Legal Commentary

When toting up Palin's credentials, do not omit her experience as chair and ethics officer of the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission

By Beldar

I'm cross-posting here, with only slight revisions, a comment that I've left on a post from James Joyner at Outside the Beltway entitled Experience: Obama v. Palin.

---------------

Dr. Joyner: You, like most others who are only starting to look at Gov. Palin's credentials, have omitted her time as the chair and ethics officer of the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (the state agency which regulates oil and gas), which followed an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in 2002 (in which she came in a close second in the GOP primary, losing by only a few hundred votes).

I'm not going to argue that the run for lieutenant governor is, on its own, a great credential. Contrary to those who argue that Barack Obama's qualifications to be president are proved by his success in the Democratic primary, I think the most one can say about experience in political campaigns is that they tend to make you a better candidate.

But Gov. Palin's service on the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission is significant. First, it marks the beginning of what's become a very in-depth exposure to the intersection between government and the energy industry. Alaskans in general tend to be more attentive to energy issues because so much of their state's economy and their state government's budget depend on that industry. But Palin has been focused heavily on energy more or less continually since 2004 ? a claim that neither Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or (for that matter) John McCain can make.

Second, although she'd been a reformer and opponent of government corruption/favoritism since her time as a Wasilla city councilman and then mayor, she significantly expanded those credentials ? at enormous potential political risk ? in her capacity as the Commisson's ethics officer.

Full post as published by BeldarBlog on September 01, 2008 (boomark / email).