Going Rogue: An American Life (39 page)

SARAH

PALIN

it was $140. Price is dependenr upon so many factors-a war in a third-world country, a hurricane off the coosr, an angry petrodicraror, new oil discoveries in foreign lands. And our revenue deparrment has to estimare every

what the price of a barrel

of oil will be in order for us to build rhe budget. Alaskans know the pain of wildly fluctuating oil ptices. We learned our lesson about saving for rhe future the hard way. During .the heyday of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, we were living good life. The price of oil was high and the boom was on, cteating a gold rush of state tevenue, which government spent as quickly as possible. We were still a vast, undeveloped frontier outpost in need of infrastructure. So the state spenr fast. Then the smack-down: oil bottomed out at $9 a barrel. There hadn’t been much planning for the bust times. Alaskans began driving around wirh bumper stickers that read, DEAR GOD, GIVE us ANOTHER

BOOM AND WE PROMISE NOT TO PISS IT AWAY

THIS TIME.

When that next boom came during my administration, we were determined to be consetvative and accountable to future generarions. (As Thomas Paine said in 1776: “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my children may have peace.”) Yet getring certain legislators, including Republicans, on board wirh budget cutting in a time of surplus was like turning off a free tap at the Red Dog. I was told more once that I was

crazy for not spending the money while it rolled in, because, as in every state, there were a lot of “needs”-especially “for the children.”

At the time, both parties, nationally and locally, were spending uncontrollably. No wonder voters couldn’t tell Republicans Democrats. How can the GOP claim fiscal conservatism when we let our own party’s congressional delegations fund things in the federal budget like rhe new monument to honor the mules
•

146

•

Going

and pack animals in Califurnia? And Democrat politicians aren’t any better, but at least their fiscal liberalism is expected. Take the New York senior senator’s recent milliondollar request a

museum to pay homage to the Woodstock Music Festival, widely criticized as a “taxpayer-funded LSD flashback.” My own fiscal resrraint was considered by some Alaska lawmakers too sharp a contrast to the last Republican administration’s lack thereof, and I was warned by lawmakers
not
to shake things up so much. Governor Murkowski was a nice man, but he had spent twenty-two years in D.C. where the budget does nothing grow, so he was just doing what came naturally. Murkowski was so nice, in fact, that he unveiled his last capital budget while donning a Santa Claus hat. I don’t mean figuratively. He put the hat on and signed a budget full of “gifts” for lawmakers. Not that he didn’t trim here and there. He did cancel a senior care program for needy elders who had come to rely on it for their monthly income. Then he turned around and bought the jet. That darn jet. Both the public and the legislature had told Murkowski not to buy it. It was very expensive to operate, and pilots couldn’t land it on gravel sttips, making it practically useless for travel around a lot of Alaska. After I was elected, I listed the thing on eBay and,an agent finally sold it.

I asked my own staff to develop efficiencies and gave them budget-cutting goals. And I didn’t exempt the First Family from’

this. We saved tens of thousands of dollars in our very first year just by discontinuing the perks like fancy meals. (As I would go on

say in my VP nomination acceptance speech, my kids still hold that against me.)

When I was outside Juneau, I accepted the normal meal per diem of$60 but refused the per diem checks

the other six eligible First Family members (including a $100 + check made out to Piper-I handed it back and said, “Piper

eat that much

•

147

•