The Mayor and the Museum

This is going to be a loooong post, but it's good stuff.

I ran across this during one of my random searches:

On this website.

The description reads:

Your guide, Geri McCann worked directly under Sarah Palin as Registrar of the Wasilla City Museum (Dorothy Page Museum) while Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla.

And the caption on the photo:

Mayor Sarah Palin siting with a group of us at the Wasilla-Knik-Willow Creek Historical Society Annual Dinner. Sarah is very supportive of historic preservation with fiscal responsibility.

It looks like the picture was taken in 1998. Anyway, so I googled "Geri McCann" and I found an old story from September of 2008. The lady made some spelling errors. My dad's the same way. He's always asking me how to spell things:
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Earlier this week, I posted some lines from an 11-year-old story about Sarah Palin's budget cuts as mayor of Wasilla and the trio of longtime museum employees who quit rather than slash their budget. (I was largely interested in the bold initiative and willingness to shake up the establishment shown by someone as young as Palin.)

A woman named Geri McCann left a lengthy comment about Palin's leadership.

[The full comment]:

Wasilla Museum - the Truth

For the record SARAH PALIN does appreciate and support historic preservation, culture and the arts, but with fiscal responsibility.

I was hired by Sarah Palin to replace the ‘sweet gray haired’ ladies who chose to all walk out on the Dorothy Page Museum when the $200,000 budget was reduced by $32,000. These ladies chose to walk out instead of exploring other solutions to the budget reduction; like seeking other funds to supplement the budget (as most museums do) or to work part time in order for all of them to stay, instead they chose to make a big scene and political statement by storming out.

Museum budgets get cut all the time, if all museum staff "walked" every time their budgets were cut then most of the museums in the nation would be closed!

The truth is, the museum thrived more with even less funding with our new staff of 2. The issue is fiscal responsibility, the message is — museums need to be good stewards of funds to secure future funding. If we waste it, we risk losing it..

Political statements are great, but walking out on a museum (unnecessarily) that you are responsible for to make a statement, in my opinion is using a museum as a political tool, which is not the purpose or mission of museums. If the health of the museum was the main concern - then revising and reprioritizing the remaining funds would have been the better choice in my opinion. Other options were not explored, - just a stomp out

I can tell you "first hand" that Sarah Palin’, (and the Wasilla City Council's) decision to reduce the museum budget did not in any way put into jeopardy the care of collections,. Our staff worked hard to upgrade and re-energize the museum with new exhibits, community programs and events and all with a reduced budget!! The community loved the changes stating that “new life” (sound familiar) was brought into the museum.

THE TRUTH -- Sarah has a tender heart, and truly cared about those sweet ladies, it hurt her to see the harm caused to them by the cuts. As I recall she sincerely thought one of them might want to retire as they were in their mid - late 70's; yet, she left it up to them to decide the best way to reduce the budget. Cutting one of their positions was not required, only an option. Quitting was their choice as a "solution".

The museum is small with a modest collection and the remaining funds were adequate to care for the collections and maintain museum operations (obviously).

Sarah's budget cuts were done to fulfil her commitment to the City tax payers to reduce the excess budget.

We were able to fulfill the museum's mission with new energy and acquire other sources to expand the budget. The museum has continued to grow and evolve into the museum you see on the website today!

So here is the other side, or are you only interested in finding fault?

- Geri

[end of comment]

I called McCann to double-check her identity before I reprinted the comment. Although she now runs an Alaska tour company, McCann still had plenty to say about Wasilla's former mayor and her former boss. The spirited and longtime Alaska resident says it's been difficult to hear what's been said about Palin since McCain named her to his ticket. "It's so hard to see her chewed up like she is," McCann says. "Alaska's like a big small town...I know her personally. It just hurts."

McCann was hired as Wasilla's museum registrar in October 1997, about two months after the three museum staffers quit. McCann talked about working with a tight budget and concedes her job required some stretching, but she says she was up for it—just like Palin. "That's what she's about—making a silk purse out of a sow's ear," McCann says. "She's got the whole inner fiber. That's how she was raised." The museum began holding community events, and the overall effect seemed to allay the community's fears, she says: "It healed it up. It's like—it's OK. We're not going to hell in a handbasket. We're all right."

Palin's leadership style and spirit is characteristic of other Alaska women who grow up hauling water, making fires, and hunting moose, McCann says. She's frustrated by the rap on Palin's wolf hunting because the wolves stalk residents as they walk their dogs. McCann says she's proud to see her state sending a leader to Washington and thinks Americans will appreciate what they find in Palin. "We're really grounded. She does shop at Wal-Mart, she does drive herself to work. I love that. And that's what America wants. Someone like them," she says.

As for the debate with Joe Biden: "We cannot wait.... She's cool as a cucumber."
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Then I saw that on that article someone had suggested that Geri McCann was related to Palin's sister, Molly McCann. Geri responded:
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FRUSTRATED WITH THE IGNORANCE

FOR THE RECORD:

I am not related to Sarah's sister Molly McCann. (Nice Try)

GADS! SO EASY FOR THE PEOPLE FROM THE "OUT SIDE", (AS WE CALL THE LOWER 48) TO BE OPINIONATED ABOUT WHAT THEY KNOW LITTLE ABOUT, AS THEY SPEAK FROM THE GRAND STANDS WITH OBSCURE VISION.

UGH! IT IS HARD TO TOLERATE ALL OF THIS, AND AS BEFORE I WILL ONCE AGAIN SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT - FOR THOSE WHO THINK THEY KNOW, BUT DON'T KNOW, THAT THEY DON'T KNOW.

I will respond to the rest of your misinformed comments about, budget cuts, ANWR, living with the wolves and bears etc.

These comments are from arm chair critics who shoot comments out like spit balls with no real substance or fact behind them.

BUDGET CUTS.

Sarah did not target our medical programs with her budget cuts, and I don't think that the Medicare, and social security will be on the list either. Probably cuts to funding those nations that don't like us and are a threat to us. Plus - I would say dealing with illegal aliens, mismanaged organizations, unethical use of funding. etc.

I just came back from a visit to Southern California, (my home state)- I moved to Alaska 35 yrs ago and every time I go and visit I am reminded why I left the day after graduating high school. Cement, smog, overspending, high taxes. FUN, FUN, FUN, is the motto, amusement parks, malls, everywhere. Nice to visit, nice to come back home to reality, no state taxes, and plus a nice yearly dividend check from our oil revenues. $2,000 this year, plus a nice $1,200 energy relief check - thanks to Sarah! Do you know each Alaskan resident, even children get these checks?

Why don't you all come down on California FOR cementing and polluting the "wilderness" and disturbing the eco system?? God help the wild life, who venture into the city due to hunger, they shoot them as soon as look at them, AND THAT IS OK? - WHAT THE HECK??

But God help us in Alaska if we are surrounded by packs of wolves, and mauled by bears in the CITIES, LIKE Anchorage, (or as I call it "Los Anchorage"). WE WANT TO REDUCE THE NUMBERS IN THE POPULATED AREAS - SO THEY WE DON'T BECOME PART OF THE FOOD CHAIN AS WE WALK DOWN CITY STREETS!

WE ARE NOT TALKING REMOTE WILDERNESS HERE GUYS. THE WOLVES HAVE MORE TO EAT OUT IN THE BUSH, BUT NEAR THE CITIES, FOOD SOURCES ARE SCARCE. WHEN WE SEE MOOSE BEING ATTACKED BY BEARS IN OUR BACK YARD - IT IS A BIT FRIGHTENING. WHEN WE CHAIN OUR DOGS OUT IN OUR BACK YARDS - TO BECOME DINNER FOR A PACK OF WOLVES. AS WE WALK OUR DOGS - TO BE SURROUNDED BY A PACK OF WOLVES WHO ALSO ARE DROOLING AT US TOO!

COME ON UP AND TAKE A WALK IN THE PARK WITH ME! BRING YOUR GUN OR BEAR SPRAY LIKE I DO.

God Help us if we want to drill and access huge oil fields on the North Slope, that is flat tundra with primarily only caribou and arctic fox, with some owls and mice; just leaving a small foot print with minimal disturbance to the wild life or eco system.

Thank you Bill Clinton for the VETO that stopped the ANWR drilling, we are now suffering the gas prices and dependence on foreign oil, not to mention lost jobs.

I am so sorry about my attitude here, but this is so irritating!!!

CLEAN UP YOUR OWN BACKYARD. IF YOU WANT TO CLEAN UP ALASKA, COME ON UP AND LIVE HERE WITH US, AND EXPERIENCE WHAT WE DEAL WITH, OR KEEP THE PEANUT GALLERY COMMENTS TO YOURSELF.

FACTS -- SARAH IS THE REAL DEAL, SHE TELLS THE TRUTH, SHE HAS BEEN WRONGFULLY TARGETED, SHE WILL HELP ARMERICA WITH HER GOOD OLE FASHIONED COMMON SENSE APPROACH THAT THE POLITITIANS SOME HOW HAVE LOST AS THEY CONTINUE TO MESS THINGS UP.

GIVE HER A CHANCE AND SEE IF SHE CAN HELP AMERICA LIKE SHE HELPED ALASKA.

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT PRETTY AND SMART CAN COME IN THE SAME PACKAGE. WHY IS EVERY ONE SO THREATENED BY HER?? MAYBE SHE WIL COME IN AND ROCK THE BOAT AND DUMP OUT THE EXCESS AND GET THE BOAT FLOATING AND BACK ON COURSE. WHY IS THAT SO SCARY? ONLY TO THE CORRUPT IT IS SCARY.

FRUSTRATED WITH THE INGNORANCE

GERI (October 31, 2008)
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Whoa. I'm tellin' ya, don't mess with them Alaskan women. They're liable to skin you alive and then shoot you.

Geri also posted some comments here. Good back and forth among the commentors (someone even brought up the book-banning thing), but I'm only posting Geri's because they're relevant to this post. Some of it is repeat:
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I am the curator hired by Sarah Palin to replace the ‘sweet gray haired’ ladies who chose to all walk out on the Dorothy Page Museum. They worked hard for years to establish the museum, and I honor all their heart felt efforts to establish the museum. I in no way want to diminish this, but I have to tell you the truth. The ladies could have written grants to supplement the budget , or worked part time in order for all of them to stay, but instead chose to make a big scene and political statement by walking out.

At the time I was hired to step in and manage the “abandoned” museum I found the collections neglected, documentation out-dated and incomplete, and the exhibits dirty and in disarray (much like an antique store). So where did the $200,000 per year go? It did not take a rocket scientist to see that the city funding was not being used to its fullest capacity or prioritized for collections care.

I had my work cut out for me, to say the least, and I certainly did not receive offers of help from them. I walked into a big mess, not only the museum, but the City as well. It was like a hornets nest and I took some hard stings for stepping up to the plate to care for the museum — (so much for concern for the collections).

I can tell you “first hand” that Sarah Palin’, (and the Wasilla City Council’s) decision to reduce the museum budget did not in any way put into jeopardy the care of collections, (I assume this is your main concern here). If you conducted your history research in the same professional “unbiased” fashion you do on other subjects, and were more thorough — you would have discovered that the size of the museum and collections were small and no other state or federal sources of funding were sought for years, leaving total dependence on the City of Wasilla tax payers. If you would have looked into the news paper articles in the following months you would have found positive articles about what was being accomplished in the museum.

My aide and I hit the bricks running; cleaning the collections, labeling and reorganizing the collections into themed exhibits. We worked hard to bridge the gap between the City and the community, and organized a new “Wasilla Community Christmas Celebration” that included the local schools with art, history, and orchestras, and choirs.

We developed educational programs, outreach programs, and produced a Gold Rush Centennial Exhibit at the Alaska State Fair, and all with a reduced budget!! The community loved the changes stating that “new life” (sound familiar) was brought into the museum. Teachers expressed gratitude for the new exhibits and programs....

[Sarah's] intent in cutting the budget was to fulfill her commitment to the City tax payers not to hurt historic preservation. She cared about the museum and hired me because of my museum experience, enthusiastic energy, and passion for historic preservation. She wanted the history of the Wasilla preserved, but with fiscal responsibility.

She passed the museum on to responsible, capable hands. I was able to fulfill her vision, and set the museum in a new direction. The museum has continued to grow and evolve into the museum you see on the website today. !!

FYI - I had to resign for family reasons, and Sarah wrote a beautiful letter of appreciation for my efforts....

FACTS–

Sarah is a wonderful person with a BEAUTIFUL family. She is sincere, honest, hard working, and will keep her word to serve her constituents....

After re-reading my note, I want to clarify some things – The “mess” in the City I was referring to was the attacks on Sarah from the media, her opponents, and some of the City employees. I was caught in the fray due to being hired as part of her process of reorganizing and cleaning things up in the City, and there were loyalties to the museum ladies.

I in no way meant this as a negative reflection on Sarah or the City Manager. I hold them both in highest regards.

Also I did not mean to portray that the museum was a total shambles. The ladies had worked hard for years and gave their all, but with age they slowed down and were not able to keep up with it as well. It just needed to be upgraded and updated to meet current standards. I did not mean to taint their efforts but to clarify the museum needed to be improved.

I am very tired of all the attacks on Sarah and her children. So am a bit deffensive and protective when facts are distorted.

Please be careful — there are real live hearts here. We hurt with her when people attack her. My daughter went to preschool with her daughter, so it hits close to home....

Political statements are great, but walking out on a city museum (unnecessarily) that you are responsible for to make a statement, in my opinion is using a museum as a political tool, which is not the purpose or mission of museums....To say this museum suffered from the cuts is not accurate – to say the museum thrived more with even less funding — is accurate.

The issue is fiscal responsibility, the message is — museums need to be good stewards of funds to secure future funding. If we waste it, we risk losing it....

AS FOR THE WOLVES:

...In 1990 we had 28 ft. of snow and the moose were slaughtered by the trains and on the roads by cars as they came down from the high country to walk on these easier “trails“. They also grew weak in the wilderness struggling for survival trudging through deep snow, some being stuck up to their neck unable to move.

I would ski on wilderness trails and come across many moose who just laid down and died. It was tragic and broke our hearts to see this. That spring the predators had an abundance of moose carcasses to eat and so their population grew strong while the struggling moose population grew weaker. The results of this natural ‘disaster” for moose has now reduced the moose numbers far below the norm. Now there is not enough food for the wolves and bears to eat and they are coming after us and our pets.

FACTS:

Last winter people were being stalked by packs of wolves while they walked their dogs, and the dogs were attacked and snatched away as horrified pet owners watched their beloved pets killed and eaten. People would put their dogs out on a chain in their yard only to find them gone with only a colar and blood stains on the ground. This has never happened before, and took place in the municipality of Anchorage, the largest and most modern city in Alaska with a 280,000 population!! YIKES!!

Recreational trails were shut down for dog walkers protection, and people warned not to leave their pets outsied on dog chains.

We have had record numbers of bear maulings even on local Anchorage recreation trails and even one during a big bike race. A girl was mauled just off the porch of a big lodge, and saved by a brave tourist who confronted the bear! One jogger actually took on the bear and had a fist fight with it and drove it away after being badly injured by the bear. Bears are breaking inside peoples houses in residential districts and infiltrating the most densely populated areas of the City of Anchorage, not to mention smaller towns as well. The predator numbers are drastically out of control.

I can not tell you how hard it is for us who live here in Alaska and personally deal with the wolves and bears attacking and killing us, and our dogs, to hear these false statements! Would you like to take a walk in the Alaska wilderness with me and risk being attacked by a bear or wolves? Do you know this is happening because they don’t have enough to eat and they are moving into suburban areas looking for tasty pets? This was not included in that ‘report”.

Drastic conditions require drastic measures sometimes. It is not just for the sake of the moose and caribou any more, it is for safety of people and pets, like the children in the villages that are being drug off by wolf packs, and people being chased and bitten by wolves along the highway! PLEASE – we are not a bunch of ignorant Daniel Boons up here, and Sarah is not a Mrs. Boon!

The fact is wolf and bear attacks are up and steadily growing, moose numbers are down, and dropping.

Here is a quote factual book - “Wolves are specialist when it comes to killing moose caribou and Dahl sheep. Simple math shows that a pack of ten wolves requires 120 moose or 360 caribou and sheep annually to sustain life”. From “Hunting the Hunters” – page 140. Rick Kinmon Northern Publishing .

So do the math how many moose and caribou does it take to feed our 7,000 to 11,000 wolves a year with about 10 or so per pack? How much longer can this go on? Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game are entrusted with responsible game management. Sarah is responding to the cries of Alaskans to bring reasonable balance back for our safety as well as the moose and caribou populations.

The “balance of nature” is out of whack. As David Johnson a retired wildlife biologist stated “Alaska is poorer today for having failed to appropriately manage wolves in my yesterdays gone by” Now we have some what of an epidemic that is escalating every year.

Have you seen how wolves kill for sport and leave the meat to spoil? No one wants to see beautiful wolves and bears killed this way, but something must be done to assist in bringing back the balance of nature.

To Pat Cox - When did censorship come into this? I gather you are implying Sarah is into censorship? On what FACTS do you base this inference? Do you have proof that Sarah actually censored books in the library?

I know some one has “said” that she looked into it. I have heard it was at the request of a constituent who was concerned about the content in some library books. I was working at the Museum (next door to the library) at this time. If I remember correctly, nothing ever came of it.
Soooo — why are you inferring that Sarah would censor books? On what basis and FACTS do you base your statement: “I can tell you that people like Sarah Palin are frightening. They foist their beliefs and opinions on others and feel righteous in doing anything they deem necessary to advance their opinions”.

Is this a fictional or non-fictional statement? What are your references to prove this is true? Any quotes from her, or rules she imposed on the Librarian? Any minutes from council meetings?....

I know it not to be true from first hand knowledge of who Sarah is as a person. PLEASE, PLEASE, lets be careful not to enter into slander here. Sarah is not anything close to a Nazi! Don’t stoop to this level and participate in slinging rumors for the purpose of ‘EXPOSING SARAH....."

Sarah is not just another politician to us Alaskans, she is one of us. She represents 80% of Alaskans. We love her and support her. She is our Alaskan Sister being thrown to the wolves and it hurts to see the injustice.

We have watched other politicians go through this for years, but now it hits close to home, and we feel her pain and suffer with her.

Alaska is like a big small town. Hard to explain to the metropolis society who don’t know their neighbor's names.

She is tuff, but she has a heart and is human. The vampire press is up here looking for her blood.