Monday, September 08, 2008

PALIN & THE LIBRARIAN

I'd like to know the full story but the press so far hasn't been helpful. Newsweek gives this all-too-brief snippet in "An Apostle of Alaska":
Her toughness—or, to her critics, ruthlessness—was apparent from the start. Almost as soon as she won election as mayor of Wasilla, she started firing senior city officials, including the top librarian (who was soon rehired), the museum director and the police chief....According to one local report, Palin floated the possibility of taking some books deemed to be offensive off the library shelves. The Frontiersman newspaper quoted Palin saying "many issues were discussed" with the librarian, "both rhetorical and realistic in nature"—suggesting the censorship issue was not serious. It quickly disappeared from public discussion.

The Seattle Times in "Sarah Palin had turbulent first year as mayor of Alaska town" has even less on this issue:
After notifying the librarian that she was fired, Palin backtracked and decided to keep her on. Palin had twice asked this librarian what she thought about banning books, to which the librarian responded it was a lousy idea, one she wouldn't go along with. Later, Palin told the local paper that any questions she'd raised about censorship were only "rhetorical."

I'd especially would like to know why Palin reversed herself about the librarian.

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