ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin routinely notes her husband’s Yup’ik Eskimo roots. But those connections haven’t erased doubts about her in a community long slighted by the white settlers who flocked to Alaska and dominate its government.
Since she took office in 2006, many Alaska Natives say they’ve felt ignored when she made appointments to her administration, sided with sporting interests over Native hunting rights and pursued a lawsuit that Natives say seeks to undermine their ancient traditions. Increased pressures from sport hunting and fishing as well as oil and mining have eroded native hunting lands.
Alaska’s population today is mostly white but nearly a fifth of its people are Native Americans – primarily Alaska Natives. Blacks and Asians combined make up less than 10 percent of the state’s population.
When Palin this summer fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, a Native, she replaced him with a non-Native. His successor resigned after 10 days on the job, when a previously undisclosed reprimand that stemmed from a sexual harassment claim against him came to light.
The Monegan firing is the subject of two state investigations. Palin is accused of firing Monegan because he refused to fire her sister’s former husband, a state trooper.
Two weeks after she was tapped as John McCain’s running mate, Palin named a Native to Monegan’s old position.
Alaska Natives tend to lean Democrat. Many prominent Native leaders have endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president.