The Palins were staying with Sarah's in-laws Bob and Blanche Kallstrom when the soon-to-be-ex-governor of Alaska sat down for an interview. The Kallstroms are two of the 2,500 full time residents of Dillingham, Alaska, and owners of the Bristol Bay Inn and the hardware store. The town's population swells to 7,000 in the summer as it's a magnet for sport fishermen. Todd grew up in a house across the street from the hardware store - a building that has since been "moved," Blanche said, to make way for another building.
About 10 years ago the Kallstroms moved into a wooden two-story house with a bright orange garage door. The house is modern with two octagonal windows (Blanche said the carpenter that built the place was "some hippie" who put in the windows all over the house). They have two cottages - both also with bright orange doors - at the end of the driveway. One is a type of sauna with a wood-burning stove. The other is a smoke shack for the fish. Their catch that day was hanging pinned to a clothing line strung from the shack to a tree. The driveway was littered with boots, gray and red-tipped fishing socks, waders, scooters, tricycles and a green yoga ball with bunny ears for kids to bounce on. On an opposite clothing line more fishing gear was being hung out to dry. Two cars bore McCain/Palin stickers and faded "Palin for Governor" stickers.
Palin was in a long-sleeved blue t-shirt that read "Go Slam a Salmon, Peter Pan Seafood" on the back, brown drawstring Capri cargo pants, sneakers, a pony tail and a beautiful French manicure, and looking tired under her TV make-up. Todd and their daughter Piper were both there, wearing T-shirts. Todd was outside chopping wood and feeding it into the stove. Piper was in the driveway holding Palin's youngest son, Trig, later bringing him inside to put him to bed, on her mother's instructions.
Palin gave me a tour of the two shacks, first the sauna: "Usually you stay out there until the fish aren't hitting any more and then you come in. And here, especially in Native Alaskan culture, you come in and take a seat and you sweat everything out." She asked Todd how hot it usually gets. "220's too hot," he said. "190's good." "Too hot for me," she said. "But these guys do it. So, everybody comes in after fishing and gets buckets of water and the steam lets you sweat everything out, and it's all guys and it's all gals. That's the tradition."
Then she shows me the smoke shack. "This is usually the subsistence catch," she says, gesturing to the gutted, smoked fish drying in the 10:45 p.m. sun, "which means it's just going to be for personal use." Todd hands me a frozen pack of smoked salmon from a freezer. "And it's the best tasting stuff in the world after a couple of weeks of drying. People then store it away and eat it through the winter. But they smoke it there and dry it here."
For the interview, Palin then sits down on a curved cement wall next to the shacks, moving some red rubber gloves to make room.
TIME: I wanted to start out somewhat philosophically: Did you feel that the institution of government was no longer the best way to bring change about?
Palin: There certainly needs to be reform of government on a national level. On a state level we've been successful in reforming our level. This being my third year, heading into my final year in office, though, knowing that my agenda to reform state government, to rein in the rate of government growth that our state had been on - it was a trajectory that was going to put our state in dire straits if we couldn't rein it in. So we did that. We adopted an agenda that would responsibly develop our resources so that our state would be on good economic grounds but also in a position to more fully contribute towards energy independence for America. We have done that. We've reformed on a state level government with ethics reform. My first year in office we worked with the lawmakers to usher through ethics legislation that would disallow any of the previously accepted unethical practices in state government. So we did that. Now, heading into my final year in office, though, it's quite apparent that I will not be the one to effect more fully that continued reform on a state level. But Sean Parnell, our lieutenant governor, will be.
Is that because you feel that you don't have a mandate any more?
It's not that. It's that our administration is so stymied and paralyzed because of a political game that has been chosen to be played by critics who have discovered loopholes in the ethics reform that I championed that allows them to continually, continually bombard the state with frivolous ethics violation charges, with lawsuits, with these fishing expeditions. We win the lawsuits, we win the ethics charges, we win all that - but it comes at such great cost. The distraction, the waste of time and money, the public's time and money - it's insane to continue down this road. And Alaskans who have paid attention to what's going on, they understand that. (Read "How Sarah Palin Mastered Politics.")
Now, there's been some frustration with some in the media not fully reporting what's been going on so this may come as a shock to some Alaskans. We have sat down with reporters, showed them proof of the frivolity, the wastefulness - you know, millions of dollars this is costing our state to fight frivolous charges. And countless, countless hours from my staff, our department of law, from me every single day just trying to set the record straight. And it doesn't cost the adversaries a dime in this game. It costs our state so much in time and in resources. Alaskans that have paid attention to that, despite the media choosing not to fully report on the circumstances today, Alaskans understand why there had to be a shift here. There has to be a change of direction and it makes sense for Alaska, my final year in office, to not only be honest with them and tell them that I'm not going to run again, knowing that we've accomplished what we wanted to accomplish, but taking it one step further, saying I'm not going to put them through a lame-duck session where there will be, obviously, more wasted time and money because of the political game being played right now.
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When you resigned from the AOGCC, that was a huge catapult for you. Do you think this might catapult you as well? Or do you see it as kind of a selfless move, more for the state than for you?
It's all for the state. For me personally it's extremely tough to make a decision and an announcement like this because I love my job and I love Alaska. This is who I am. This is what I am. And serving the people of Alaska is the greatest honor. But when you know that you come to a point when you cannot effect the change, because of circumstances that have so greatly changed, and that happened on August 29, the day that I was tapped to run for VP. Circumstances have so drastically changed, I just have to be realistic about it and I have to be honest about it and say Alaska - certainly, Alaska, our state's fine without me at the governor's desk, but Alaska's going to be even better off in terms of progressing and reaching our potential and our destiny with Sean Parnell coming in, taking over the reins. Same agenda, same staff, but it turns down the volume on the distractions that had been ramped up on August 29.
Yeah, that's amazing to me. That hit me like a ton of bricks there, this assumption that there must be something more to it than the altruistic, sincere and articulated reasons why I know that this is best for Alaska, that there was speculation that there must be scandal. July 3rd is the eve of Independence Day. It is meaningful to be able to say, 'Look, there needs to be freedom all the way around here to progress. Alaska, we're going to continue to waste resources and time if this political game continues, and it will only continue, because it's a game of political, personal destruction is what the attempt is. But for me personally, it doesn't affect me like the way some people would assume, personally. Anybody growing up in Alaska is pretty tough and rugged. And, you know, I've been in politics since 1992. Local politics is really tough, too, so on a local level, on the state, jumping on an international stage, I've got those years under my belt and I expect and even invite the constructive criticism and those things that hold a public servant accountable, and I invite that. But, the circumstances have changed, where we have seen this allowance of critics who lie, who stymie progress and who try to paralyze an administration. That hurts a state. That's not fair to the people of the state. And that's why I said circumstances - my choice is to react to the circumstances, maybe unconventionally, but wisely and fairly to Alaskans. (See the top 10 scandals of 2008.)
At one point during the campaign you said of Hillary Clinton that she whines a little bit too much about being in the public eye. Do you now sort of sympathize with her?
What I said was, it doesn't do her or anybody else any good to whine about the criticism. And that's why I'm trying to make it clear that the criticism, I invite that. But freedom of speech and that invitation to constructively criticize a public servant is a lot different than the allowance to lie, to continually falsely accuse a public servant when they have proven over and over again that they have not done what the accuser is saying they did. It doesn't cost them a dime to continue to accuse. That's a whole different situation. But, that's why when I talk about the political potshots that I take or my family takes, we can handle that. I can handle that. I expect it. But there has to be opportunity provided for truth to get out there, and truth isn't getting out there when the political game that's being played right now is going to continue and it is. When you realize that it doesn't cost them a dime and it's a fun sport for some, you know it's going to continue. I love Alaska too much to put her through this in a lame-duck session.
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Now that you've thought about Alaska, what do you think might interest you moving forward?
I will work extremely hard for Alaska, continuing to work for Alaska, but helping other people who can effect this change, whether they're in office or out of office. I don't need a title to do that. I don't need to be sitting in front of a governor's desk. In fact, my intention is to go out and to campaign for people who can effect change all across our nation. I can't do that from the governor's desk no matter how careful I were to be because we've got lots of double standards hitting us. Other governors probably could travel around and campaign for others and speak candidly, using their First Amendment rights to express what they feel about a person, a candidate, a position. I get hit with ethics violation charges if I do that. I mean, literally, I do. The first day back from the campaign trail, I met with reporters in my office who kind of bombarded me there in the lobby of the office. I answered their questions and I got hit with an ethics complaint and it cost a lot of money to fight things like that and that's ridiculous. But I'd like to work for other people who'd like to effect change, and Alaska's going to play a big part in the effectiveness of America. As our country progresses with energy independence and Alaska's role in national security and Alaska's part too in ratcheting down this government overgrowth that President Obama is ushering in.
You sound a lot like someone, campaigning for other candidates, perhaps fundraising for them, who's going to run in 2012. Is that an interest?
I honestly [pausing to brush Piper's cheeks, who has come back in the room] don't know. I cannot predict what's going to happen. I don't know what doors will be open or closed by then. I was telling Todd today, I was saying, 'Man, I wish we could predict the next fish run so that we know when to be out on the water.' We can't predict the next fish run, much less what's going to happen in 2012.
So you wouldn't rule it out?
Todd and I, our family's always believed in keeping all options on the table and seeing in this case still what is best for the family and what is best for Alaska.
What do you think is wrong right now with what President Obama is doing in particular?
President Obama is growing government outrageously, and it's immoral and it's uneconomic, his plan that he tries to sell America. His plan to "put America on the right track" economically, incurring the debt that our nation is incurring, trillions of dollars that we're passing on to our kids, expecting them to pay off for us, is immoral and doesn't even make economic sense. So, his growth of government agenda needs to be ratcheted back, and it's going to take good people who have the guts to stand up to him, stand up to him and debate policy, not personalities, not partisan politics, but policy to effect the change that we need there. And allow free enterprise and the industrious Americans who run our small businesses and want to raise a family, allowing our families to grow and prosper and thrive, Americans who still believe in those ideals to get in there and effect change. I want to work for people who believe in that. (See highlights from a debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.)
Two of his big platform issues right now are universal health care and your favorite issue, energy, his global warming plan. What do you think of his positions on both?
His cap and trade agenda is a cap and tax agenda, and it's going to drive the cost of consumer goods and the cost of energy so extremely high that our nation is going to start exporting even more jobs to China and to other countries that do not have the corporate tax or the equivalent of the corporate tax that the cap and trade - I call it cap and tax - agenda is going to usher in. What he needs to be understanding is we have the domestic supplies of energy in America. It's conventional sources - oil, gas, coal, it's nuclear - and we have the renewable sources here in America. But if we're not allowed to drill and develop those conventional sources in this transition period between now and when we can rely more on alternative sources, we're going to become more and more reliant on foreign sources of energy and importing more and more goods because they're going to be cheaper over there to produce, and our country is going to be in a world of hurt. And that, of course, has so much to do with his economic policy in thinking that it's okay to borrow money from other countries to fund this government largess that he's believing in. It doesn't make any sense. We need to develop responsibly our natural resources of energy here. This will provide the jobs here, the true economic stimulus is developing our domestic, safe supplies of energy here, and Alaska is the place to look to contribute.
And health care?
And health care, too. I remember certainly on the campaign trail, John McCain and his ideas - basically, bottom line, allowing businesses to afford to pay for health care, to provide health care and to give employees options, and Obama scoffed at that. His campaign thought that that was ridiculous. It's funny now to hear him kind of go to some of John McCain's ideas. John McCain had some good ideas about bolstering the economy through businesses so that families could afford to pay for health care and making sure that no one was falling through the cracks and not receiving health care. One way you do that is to reduce the corporate tax on our small businesses especially in America. You're going to see Obama increase those taxes on small businesses - whether he admits it today or not, he's going to. One thing reporters aren't asking the administration is - it's such a simple question and people around here in the real world, outside of Washington, D.C., want reporters to ask - President Obama, how are you going to pay for this $1- or-$2- or $3 trillion health care plan? How are you going to pay off the stimulus package, those borrowed dollars? How are you going to pay for so many things that you are proposing and you are implementing? Americans deserve to know what the plan is to fund these things, health care included.
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