Claim: Sarah Palin's years as Mayor and Governor show she has the experience to be Vice President Truth: Palin's record shows that she abuses power, mistrusts science, and is overly secretive

As full attention is now being paid to Sarah Palin's record as Mayor of Wasilla and later as Governor of Alaska, the picture that is beginning to form is that of an aggressively ambitious person who hires and fires people based more on loyalty than competence, who rewards campaign contributors with jobs or insider information, and who goes to great lengths to hide all of her office's internal communications from the public. Like George Bush and Dick Cheney, she ignores the findings of science when it does not fit with her worldview, and ignores the advice of subordinates when the don't agree with her wishes.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Palin ignores the findings of her state's own scientists, lies about it, and then tries to hide the evidence.

Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Ms. Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she has sued the federal government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Mr. Steiner that his request would cost $468,784 to process.
When Mr. Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages — through a federal records request — he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in danger, records show.
“Their secrecy is off the charts,” Mr. Steiner said.

Much has been made of Palin's interest in the possibility of banning books from the Wasilla library when she was Mayor. Though it is true that Palin never made an official request to remove any books--because the city's residents rose up in opposition when she tried to fire the librarian who said she would not do so--there is no question that she felt some books should be removed, even though she hadn't even read them.

But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book “Daddy’s Roommate” on the shelves and that it did not belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it.
“Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff,” Ms. Chase said. “It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.”

Palin hired high-school friends and other people with questionable credentials to fill statewide positions.

Ms. Palin chose Talis Colberg, a borough assemblyman from the Matanuska valley, as her attorney general, provoking a bewildered question from the legal community: “Who?” Mr. Colberg, who did not return calls, moved from a one-room building in the valley to one of the most powerful offices in the state, supervising some 500 people.
“I called him and asked, ‘Do you know how to supervise people?’ ” said a family friend, Kathy Wells. “He said, ‘No, but I think I’ll get some help.’ ”

Sarah Palin's office uses the same tactics as the Bush administration to conceal internal communications which should usually be available for inspection during an official inquiry.

Yet recent controversy has marred Ms. Palin’s reform credentials. In addition to the trooper investigation, lawmakers in April accused her of improperly culling thousands of e-mail addresses from a state database for a mass mailing to rally support for a policy initiative.
While Ms. Palin took office promising a more open government, her administration has battled to keep information secret. Her inner circle discussed the benefit of using private e-mail addresses. An assistant told her it appeared that such e-mail messages sent to a private address on a “personal device” like a BlackBerry “would be confidential and not subject to subpoena.”
Ms. Palin and aides use their private e-mail addresses for state business. A campaign spokesman said the governor copied e-mail messages to her state account “when there was significant state business.”

As Governor, she has also proven to be highly dismissive of the concerns of the state's mayors. Many of their requests go completely ignored.

At an Alaska Municipal League gathering in Juneau in January, mayors across the political spectrum swapped stories of the governor’s remoteness. How many of you, someone asked, have tried to meet with her? Every hand went up, recalled Mayor Fred Shields of Haines Borough. And how many met with her? Just a few hands rose. Ms. Palin soon walked in, delivered a few remarks and left for an anti-abortion rally.

Another article has also just been published which paints a very similar picture of Palin as an executive who has always placed loyalty over competence when hiring, and has always pushed ahead with her own plans even in the face of advice from people who are more knowledgeable and experienced.

Some in town had for years pressed the city for a new space for the cramped library. Palin, who calls herself a "typical hockey mom," instead focused on building a sports complex with an NHL-size rink. In 2002, by a 20-vote margin, voters approved a $14.7 million bond to be financed by a half-cent sales tax hike.
Palin had forged ahead with the project despite a lingering legal dispute over whether the city had ownership of the land. A judge had initially ruled in the city's favor, but it later lost on appeal and had to pay $1.3 million more for the land.
"The only accomplishment of note was the building of the sports complex . . . and it was bungled," said Deuser, the former city attorney.

As Mayor of Wasilla, Palin Cut Own Duties, Left Trail of Bad Blood