Palin's emails: Work, disdain for the press -- and a haircut
With reporters coast-to-coast now frantically searching through 24,000 of Sarah Palin's emails from when she was Alaska governor, here's what we've seen so far: A governor who doesn't particularly like the press, who is engaged in energy issues facing her state and who is extremely hands-on in the day-to-day business of the office.
There have been a couple mentions of "troopergate," but nothing new or unusual. There have been a few emails that, unsurprisingly, make clear her disdain for the media and her surprise at voluminous requests for information. In one, she apologizes to her staff for having to deal with reporters. In another email to staff, she implies she had a contentious relationship with Alaska Congressman Don Young. Most them, also unsurprisingly, are on her daily work as governor: her schedules, the pressing issues facing Alaska, her correspondence--including an exchange with then-Vice President Dick Cheney over an oil pipeline.
Palin emails released from time as governor
But if we're looking at these emails to tell us something new/different/interesting about Sarah Palin (in other words newsworthy), here's my favorite in the tiny fraction of the exchanges we've seen so far. It's an email she sent on Sept 10, 2008--exactly one week after she electrified the crowd with her speech at the Republican National Convention.
It's interesting in light of the subsequent stories about Palin's wardrobe, her shopping sprees, etc. (which she blamed on John McCain's staff). Here she is, the new vice presidential nominee, asking the name of the "barber" who will be cutting her hair in Anchorage:
In an email to aides, Palin asks:
"Do u remember who the barber is who's going to trim my hair?"
And this was the response:
"Governor-- His name is Speedy. His barbershop is in the Capt. Cook Hotel."
