Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin Read Online Free PDF Page A

looking for anything in return. What I know of you and what I’ve seen of you in the media makes me excited about the future of kids. Let me know what I can do to help!
    Frank Bailey
    The next day, Sarah emailed back:
    From: Sarah
    To: frank bailey
    Created: 10/19/2005 11:56:52 PM
    Subject: Re: Campaign Volunteer
    Thank you so much Frank! And it’s great to hear from you. I’m glad you’re happy to hear the decision. This all happened pretty quickly and we didn’t have the luxury of having any time between filing a Letter of Intent and then formally announcing the run for Gov. So, we’re hustling!
    Thanks again Frank. I sincerely appreciate your support. God bless,
    Sarah

    While I don’t wear Christianity on my sleeve, I know in my core that God’s teachings are best for this world, me, my family, and all of our relationships. Having attended Capernwray Bible College in England for a time and been an active member of the evangelical ChangePoint church in Anchorage, Sarah’s “God bless” sign-off didn’t seem strange to me at all. As for Sarah, the connection between her faith and politics seemed profound; in my mind, God had chosen her, and this was His will.
    Even after this second email, I heard nothing back. It wasn’t until I approached Sarah at her first official fund-raising event at the Reagan Building in Wasilla in November 2005 that matters moved forward.
    Present that day were several individuals I would grow close to in the coming years, including prominent longtime local attorney Wayne Anthony Ross, better known as WAR; Sarah’s husband, Todd; Don Benson, a volunteer from nearby Palmer; and Kris and Clark Perry, friends of Sarah’s from Wasilla.
    At that fund-raiser, in front of notables and nobodies, Sarah inspired us, talking about how, “Man was created to work.” With the Murkowski administration, she said, this wasn’t happening. I took her words about being created to work personally and applied it to a verse that my mother instilled in me as a preteen that says, “Work heartily as unto the Lord.”
    At this time, the depressed price of oil was damaging Alaska’s economy, and people were scraping to get by. Pouncing on that theme, Sarah pointed out that Murkowski’s Petroleum Profits Tax amounted to an oil company giveaway. The people who actually owned the resource in the ground—by state constitution, Alaskan citizens—were being shafted. Rather than receiving potential increased revenue from the resource itself, they received a piddling tax while business enjoyed the windfall. Her words convinced me anew that our current governor was taking the state in the wrong direction. All the heads in the room nodded like bobbleheads. When she uttered the phrase “time for change,” the room broke out in spontaneous applause. For the first time in all the years I’d observed politicians, someone was uttering unvarnished truth.
    In the midst of the excitement, I made my way in her direction tomeet face-to-face. What, I wondered, could a simple man, a political novice, a kid raised in a small town on a remote island, possibly do to aid a future governor? All I knew was that I had driven almost an hour because I wanted to make a difference. Maybe I could offer ten words of encouragement. Maybe I’d hand off a check for fifty dollars. Whatever she’d accept from me was on the table.
    â€œSarah. Hi. I’m Frank Bailey. We exchanged emails . . .” In a voice that surely betrayed my nerves, I explained I hadn’t heard back from anyone about volunteering.
    â€œFrank, I am sorry nobody contacted you.” She sounded annoyed with her current unpaid staff.
    â€œI can paint. Clean floors and toilets. Wash windows.” What I really wanted to say was that I’d help flush and scrub away Alaska’s massive political corruption.
    While I did not know then the level at which I’d be