KOTZEBUE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin returned to the spotlight Tuesday with an appearance in a remote Arctic village where she stood by her decision to resign.
Palin signed a bill in this small town 30 miles north of the Arctic circle that is intended to bolster law enforcement in Alaska villages. She was greeted with cheers by about 300 people and briefly took the floor to dance to the beat of Inupiat Eskimo drummers. Many lingered to get their pictures taken with her.
In an interview, Palin defended her decision to step down after a year in which she has been bombarded with a series of ethics complaints and public-records requests that have cost the state nearly $2 million to investigate, according to a tally provided by the governor’s office Tuesday.
“You would be amazed at how much time and resource my staff and I, the Department of Law especially, spend on this every day,” she said. “It is a waste. We are spending these millions of dollars not on teachers and troopers and roads or fish research and other things that are needed in Alaska.”
She has not said what she will do next, but a book deal is in the works. When asked whether she will run for president, Palin responded, “That’s certainly not within my immediate plans.”
Palin’s resignation has set up a free-for-all for her job. Nearly a dozen people have filed letters of intent to run in 2010.
