# Mayor Palin tried to force her local Library to ban books she didn't like. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 3, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900 "2008-09-03T18:31:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/341 "2008-09-07T17:21:35Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > It is HUGE to me! I do not buy Palin’s claim of it being a rhetorical (read hypothetical) question. She asked twice and I think three times about it. Who asks the same hypothetical THREE times on something like this? Palin knew (as cited earlier in the thread) that a process for challenging books existed. Palin was asking in the guise of Emmon’s boss and at some point had a threat of termination hanging out there. > > Censorship, as noted earlier, is deeply offensive to most Americans in all but unique circumstances. I certainly do not want a VPOTUS who in even the slightest way thinks such a thing is ok and actively sought to use their power to ban books. This is an insight to a person willing to grossly abuse their power to unhinge a bedrock piece of America. A bedrock piece that is not even in dispute by anyone and all would say they value. > > The VPOTUS has to take an oath to uphold the Constitution and this clearly shows she is fine with shredding the Constitution if it suits her. Personally I think this should automatically disqualify her from any office. Word. The very fact that she asked the question makes her unfit for any public office in this country. She wasn’t looking for a debate. She was testing the waters. ---
**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/342 "2008-09-08T12:01:44Z")
[This](http://community.livejournal.com/usa_de_quirky/215787.html) is purported to be a list of books that Palin wanted off the shelves. The source is supposedly “official minutes of the Wasilla Library Board”, but there is no link to the original. ---
**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/343 "2008-09-08T12:13:15Z")
> [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](#): > > [This](http://community.livejournal.com/usa_de_quirky/215787.html) is purported to be a list of books that Palin wanted off the shelves. > > The source is supposedly “official minutes of the Wasilla Library Board”, but there is no link to the original. OK. Further checking indicates that this list is bullshit, at least in regards the specific case of “Palin vs. Librarians of the world.” Sorry I missed the edit window to delete it entirely. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/344 "2008-09-08T12:53:54Z")
That’s a pretty weird list. I’d be suspicious in the first place about something like that with no pedigree, but I’m curious as to how you found it, and how you decided it vwasn’t real. It contains books that have been banned in other libraries (“Huck Finn” and the Harry Potter books), some that are pretty clearly religious in nature or origin but NOT banned (“A Wrinkle in Time” has a treligious basis. “Bridge to Terebithia” may look a bit anti-religious, but was written by a minister’s wife.), and some I can’t account for. (I like Fredericl Forsyth’s “The DEvil’s Alternative”, but it’s an old thriller, pretty much outdated today, and I’ll bet you can’t find a copy without resort to used-book sites. And it’s no worse than any of his other books, so why isn’t “Day of the Jackal” there – it’s still in print.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/345 "2008-09-08T13:13:59Z")
Aha! The list is on Snopes: > **[Books Banned by Sarah Palin](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/banned-books/)** > > List catalogs books banned from the Wasilla, Alaska, public library by Mayor Sarah Palin? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/346 "2008-09-08T13:14:42Z")
The list seems to have cropped up on a blog run by a librarian ([librarian.net](http://librarian.net)) in the comments section - and was immediately debunked there. Looks like a cut and paste of a generic banned books list. The gist of the debunking was that many of the books (for instance, the entire Harry Potter series) had not yet been published in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/347 "2008-09-08T13:14:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > That’s a pretty weird list. I’d be suspicious in the first place about something like that with no pedigree, but I’m curious as to how you found it, and how you decided it vwasn’t real. Snopes has [debunked this list](http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/bannedbooks.asp): > [@](#): > > One obvious clue that this list must have been cobbled together from some source other than discussions that may have taken place in Wasilla in 1996 is that several of its entries (most notably the books in J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter series, which began in 1997) hadn’t yet been published back then. In fact, versions of this list have been circulating since at least as far back as 1998, and is actually a catch-all collection of titles said to be “books banned at one time or another in the United States.” ---
**Author:** ![Library\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@Library\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Library_Boy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/348 "2008-09-09T00:13:14Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > No elected official has authority over my job. I report to a Branch Manager who reports to a Library Director who reports to the Library Board. There the chain stops. Budget money is handed out by the local government, but after they give it up they have no say in how it is spent. > > Where are you getting this information? Because I’m quite Emmons was the MLS Librarian. Not to say that this is the case for what we are discussing, but I did want to point out that not every library works this way. Some very large systems have a City Librarian that serves at the pleasure of the Mayor, and even the Library Board itself is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor (but they do have total responsibility for the budget after it is passed from the Mayor/Council). And while the MLS degree is usually required by the search committee, it is, in fact not required by the job, which is a non-civil service political appointment. And I have first-hand experience with some of those positions having to reapply for them when a new Mayor was elected, though never an outright firing, but it would have been allowed for them to do so. ---
**Author:** ![ManiacMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@ManiacMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ManiacMan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/349 "2008-09-09T00:24:51Z")
I didn’t see that this has been snoped and termed to be FALSE. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/350 "2008-09-09T00:32:25Z")
[http://www.andrys.com/palin-kilkenny.html](http://www.andrys.com/palin-kilkenny.html) Palin is an incompetent dingbat. She should be driven away with torches and threats. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/351 "2008-09-09T00:37:14Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > The list seems to have cropped up on a blog run by a librarian ([librarian.net](http://librarian.net)) in the comments section - and was immediately debunked there. Looks like a cut and paste of a generic banned books list. > > The gist of the debunking was that many of the books (for instance, the entire Harry Potter series) had not yet been published in 1996. Another thing that doesn’t pass the smell test… how likely is it that Palin had enough familiarity with 92 books to determine that they ought to be banned? How likely is it that she could sit down and make a list of 92 book titles of any kind? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/352 "2008-09-13T23:44:39Z")
This isn’t quite a zombie thread, so I figured I could raise it and dust it off a bit. This week the Boston Phoenix offers some corroboration to the statements about Palin: > [@](#): > > The Republican National Convention hardly attracted as many glitterati as its Democratic counterpart did a week earlier. Thus were Americans watching the St. Paul drama deprived of the insightful political commentary that only celebrities such as, say, Sean Penn and John Legend could provide. It’s important to know what creative folks are thinking about the candidates, so the Phoenix reached out to prominent indie rockers from Wasilla, Alaska, for wisdom on vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s sexy brand of promiscuous and vengeful conservatism. > > “This whole thing is crazy,” Portugal. The Man [Ed. Note: Yes, there is a period in the middle of the band’s annoying name] guitarist John Baldwin Gourley says by phone from Wasilla this past Thursday. “I was watching her speech last night and I couldn’t believe that people were cheering for her being a hockey mom from Alaska. This is the woman who tried getting our small-town librarian fired because she wouldn’t ban certain books. This whole thing blows my mind.” > > Ryan “The Alaskan” Brown, a Wasilla native, former member of Portugal. The Man, and now a bassist in the Boston band Ho-Ag, was equally flabbergasted: “This sucks. I first became conscious of politics when she became mayor, so I’ve been fairly vocal about her since I was 16. She’s like Ann Coulter without the balls. . . . I was always the person at the state fair yelling at her with a megaphone.” > > Neither Brown nor Gourley have “Coldest State, Hottest Governor” bumper stickers on their cars. They both speak lowly of Palin’s gubernatorial efforts, and especially disapprove of her mayoral bulldozing in Wasilla, where she invited controversially costly commercial and infrastructural projects, and fired the police chief, finance director, and city attorney soon after taking office. > > “It was so Wasilla to have her as this young pretty woman mayor,” says Gourley, explaining that his city is more or less a cliché upper-middle-class American Pie prom kingdom. “She ran the town like a high school — helping her friends and getting rid of everyone else who was in her way.” > > “She kept taking out bonds to build roads for the city,” says Brown. “When she ran as a ‘fiscal conservative,’ the town had no debt, and when she left our debt was ridiculous.” Brown also claims that Palin was instrumental in closing down the pool hall — his one spot to hang out — “because there were a few noise complaints.” [http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Music/67851-Wasilla-rock-city/](http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Music/67851-Wasilla-rock-city/) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Booker\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/71c47a/32.png) [@Happy\_Booker\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Booker_1)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/353 "2008-09-13T23:55:38Z")
I’ve referred to [this article](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin) in other threads. But it has particular relevance here, given that it offers an answer to the 'what did she want to ban question > [@](#): > > For years, social conservatives had pressed the library director to remove books they considered immoral. > > “People would bring books back censored,” recalled former Mayor John Stein, Ms. Palin’s predecessor. “Pages would get marked up or torn out.” > > Witnesses and contemporary news accounts say Ms. Palin asked the librarian about removing books from the shelves. The McCain-Palin presidential campaign says Ms. Palin never advocated censorship. > > But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book “Daddy’s Roommate” on the shelves and that it did not belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it. > > “Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff,” Ms. Chase said. “It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.” > > “I’m still proud of Sarah,” she added, “but she scares the bejeebers out of me.” She scares something more pit worthy out of me. ETA: removed NYT internal stuff ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900/354 "2008-09-15T04:29:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This isn’t quite a zombie thread, so I figured I could raise it and dust it off a bit. > > This week the Boston Phoenix offers some corroboration to the statements about Palin: I don’t see any corroboration there at all about any of the book banning statements. We have a couple of indie rockers who are giving their opinions about Palin. I doubt if any of them were at any of the meetings between Palin and Emmons. corroboration? Get a copy of the Town council minues where Palin allegedly tried to get book banned. That’s _corroboration_. Those are just meaningless quotes from a couple of dudes that live in that town. But it is a revealing cite anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayor-palin-tried-to-force-her-local-library-to-ban-books-she-didnt-like/461900.md?page=17)