Going Rogue: An American Life (71 page)

“I’m just one of many moms who’ll sayan extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm’s way.” When a wild round of applause for the U.S. military died down, I introduced Todd and the’ rest of our family, making special mention of Trig and all children with special needs who inspire a special love.

“To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will· have a friend and advocate in the White House.”

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SARAH

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America needs more energy … our opponenr is againsr pro
during jt

SARAH

PALIN

Mrs.

McCain, ro join him onstage. As I headed down the

stairs roward the stage area my high-heel shoe fell off!
Great,
I rhought, figuring the media caught my first stumble! But if they did, they didn’t broadcast ir around the world, bless their hearts. 7

During the convenrion, yet another srory started bubbling in the press.
It
was about the state troopers and

Monegan. The

srory would eventually achieve proper-noun status: Troopergate, or as those who knew the facts called it: Tasergate. I was heartened ro see that by September 4, the last day of the convention,
Investor’s Business Daily
had already seen the handwriting on the wall. An un-bylined op-ed on the edirorial page said this: Palin’s political enemies have a stink bomb set ro go off late in Ocrober, just before the election. That’s when voters will see fruits ofa legislative investigation inro the charge that the governor fired Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan because he wouldn’t get rid of Mike Wooten, a state trooper and Palin’s ex-brother-in-law.

We can see where this is headed. Palin will be found ro have done nothing illegal in firing Monegan, since public safety commissioners serve ar rhe governor’s pleasure. Bur rhe media will frame this case in vague bur sinister terms: Think “abuse of power.”
It
will also bury the back srory that explains why Palin was so concerned.

The op-ed then laid out rhe key facts: the trooper’s marriages and divorces (by this time, there were four); his threar that my 1

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Going Rogue

behavior, including hunring wild game illegally-a big deal in Alaska, where people erhically harvesr game ro ear.
IBD
also noted the finding of Alaska State Trooper Director Colonel Julia Grimes that the trooper’s actions demonstrated “a serious and concentrated pattern of unacceptable and at times, illegal activity occurring over a lengthy period, which establishes a course of conduct totally at odds with the ethics of our profession:’ She also warned him,
IBD

noted, that he would be fitedif he didn’t shape up. Now ask youtself this: If you were Sarah Palin and had such a revealing look at Wooten, would you have wanted him on the force? Palin was acting as any concerned citizen should after a close encounrer with an unfit cop. If thete’s abuse of power in this story, it lies on the side of buteaucrats and unions protecting officers whose behavior makes them a danger to the public.

In 444 words, the
IBD
editorial board had explained the essence and the evenrual outcome of a case on which the State of Alaska would spend half a million taxpayer dollars and the mainstream media would spill unrold gallons of ink. It would have saved everyone a lot of time if they’d just read
IBD
and moved on. But unfortunately, no election cycle is complete without the throbbing drumbeat of scandal to distract voters from the
issues-even if politicos have to gin one up.

As we hit the road, three of the campaign staffers I’d met during convention week would become friends. Jason Recher, a special assistanr to Presidenr Bush, took leave from the White House and joined us a couple of days in. A dyed-in-the-wool New Englander ftom an Irish Catholic family, Jason, twenry-nine, had two choices •

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PALIN

while growing up in New Hampshire: sports or politics. He chose politics, but I didn’t hold that against him. He had shined as a volunteer during the 2000 primary and become a permanent member of the Bush team at age nineteen. Jason was a calming presence on rhe rrail and was very kind to our kids. Jeannie Erchart, one of the trip coordinarors, was a beautiful, soft-spoken young lady ftom Minnesota. We wore the same size clothes, and as the weeks went on she would keep loaning me her black Theory pants rhar she’d boughr four years earlier. I kept relling her to find a duplicate pair on the Internet and I would order them for her because I was wearing hers out. My daughters instanrly loved Jeannie’s sense of style and enjoyed hanging out with her and another of the assistants, Bexie Nobles. A quiet countty gal from Texas, Bexie was titeless and great at anticipating what we’d need next on the rrail. I don’t think she slept. It was pretty comical the first time I met her. I walked into the Hilton suite, and there was this young woman I’d never seen before kneeling on the
loor packing my suitcase. She looked up and smiled.p>

“Hi, my name is Bexie,” she said in her Texas rwang as she tucked in a stack of my Tshirts. ‘T11 be assisting you, and I’ll be doin’ this from now on.”

“Hi!” I said. “It’s Betsy?”

“No … but you can
caft
me Betsy.” She was that accommodating;

Jason, Jeannie, and Bexie were there ar one of our first campaign stops after the convention, a stop I’ll never forget. It was at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The town was a slice of Americana,
with its quaint town square with mom-and-pop stores; red, white,
and blue bunting; moms and dads; kids in strollers; seniors; and people of every color. I was astonished at the number of people who had come out. These people were there when they could have

Going Rogue

been somewhere else; they were there because they wanted to be involved.

Maybe it seems kind of sentimentally patriotic, but the scene stirred in me a great appreciation for the American system of democracy that stretches all the way back to 1776: regular people from all walks of life turning Our peacefully to hear which candidates have the best ideas, then going on election day to the courthouse at a local school or a firehouse to cast a ballot. Simply beautiful.