On Wednesday, September 3, I accidentally broke a listserv rule when I posted this statement:
From the People for the American Way (I've found three other sources to back this up in news archives)
People For Response to Revelations of Palin’s Attempted Book Banning
Time Magazine today reports that Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin attempted to ban books from her local library as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and then threatened to fire the librarian who stood up to her for not giving “full support” to the mayor. People For the American Way president Kathryn Kolbert issued the following statement:
“People can disagree about a lot of things, but censorship is completely beyond the pale. Our democracy was founded on the belief that government shouldn’t tell people what kinds of books to read or what kind of beliefs to hold. No one with that kind of history should be anywhere near the White House. Sarah Palin needs to clarify her stance on freedom of speech immediately, and John McCain needs to explain why he chose a running mate with so little regard for the Constitution.”
Rather than cause further frustration on that list, I promised to post updates here on my blog. I was concerned by the concept of censored expression at first, but it's probably better to post here, in the long run.
The three sources I sited that supported the post are these:
Time Magazine
Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.
New York Times
Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.
Anchorage Daily News
February 1997
(pay per view, but I did pay to r eview this article)
Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin fired the city's police chief and the library director without warning Thursday, accusing them of not fully supporting her efforts to govern. Irl Stambaugh and Mary Ellen Emmons said letters signed by Palin were dropped on their desks Thursday afternoon telling them their jobs were over as of Feb. 13 and that they no longer needed to report to work. Emmons has been the city's library director for seven years. Stambaugh has headed the police department since it was created in 1993. Before that, he served 22 years with the Anchorage Police Department rising to the rank of captain before retiring. While both struggled with Palin when she was first elected in October, they said the letters caught them off guard.
Anchorage Daily News
February 1997
(a second pay per view article)
City librarian Mary Ellen Emmons will stay, but Police Chief Irl Stambaugh is on his own, Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin announced Friday. The decision came one day after letters signed by Palin were dropped on Stambaugh's and Emmon's desks, telling them their jobs were over as of Feb. 13.
The mayor told them she appreciated their service but felt it was time for a change. ''I do not feel I have your full support in my efforts to govern the city of Wasilla. Therefore I intend to terminate your employment ...'' the letter said.
Palin said Friday she no w feels Emmons supports her but does not feel the same about Stambaugh. As to what prompted the change, Palin said she now has Emmons' assurance that she is behind her. She refused to give details about how Stambaugh has not supported her, saying only that ''You know in your heart when someone is supportive of you.''Emmons, who has been the city's library director for seven years, would not comment about the affair.
These are only allegations, and while I've tried to track down a list of supposedly offending titles, I have been unsuccessful. One list was circulated but included Harry Potter titles not yet published in February of 1997. I will keep searching for information but unless I find three reliable sources supporting the "facts" I won't post about it here. I studied journalism. Trying to be accurate matters to me, though we all come up short from time to time.
I did find a new report in today's New York Times that offers one possible explanation. I'll post it next.
Many thanks to the authors, editors and other book professionals who supported me. And my apologies to anyone I upset.
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