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Friday, August 29, 2008

VP hopeful Palin's socialist dairy coup
  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice-presidential pick for the Republican ticket this fall, has some key conservative credentials -- she's a corruption-fighting, pro-life NRA-member - and some real ground-breakers -- she's a mom with five kids, married to an Inuit fisherman and oil worker.
  But she's also from Alaska, a highly socialist place despite its libertarian poses, where government controls most of the land and what's done with it, and public officials exhibit the usual resulting entanglements with special interests.
  Palin wasn't above packing the state agricultural board with her loyalists, in a doomed attempt to artificially prolong government control of the state-owned Matanuska Maid dairy in Wasilla, her hometown, when other officials tried to pull the plug. Clearly there's room on her agenda for taxpayer support of failing industries. Check out Anchorage Daily News coverage here.
Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 11:50 AM  Permalink | 7 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:22 PM, 08/29/2008
    Nice attempt at a hit piece. Why aren't you discussing Obama's corrupt ties, such as the Tony Rezko corruption scandal or his ties to a terrorist? http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/1121096,CST-NWS-sweet22.article
    — SailAway
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:33 PM, 08/29/2008
    Glad you liked it. This is VP Week, and I'm for equal opportunity. Check my earlier pieces: (1) Government is Biden's family business: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Biden_family_dynasty.html (2) Biden's banker pals: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/20080822_PhillyDeals__PhillyDeals__What_kind_of_a_VP_would_Biden_make_.html
    — distefj
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:48 PM, 08/29/2008
    BrooklynBoy, tell us more. Fatigue, I'm sure my colleagues will have plenty more to say about McCain-Palin when that show starts. But don't moan to me: Read my two Biden posts (linked above) and their comments, plus this one: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Biden_and_business.html
    — distefj
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:30 PM, 08/29/2008
    The dairy was a former co-op that sold for $1.5M & AK state revenues were almost $8B. Not sure that qualifies taxpayer support of failing industries as being high on her agenda.
    — StefanDio
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:12 PM, 08/29/2008
    1) The low sale price shows the doubtful value of the state-owned business. 2) You axed the key question -- what does this episode say of Palin's use of government? Would she interfere again (and repack federal agency boards) to help friends or neighbors at the peoples' expense, on the vast scale Washington allows? Would she, like Biden, make deals to subsidize low-rider Amtrak rural lines? Let's dig more.
    — distefj


7 comments
About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joe has been a member of Bloomberg LP’s New York Finance Team, wrote the book “Comcasted,” taught writing at St. Joseph’s University, and studied economics and history at Penn. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com
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