PREZ RACE: Desi spotting with Sarah Palin

[SAJAforum posts, resources, sources about the 2008 presidential race]

Since we did an instant item about Joe Biden as VP candidate, I just spent a couple of minutes trying to see if I could find any South Asia/South Asian connections to Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska. If you know of any, please post them in the comments section below - or e-mail saja[at]columbia.edu.

Meanwhile, on the blog IndependentIndian.com, a blog by Dr. Subroto Roy, he says he was prescient about this:

On May 6 2008, I sent an email to some colleagues saying:”I expect Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, age 44, mother of 5, conservative, to be his top choice.  McCain-Palin might trounce the Democrats merely because of her.”

Journalists should note that she has a journalism connection. From her bio:

She received a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987.

She has also worked as a TV sportscaster.

This puts an end to the Bobby Jindal-as-VP discussion, of course. See SAJAforum's collection of recent Jindal items.

See Ultrabrown's post on Palin. Excerpt:

Her profile has huge overlap with Bobby Jindal, and she has arguably less government experience.

Jay Nordingler, blogs about this on the conservative National Review:

2. I was always against her nomination as veep. The main reason: How can you knock Barack Obama as too green for the job when you have Sarah Palin?
3. I said the same thing about Bobby Jindal, much as I love him, much as I’m wowed by him.
4. If you were going to go the inexperienced-young-person route — i.e., Palin or Jindal — why not Jindal? Why is he not preferable?
5. Jindal, though a new governor, is not all that inexperienced — in fact, not inexperienced at all. He just doesn’t have national-security credentials.

I was curious what well-known conservative Ramesh Ponnuru had to say. He pours "cold water on Palin."

Comments, links, updates welcome.

UPDATES ON DESI ITEMS:

• From Kishan Putta (kishanputta at gmail) of IndiansForMcCain.com:
  • In October 2007, Sarah Palin appointed Anand Dubey to her cabinet as
    chief information officer. This is noteworthy.  Alaska is a very white state but she chose a guy born in India for this important role. 
    [Interesting separate story -- 4 of the 51 state CIOs in america are
    desi: Anand Dubey in AK, Gopal Khanna in MN, Vivek Kundra in DC, Aneesh
    Chopra in VA.]
  • From July 2008, Palin's reappointment of Banarsi Lal:
    Governor Palin appointed Lee Cromwell, and reappointed Banarsi Lal and Martha Penrose, to the Alaska Pioneers' Homes Advisory Council. The eight-member council conducts annual inspections of the facilities and procedures of the Alaska Pioneers' Homes, and recommends changes and improvements to the governor. Its members represent citizens and veterans, the Alaska Commission on Aging and the Alaska Veterans Advisory Council.
  • [See Lal's bio below in the full press release]
• From a friend: "There are a bunch of Sindhi families all along the cruise ports destinations in Alaska. They are there 5 months of the year for the cruise ship season, and then they go to the islands (St. Thomas, St. Maarten) for seven months and run their stores during peak season."

A July 10, 2008 press release:

Governor Palin Announces Board Appointments

July 10, 2008, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today announced appointments to the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Advisory Council, the Alaska Pioneers' Homes Advisory Council, and the Alaska Safety Advisory Council.

Alaska Pioneers' Homes Advisory Council

Governor Palin appointed Lee Cromwell, and reappointed Banarsi Lal and Martha Penrose, to the Alaska Pioneers' Homes Advisory Council.

The eight-member council conducts annual inspections of the facilities and procedures of the Alaska Pioneers' Homes, and recommends changes and improvements to the governor. Its members represent citizens and veterans, the Alaska Commission on Aging and the Alaska Veterans Advisory Council.

Lal, a 33-year Fairbanksan, spent 24 years with the Fairbanks Native Association before retiring in 2000 as behavioral services director. He has been a public member of the Alaska Commission on Aging since 2000 and is the current chair. By virtue of his membership on the aging commission, Lal has concurrently served on the Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education since 2005, and as a member of the Pioneers' Home Advisory Council since 2007. Lal earned a master's degree in social work from Lucknow University in 1956, and a master's degree in psychology from Agra University in 1961; both universities are in India. He was appointed to a public seat on the Alaska Pioneers' Homes Advisory Council.

Penrose, of Juneau, is a customer-service advisor for Alaska Electric Light & Power and a 28-year Juneau resident. She volunteers as chair of a local church preschool board, teaches adult Sunday school and volunteers for local borough elections. A strong advocate for senior citizens, Penrose is a great-grandmother who cared for her elderly mother in her own home, before her mother moved into the Juneau Pioneers' Home. She has served on the Pioneers' Homes Advisory Council since 2004. She was reappointed to a public seat.

Cromwell, of Anchorage, is a building manager for NANA Management Services. A retired U.S. Army paratrooper and 20-year Alaskan, he serves on the board of the Armed Forces YMCA, the Municipality of Anchorage's Military and Veterans Affairs Commission, and is a member of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club. Cromwell earned a bachelor's degree in business from Central Texas College in 1997. He was appointed to a seat reserved for a veteran.

Comments

[Aparna Mukherjee]

On the question of how many SAs in Alaska...maybe we should take guesses? A virtual, "how many jellybeans in the jar?" for Alaskan demographics!

[RH]

Don't think she does ... see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

[Partha Banerjee]

I just looked up Sarah Palin. She's a darling of the National Rifles Association; she's also a staunch opponent of Roe v Wade. John McCain again showed how hollow his so-called reform-liberalism rhetoric is: he basically buckled under pressure from the far right-wing led by Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and Christian Coalition.

Those Hillary supporters who still want to vote McCain, think: in 100 days of a McCain presidency, women's hard-won right to choose would be a matter of the past.

Sarah Palin is practically a white-woman version of Bobby Jindal. McCain didn't pick Jindal: he couldn't afford to alienate the anti-color xenophobes.

Look up ontheissues.com for info on Sarah Palin.