Palin departing office amid biting criticism

ANCHORAGE — In Alaska, wildlife metaphors tend to be as abundant as their flesh-and-blood counterparts, and Republican Gov. Sarah Palin has helped herself to them in explaining why she's stepping down today, barely halfway through her term.

She didn't want the state to be stuck with a "lame-duck" chief executive, she said. She could hang around the Statehouse and go with the flow, she allowed, but "only dead fish go with the flow."

Palin's departure — she'll hand over power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell at a picnic in Fairbanks — has confused many Alaskans. And state legislators are scrambling to convene a special session to recover $28.6 million in federal energy funds Palin rejected as one of her parting salutes to independence from Washington, D.C.

A year ago she was Alaska's youngest governor, riding a nearly unprecedented wave of popularity. She gained national fame — and to some infamy — after embarking on a vice-presidential bid on the John McCain ticket. But Palin has weathered stinging criticism across Alaska since her July 3 resignation announcement.

"In a democracy, politicians ask for the voters' trust. To violate that trust by quitting in midstream suggests that for Palin, the voters — and more broadly, the citizens of Alaska — simply don't count," University of Alaska history professor Steve Haycox wrote Friday in the Anchorage Daily News.

She leaves office with her political future clouded by ethics probes, mounting legal bills and dwindling popularity. A new Washington Post-ABC poll puts her favorability rating at 40 percent, with 53 percent giving her an unfavorable rating.

Palin has said little about any major moves but has hinted she has a bigger role in mind. She is scheduled to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California and has said she plans to write a book.

Supporters are struggling to improve on Palin's explanations: frustration over unfounded ethics complaints and a desire to "effect change" from outside government were part of her somewhat disjointed announcement, along with the desire not to be a lame duck or dead fish. Critics see her early departure as a bid to marshal money and connections for a future run for higher office.

"I think it's 100 percent clear that the governor's interested in national politics," said Democratic state Rep. Les Gara. "Half the press releases she issued this year had to do with federal issues, not state issues, and I'm assuming if she thinks she has a chance to run for president, that's what she's hoping for."

Indeed, she has vowed to resurrect her early crusader image on a national stage, even as she complains of "frivolous" ethics complaints and legal bills. "I'm not leaving the governorship because of any particular ethics complaint. Rather, I have explained that the millions of dollars spent by the state and the diversion of resources to address politically inspired records requests, personnel board costs and wasting staff time is unnecessary and harmful to the state," Palin said in written comments to The Washington Post.

"I will take the battle nationally and I won't shy away from challenging the powerful, the entrenched, the corrupt and anyone standing in the way of getting our country back on the right track."

Palin, 45, sees state ethics reform as her legacy. "We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions," she wrote on her Web site.

Yet as she steps down, she and her lawyer are demanding that whistle-blowers be sanctioned for sharing details of pending investigations of her conduct. Last week, her attorney threatened to sue whistle-blowers for violating secrecy laws, and Parnell asked the state's attorney general to take steps to "prevent leaks" in ethics investigations.

Many complaints against Palin have been dismissed, a few are pending and several resulted in critical findings. But with accusations swirling in the blogosphere, some observers said the ethics issues will continue to dog Palin.

"You can't be a crusader immune from the slings and arrows of the fight, and then cite those attacks as justification for surrendering an elected office," said Paul Erickson, a GOP presidential strategist. "If she thought it was tough in Juneau with a bunch of petty, harassing complaints, then she has no idea what awaits a serious presidential contender."

Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton disputed that Palin is running for president or has media deals lined up. "I cannot express enough there is no plan after July 26. There is absolutely no plan," she said this month.

On Saturday, Palin attended the second of three picnics she is hosting as she leaves office. She spoke briefly to the crowd of several thousand in an Anchorage park, saying she and Parnell would be "literally serving you, which is our honor." She, Parnell and other officials served free hot dogs and hamburgers.

Her biggest legacy may be putting Alaska on the national stage, said Larry Persily, a former journalist and Palin staffer. "Before if you played a word game and someone said 'Alaska,' you might say 'oil' or even 'whales,' " he said. "Now you say 'Alaska': Palin."

Material from The Washington Post and The Associated Press is included in this report.