Vote for Palin who supported Pebble Project

Palin has come into criticism recently for using her post as governor to influence a ballot initiative on clean water, which voters also rejected last week. "Proposition 4" would have prohibited or restricted new mining operations that could affect salmon in the state's streams and rivers, and was crafted in order to prevent the development of the Pebble Mine, which if approved would be the largest open-pit gold and copper mine in North America. Toxic runoff from the mine would threaten the Bristol Bay ecosystem, and put drinking water at risk. It is widely opposed by commercial fishers, native populations, and environmentalists in the state. While state regulatory agencies will get the final say on granting permits for the mine, the initiative would have made it considerably harder to move forward.

Just days before the vote on the ballot initiative, Palin stated publicly that she opposed it. "Let me take my governor's hat off just for a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4, I vote no on that," she said. Groups that supported the measure argued that Palin's comments were highly unethical. They also filed a legal complaint against the state government for improperly weighing in against Prop. 4 on the state's website.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission ordered the state to take down the questionable web content, but said Palin's public statement was permissible because she made it clear it was her personal opinion. Polls before her statement showed voters strongly in favor of the measure, but in the end nearly 60 percent of the public voted against it.

"Conventional wisdom around here is that [her statement] changed the tide on the proposition, from narrowly passing to being defeated," said Van Tuyn.

Richard Jameson of the Renewable Resources Coalition, a nonprofit group that represents sportsmen, commercial fishermen, and native subsistence users and that cosponsored Prop. 4, said it's been hard to get Palin to listen to their concerns about potential damage to fisheries. "We really haven't had a good dialogue with her on the Pebble Mine or Prop. 4," he said. "On the bigger issue, Pebble Mine, frankly we don't know how she stands."