled as mayor of Wasilla?
What led to this? Seems she fired the city police chief and library director.
Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin fired the city's police chief and the library director without warning Thursday, accusing them of not fully supporting her efforts to govern. Irl Stambaugh and Mary Ellen Emmons said letters signed by Palin were dropped on their desks Thursday afternoon telling them their jobs were over as of Feb. 13 and that they no longer needed to report to work.
"Not fully supporting her efforts to govern" seems to have meant, "supporting her opponent, John Stein, in the 1996 election"
This led Police Chief Stambaugh to sue for breach of contract.
Three years later (via March 2nd, 2000's AP State and Local Wire), a federal judge ruled in favor of Palin. Not that she fired him for an ethical reason, though.
No, his ruling was that Alaska state law allows mayors to fire the chief of police for whatever reason he or she wanted.
But Singleton said that under state law, police chiefs serve at the behest of the mayor unless otherwise specified by city ordinance. Stein, the former mayor, had worked out an agreement with Stambaugh forbidding termination without cause, but the city council never voted on it, Singleton ruled.
So, essentially, Sarah Palin put personal loyalty over the safety of the people of Wasilla, Alaska and got away with it.
Of course, we've heard about how she did the same thing recently with Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan.
So for Sarah Palin, security does not come first. Like George Bush, it takes a backseat to personal loyalty and cronyism.
