Norman -- I appreciate your adding a note of caution to this story. Personally, I think Palin is a nightmare as a VP selection

The comment I just tried to post was truncated. What I was trying to say was that we should be cautious because there is so far no clear evidence that Palin tried to ban anything or that the request for resignation was linked to the banning discussion.

I frankly think, that the amount of psychotic blogging in the past few days is appalling. We are seeing an unprecedented smear campaign orchestrated by the like of the Daily Kos on behalf of the Obama campaign and that is what really should scare people. Palin was inundated with requests from some local citizens about removing some books which were unsuitable for children or putting them in a section controlled by the librarian. Palin simply asked about the issue in open forum responding to citizen requests like a mayor is supposed to do. It seems by all records that the library response was to immediately be combative and defensive which is what led to further problems. Palin never actually took further steps to ban books. On the contrary, if you in fact love the free expression of views in all forms, then why is it that Obama seeks to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine of censorship and ban other books from school libraries which take contrary views to his? First we heard that she really didn't have a baby and that she was covering for her daughter....then we were told by the same left wing zealots that she had an affair with her husband's business partner, then we told she was a member of a secessionist movement...the lies continue, so be careful how far you're willing to run with them.

That comment by "Jessica" contains information new to my knowledge. She talked about an "open forum" and about how the "the library response was to immediately be combative and defensive which is what led to further problems." As I said when this story first broke a week ago, "Sarah Palin Outed by Library on Rhetorical Question About Censorship; An Investigation of Library's Action May Be Warranted." Jessica, can you get reliable sources for your statements? See my blog post at safelibraries.blogspot.com/2008/08/sarah-palin-outed-by-library-on.html

Both of these political parties and their candidates are at it again - slinging mud. After the election and campaign rhetoric is forgotten, you'll see that there is not a dimes worth of difference between these two parties. Both will bring you militarism and continue us down the same wrong path. This is the 9th 'election' that I've experienced. DC is indeed broken - the two major parties are responsible and neither should be in power. That Alaskan party that wants independence just might have the right idea :-)

I find it wise that the reporter of this piece has exercised caution. I found this article because someone forwarded something tome claiming Palin not only had tried to ban books, but listed which books she tried to ban. It also said she tried to have the librarian fired. I suspect that I will not agree with a lot of Palin's politics, but I want the truth, not lies and misinformation.

The "list of books" is bogus. It appears someone grabbed a generic list of books with censorship issues in the US and it spread across some blog posts. However the rest of the story is backed up by the Wassilla newspaper. All from long before the presidential race and clear of presidential-race-bias or "smear campaign". It's an old issue that took on greatly enlarged notice and importance with the presidential race. Just because the stories about Obama bing a Muslim were totally false does not make all negative stories about Obama false. Just because stories about Trig not being Palin's baby are false does not make all negative stories about Palin false. All reported long before this presidential situation... Palin asked the librarian three times about removing books. Three times the librarian answered with the equivilant of "hell no". And then Palin issues a termination letter to the librarian. No books were actually removed, and it is "mere conclusion" that the termination was connected to the refusal to remove books, and the termination was rescinded after public outrage supporting the librarian. Someone can certainly defend removing offensive books as a good thing, someone can certainly say no harm no foul as no books were removed, but it is baseless partisan bias to label the whole thing as fiction or mere partisan smear.

The part about having the librian fired appears to be true: Anchorage Daily News DEC 1997: Oops html is not allowed here summarized here hatthief.blogspot.com/2008/08/vetting-sarah-palin-irl-stambaugh-walt.html and here andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/another-dubious.html A recall of Mayor Sarah Palin is off the table, at least for now, according to a group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Wasilla. The group of about 60 residents was formed Friday in response to Palin's controversial firing of Police Chief Irl Stambaugh. Members say they're concerned about the direction taken by Palin since her election last fall, and discussed a recall. Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin fired the city's police chief and the library director without warning Thursday, accusing them of not fully supporting her efforts to govern. Irl Stambaugh and Mary Ellen Emmons said letters signed by Palin were dropped on their desks Thursday afternoon telling them their jobs were over as of Feb. 13 and that they no longer needed to report to work. Emmons has been the city's library director for seven years. Stambaugh has headed the police department since it was created in 1993. Before that, he served 22 years with the Anchorage Police Department rising to the rank of captain before retiring. While both struggled with Palin when she was first elected in October, they said the letters caught them off guard. Both had publicly supported Palin's opponent, long-time mayor John Stein, during the campaign last fall. When she was elected, Palin questioned their loyalty and even initially asked for their resignations. But both said Thursday that they thought things had been worked out. ''After the initial roller coaster, we were ready to work for Mayor Palin,'' Emmons said. ''Unfortunately I think we were both fired for politics.'' Stambaugh's response was to read part of the letter given to him. ''Although I appreciate your service as police chief, I've decided it's time for a change. I do not feel I have your full support in my efforts to govern the city of Wasilla. Therefore I intend to terminate your employment. . . . '' ''If that's not a letter of termination, I don't know what is,'' he said. Singleton said that under state law, police chiefs serve at the behest of the mayor unless otherwise specified by city ordinance. Stein, the former mayor, had worked out an agreement with Stambaugh forbidding termination without cause, but the city council never voted on it, Singleton ruled.

More on the firings. The NYT has confirmed that the author is a real resident of Wasillia "hile Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

I've been watching this issue since it surfaced last week and am glad to see the library community engaged it in also. Here are my feelings: If Ms. Palin even considered censoring the library she is unfit to govern in the United States. From the things I've read, I've come to believe that she was trying to force her beliefs on the citizens of Wasilla and truely wanted books removed. Anne Killkenny and Charlotte Glover have both stated that these allegations are true. Someone named Lucy posted on Librarians Against Palin that the reason for very few in the know actually speaking up is that Palin is still Govenor and controls the purse strings. END OF PART 1

PART 2 I shudder to think that Palin, if elected, could have influence over federal spending for libraries and make censorship & book banning a mainstream concept. "Farenheit 451", anyone? For these reasons I am a librarian against Palin.

Thanks Norman for hunting down the information and posting it here. We need some reason right now, not this out of whack feeding frenzy. Yes, some hard questions need to be asked.