Mayor Palin Leaves Wasilla

After she had served 6 years as mayor of Wasilla, what was Sarah Palin going to do? She tried to run for lieutenant governor of Alaska, but lost. Then a U.S. Senate seat opened up for which she was on the short list, and had expressed interest in. But she didn't get it; in December 2002, after the Governor appointed his daughter to the seat over former mayor Palin she said, according to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:

"It took me about seven seconds to get over my disappointment," Palin said from her Wasilla home. "I mean, look at where we live and look at where I'm able to raise my family -- there's so many things to do that are positive." Where she lives played a big role in other decisions Palin has made this week. In her conversation with the governor, Palin said he asked her whether she had her eye on any commissioner jobs that were still open. She said she asked if he was requiring commissioners to live in Juneau, and the governor said he was. Palin said she turned the commissioner positions down, preferring instead to live in Wasilla. "You weigh a lifestyle in Juneau and a lifestyle in the Valley and, hands down, the Valley is a better place to raise my kids," Palin said. She added that the position of lieutenant governor or U.S. Senator were worth the sacrifice of leaving the home she loves, but not a commissioner position.

But she changed her mind two months later when she accepted an appointment as a commissioner to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission with a salary of $110,000. Its responsibilities include regulating drilling and production of oil and gas to ensure that physical waste does not occur, protecting rights of mineral interest owners and ensuring greater ultimate resource recovery. Palin's husband, Todd, works on the North Slope as a production operator for British Petroleum. In taking the position she was excited that her service on the board may help her relationship with Todd: "Maybe by the time this is all through, I can have an intelligent conversation with my husband about work," Palin said. She quit less than a year later.