http://www.newsweek.com/id/158738
Quoting:
Stambaugh, a former Anchorage police captain who once supervised
Monegan, was hired as Wasilla's first police chief in 1993 and created
the town's small police force, says former Wasilla mayor John Stein.
But weeks after Palin beat Stein in 1996, she expressed displeasure
with the chief. One big issue, Stambaugh said, was that he and other
police chiefs had opposed a state-legislature bill to permit concealed
weapons in schools and bars, which Stambaugh called "craziness." But
Palin, elected with backing from the National Rifle Association, which
lobbied for the bill, told him she was "not happy" with his position,
and that the NRA wanted him fired, says Stambaugh. Palin told him he
"shouldn't have done that," Stambaugh told NEWSWEEK. (Palin denied in a
deposition that the NRA contacted her about the weapons bill.)
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An
even bigger clash involved a proposed city ordinance backed by
Stambaugh to close the town bars at 2 a.m. instead of 5. Stambaugh says
he believed this would help curb late-night drunken driving at a time
when, according to Stein, the former mayor, "people were driving out
from Anchorage to the valley for more alcohol and crashing." But Palin,
as a council member, had voted against the measure—making her the
favored candidate among bar owners, one of whom held a fund-raiser for
her. Records obtained by NEWSWEEK show that Wasilla bar owners
contributed $1,250 to her mayoral campaign—more than 10 percent of all
the money she raised in 1996. Griffin did not respond to requests for
comment on those contributions.
