2000: Wasilla Mayor Hires Federal Lobbyist to Represent Town

Early in her second term as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (see January 2000 - 2002), Sarah Palin hires a lobbyist, Steven W. Silver of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh. The decision to hire a lobbyist is unprecedented in the history of the town. Silver secures $26.9 million in federal funds for Wasilla, though Palin campaigned against “wasteful government spending” in her runs for mayor, and as a state and national figure will campaign against “federal earmarks” and such spending. Silver is a close political ally of US Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK). Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense will later say: “She certainly wasn’t shy about putting the old-boy network to use to bring home millions of dollars. She’s a little more savvy to the ways of Washington than she’s let on.” [Washington Post, 9/2/2008]