| Sarah Palin | |
| |
| 45th President of the United States | |
| In office:
January 1, 2009 - | |
| Preceded by: | Hillary Clinton |
| Succeded by: | Incumbent |
| Governor of Jefferson | |
| In office:
June 1, 2005 - November 2, 2008 | |
| Preceded by: | None, company founded |
| Succeded by: | Todd Palin |
| Mayor of Jefferson City | |
| In office:
February 15, 2001 - May 31, 2005 | |
| Preceded by: | John Stein |
| Succeded by: | Dianne M. Keller |
|
Mayor of Liberty | |
| In office:
November 19, 1994 - December 5, 1999 | |
| Preceded by: Donald Mackenzie | |
| Succeeded by: | |
| Biography | |
| Born: | February 11, 1964 (age 48)
Liberty, Jefferson |
| Birth name: | Sarah Louise Heath (used name Kirkie 1976 - 1981) |
| Nationality: | American |
| Political party: | Republican |
| Spouse: | Todd Palin (since 1988) |
| Children: |
Jack, Bristol, Tamara |
| Alma mater: | University of Ontario |
| Occupation: | Business Woman, Politician |
| Religion: | Non-denominational Christian |
Sarah Palin is the 49th President of the United States, she also served as Mayor of Jefferson City (1995 - 1998) and Governor of Quebec (2005 - 2008).
Early Life[]
Sarah Louise Heath was born on February 11, 1964 in Liberty, Quebec. Her father, Robert was a wealthy businessman, and a member of the Liberty city council. Her mother was a teacher at the local high school. Sarah had an easy childhood, and in 1976 she attended the Liberty High school. She excelled in sports and in 1978 became the schools youngest ever student councillor. A year later she became captain of the school netball team and in 1980 she led the school team to victory in the county championships. She also ran in the 1980 mock election (to mirror the presidential election that year) as the republican party candidate, and won by a 72% majority.
In 1981 she won the Liberty town beauty pageant, and the county championships, coming 5th in the Miss Quebec contest. She performed well in other subjects, but became something of a school legend with regards to her sport. In 1982 she led the school netball team to victory in the state under 18 girls championship, and led the hockey team to 3rd place in the county championships.
Early Career[]
In October 1982 Palin and Heath enrolled in the University of Ontario (UoO), along with her fiancee and husband to be, Todd Palin. Palin herself stated in a 2008 interview "I started seeing Todd in 1981, and got engaged in '82, but I didn't want to get married until we were 20, I do not support teen marriages". Palin studied law and Politics, however in early 1983 she dropped out of the UoO and instead studied at the Avbery College in Oregon, and remained there until 1984. She then eloped with her fiancee, Todd, and the two fled to California to get married and have a honeymoon.
In late 1984 Palin returned to Liberty and, with her husband Todd, set up a local newspaper "Liberty Today". By 1986 this had grown into three newspapers, and by 1987 she owned 12 newspapers. However in 1988 she became pregnant with her first son, John and retired from the business, handing it entirely over to Todd. She went on to have Bristol in 1990.
Liberty Town Politics[]
In 1991 Palin was elected to the Liberty town council as a Republican, and began bringing up issues such as gun rights and same-sex marriages. This didn't go down well with the liberal mayor, Donald Mackenzie, and in April 1992 she was voted off the council. However she received much local political support and two years later she ran for mayor. The election was largely dominated by a series of radio debates and a highly publicised campaign by Palin who won a 53% majority.
Among her first acts as mayor were: reduced parking fares, scraping the local environmental initiative and tax cuts. She also cut back on the town council plans for a preservation order on several old buildings. She also made cutbacks at the local museum and halved the number of jobs there, whilst increasing her own mayoral staff (from 21 to 40). She held an early council election in November 1996, a day after the presidential election, hoping to gain popularity through a reelected president Dole, however Dole lost her election but Palin won hers.
In January 1997 she initiated what was to become known as "the night of the long knives" by over the course of ten days sacking the police chief, his deputy, the library manager, the councillor responsible for building and planning applications, the manager of the local sports initiative (an initiative set up by Palin) and the fire chief. All these people were replaced by Palins supporters. When the former library manager tried to sue Palin for unfair dismissal, she accused him for misappropriating council funds and stealing books, and he had to pay $24,000.
On July 4th 1997 Palin unveiled plans for a $20 million sports stadium for the town and applied for a state grant (which she got). The stadium was completed 15 months later and was opened by hockey legend Mary Levenson. This greatly improved Palin's waning popularity. Palin was a keen supporter in teaching creationism alongside evolution in schools, and lead the statewide campaign in favour of this. She was able to get her wish in October 1999. Two months later however Palin resigned as Mayor, stating that "I have done my best for the people of Liberty, now I want to do my best for the people of Jefferson".
Mayor of Jefferson[]
Palin launched her campaign for mayor of Jefferson City and easily won the Republican nomination. In March 2000 the election drew to its final phase. Jefferson City had been ruled by democrats for the last 12 years, but it was clear the popular Palin would be a favorite. She won the election with a clear majority and on April 10th was inaugurated as mayor.