September 15, 2008

Media Cooking the Books on Palin

By Cecil Turner
ANCHORAGE -- The breathless accounts of Mayor Palin banning books in Wasilla are based on disputed versions of two meetings, and almost certainly overblown. There was a discussion over the library policy at the time, but it was not public and may well have been a perfectly proper inquiry into procedures for handling complaints. Other supposed witnesses to the event are not credible, and there is readily available evidence supporting Ms. Palin's version which is not being reported. First, some background:Sarah Palin began her political career when she was elected to the Wasilla City Council in October, 1992, as a "progressive" supporter of Mayor John Stein and his proposals to implement a sales tax and fund a city police department. The local semi-weekly Frontiersman supported their efforts.In December, 1993, a book challenge at the Big Lake library made front page news in the Frontiersman. Mat-Su Library Board member Shelley Ax filed a complaint over Maurice Sendak's In the...(Read Full Article)