Sarah Palin Comes to Hong Kong

A respected investment bank picks a controversial keynote speaker

Former US Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who is viewed with equal fervor as an ignorant fool or the voice of the common man by those who either loathe or love her, is coming to Hong Kong to seek international street cred.

Palin, who suddenly quit her job on July 26 as Alaska's governor, is scheduled to give her first major international overseas address as the keynote speaker at the 16th annual CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets Investors forum from September 21 to 25. The decision to bring in Palin as keynote speaker has been met with incredulity from many among the business community in Hong Kong, asking if it might not be a hoax.

Asked if the email announcing Palin's appearance might indeed be a hoax, Simone Wheeler, head of communications for the investment bank, responded: "No, not a joke at all. The CLSA Investors' Forum has traditionally been a platform for firsts into Asia: Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan. As an independent investment house, we aim to provide speakers of note."

Palin was roundly mocked during the presidential campaign as US Sen. John McCain's running mate for saying she was experienced in foreign relations because she could see Russia from her northern outpost across the Bering Strait.

For that remark, US Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican and presumably an ally in last year's election, said "She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials. You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything." Hagel said the campaign should "be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia. That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."

Palin is a galvanic speaker whose first appearance on a national stage in the United States – at the Republican National Convention in September 2008 – catapulted her into the spotlight. Unscripted, however, she has been a disaster. Her first major interview with the national press – with CBS News' anchor Katie Couric – was such a catastrophe that the McCain campaign largely kept her away from reporters from until the end of the campaign. Indeed, the CLSA speech will be off-limits to the press although, Wheeler said, there might be an opportunity for a press conference.

"Honestly? This isn't a hoax?" asked the managing director of a Hong Kong business chain. "It's entertaining perhaps, in a road accident sort of way! Now I've seen everything."

Palin has never been noted to have much expertise in economics or finance. Said an independent investor: "Sarah Palin is a real expert on money-making. I wonder if it will be her (to arrive in Hong Kong) or Tina Fey," a reference to a devastating send-up of Palin by the comedienne Fey on Saturday Night Live, an American comedy show.

Several reasons have been given for the arch-conservative self-described hockey mom's precipitous departure from Alaskan politics, ranging from scandal fatigue to – much more likely – a desire to play on a bigger stage than the isolated northernmost US state in preparation for a run at the US Presidency in 2012 Her trip to Hong Kong is an obvious first attempt to begin to build foreign policy and international credentials.

Nonetheless, her selection as speaker for the CLSA convention had Hong Kong's investment community scratching their heads although one independent broker said the selection was "a good idea. It will guarantee a wide attendance."

Another investor, however, called it "typical of CLSA's decline since the death of Gary Coull," CLSA's co-founder, who died in 2006. "Or it might be a way of way of ingratiating with Beijing by making America look ridiculous," he fumed.

CLSA has become a powerhouse in Asia for its offbeat approach to investing, for instance publishing a whimsical annual feng-shui prediction report on the regional markets over the coming year. Annual forums have included mid-week parties with ageing pop stars and sessions with such political stars as Clinton, Gore and Greenspan.

However, it was the quality of research that made CLSA what it is. Founded by two former journalists – Coull and Jim Walker – it has consistently been ranked first in Bloomberg's most accurate Asian research poll and the Thomson Extel Asia Pacific Survey, among others.

Fox News Contributor Rips Into Palin: "The Woman Is Inarticulate, Undereducated"

Even Fox News has started to turn on Sarah Palin. In the midst of a segment about the Alaska Governor's battle against "liberal" attacks, Liz Trotta went off-message.

Frankly, "the woman is inarticulate, undereducated," Trotta said, arguing that for once liberal criticism was "well-deserved."

"I think all the liberal stylists ... really have a case. She just begs for adjectives like flaky and wacky." When pressed, she added, "We're talking about somebody who, right from the get-go, has been a flashy person who gets into a lot of trouble and really has no credentials for any job."

Palin: 'Screw the political correctness'

I didn't get to this in my story on Palin's lower-48 in Seneca Falls, but she hasn't lost her ability to deliver a raw, base-riling stemwinder, and her introduction of Michael Reagan in Anchorage the other night is worth a listen (.mp3) and is currently making the rounds on the right.
She opens the introduction praising Reagan's son, a talk radio guy, for his willingness "to screw the political correctness that some would expect him to try to adhere to."

She blasts "self-proclaimed intellectuals, and the smug lobbyists who dominate Washington, and the liberal media."
And she suggests Obama is trying to impose big government as a tool of control.
"We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it," she says. "And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people."
CNN had a write-up, but a reader notes the speech -- perhaps because of that killer time difference -- didn't get the coverage I think it probably deserved.

Sarah Palin In Trouble As Oil Prices Fall: AP

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's first two years in office have been called a time of milk and honey, when the resource-rich state was flush with wealth from record oil prices.
The second half of her term isn't looking so rosy as Palin faces her first major financial challenge as governor.
The rapid decline of oil prices has left the state in a looming budget crisis and a late-entrant in the national recession. And that could have political repercussions for the former Republican vice presidential hopeful, who has signaled an interest in a 2012 presidential run but must stay visible in the Lower 48 to be successful.
"Given these bad times, she's going to have a much more difficult time traveling outside Alaska," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "When times are good, people will let their governor roam. In bad times, citizens expect their governor to stay home and work on solving the problems."
Oil accounts for as much as 90 percent of state revenues. So the plunge of North Slope crude from an all-time high of $144.59 per barrel last July threatens to give the state an estimated budget shortfall of up to $1.5 billion in the fiscal year that ends June 30.
Palin bills herself as a fiscal conservative, and has called for reducing state spending by $268 million in this budget year, but lawmakers and others say these aren't reductions at all and do nothing to curtail spending. For example, the bulk of that sum _ $200 million _ is unspent tax credits for companies investing in oil and gas development that are being returned to the treasury.
Palin also is seeking approval from lawmakers to tap budget reserves to fill the deficit. She also has implemented a state hiring freeze that exempts public safety employees, but other departments are lining up to ask for waivers.
It's a long way from Palin's early tenure _ particularly last year when the state's treasury was bloated with surplus money from the skyrocketing oil prices.
From that bounty the hugely popular governor got the state to give $1,200 to most Alaskans in a one-time fuel relief payout that totaled about $740 million. That payout was on top of a record $2,069 dividend from the state's oil royalty investment program, which distributes checks annually.
"The first two years of her term, upon reflection and looking over your shoulder, are going to be looked back at fondly," said Sen. Kim Elton, a Juneau Democrat who is rumored to be up for a post in President Barack Obama's Interior department.
"The coming two years for Sarah Palin I think will be difficult. You test the mettle of people in hard times. That applies to all elected officials," he added.
Palin, who has not said if she will run for re-election as governor in 2010, said that dealing with the oil wealth was actually her first significant challenge. It meant reining in government spending sprees and making "sure that we were living within our means and putting money aside for a rainier day."
The state has socked away $1 billion in an education fund for the next school year and education officials say another $1 billion is expected go into the fund this year for future use. More billions went into state savings as well, Palin said.
"We're more prepared than other states because of the prudence there," Palin said recently. "We crossed that first hurdle."
The state currently has $6.6 billion in its constitutional budget reserve fund that it could tap into. A few billion dollars more also is available from other pockets, said Juneau economist Gregg Erickson, a longtime Alaska budget watcher.
Given Alaska's robust reserves, the state is well-prepared to weather the next two years, Erickson said. As to how long reserves will last after that, there are too many factors involved to say for sure.
"It depends on how much you draw from other places, how fast the budget increases and declines, the earnings rates on reserves that you have," Erickson said. "And of course, it depends on how high or low oil prices are."
Bear Ketzler, an Interior Alaska resident, has a hard time envisioning Palin running for a second term as governor.
"She's kind of been moved up a couple notches and I could see her leaving the state and getting her profile up even higher on the national political level," said Ketzler, city manager of the Yukon River village of Tanana. "But I think for her to be electable in four years, Obama would really have to screw up."

Native Alaskans starve while Palin plays politics

Villagers paying up to $1,500 to heat homes for a month, $400 for groceries a week

Some families say they have run out of food, others eat only one meal a day

Resident: "We have remained quiet, cried and suffered in silence"

Early winter, devastating fishing season, high fuel prices crippling economy

Emmonak resident Nicholas Tucker wondered if others were feeling the impact, so he broadcast an inquiry via VHF radio, one of the common ways to communicate in the village.

Tucker said many residents sobbed as they radioed him back.

"His family has been out of food for quite some time now," Tucker wrote about one resident in a letter sent to legislators and the media. "Their 1-year-old child is out of milk, [he] can't get it and he has no idea when he will be able to get the next can."

"There are days without food in his house," Tucker wrote.

A single father with five children choked back tears as he told Tucker of his struggle to help his kids.

"Right now, we can't eat during the day, only at supper time," Tucker wrote of the man. "If there had been no school lunch our kids would be starving."

Many of the tribal leaders said they are begging the state and federal governments to do something to help.

George Lamont, tribal administrator in Tuluksak, Alaska, said because of the crisis and villagers' inability to pay their utility bills, he fears many may have their electricity shut off.