Todd Palin: 'First dude' and right-hand man

[link to www.iht.com]


Todd Palin: 'First dude' and right-hand man



By Kate Zernike and Kim Severson
Published: September 3, 2008



As "first dude," the title he prefers, Todd Palin reinforces the average-family image that his wife, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, has sought to project.

He is a member of the steelworkers' union and has continued to work part time for BP in the oil fields of the North Slope, and summers as a commercial fisherman, since his wife was elected. He also finds time for more traditional duties, like playing host to former first ladies of Alaska for tea, or judging the 2008 Miss Alaska beauty pageant - the contest in which his wife had been named runner-up and "Miss Congeniality" nearly 25 years earlier.

He is a champion snowmobiler known for his navigational skills - a four-time winner of the Iron Dog competition, a 2,000-mile, or 3,200-kilometer, race that is Alaska's equivalent to the Daytona 500. He drove the last 400 miles of this year's race with a broken arm after he was thrown 70 feet, or 21 meters, from his machine in a crash.

But now he must navigate the tricky terrain of being spouse to a vice-presidential nominee while raising a family. And that involves facing intense public scrutiny, including on his entanglement in a state ethics investigation into whether his wife orchestrated the firing of a top law enforcement official who refused to dismiss a state trooper in a messy divorce with Governor Palin's sister.

And this week the revelation that he was arrested on drunken driving charges in 1986 complicated the rollout of his wife's campaign.

After Governor Palin took office, her husband began taking a greater role in caring for their children, ages 4 months to 19 years. The couple splits time between the governor's mansion in Juneau and their home in Wasilla, about 800 miles away. There, he often rises early to train for snowmobile events, then ferries the children to various sports and school activities.

"He'd leave my place, and next time I'd talk to him he'd be at a game," said Scott Davis, the other half of Todd Palin's Iron Dog team.

In Alaska, people who win the Iron Dog earn hero status. But those who know Todd said the fame, and his wife's high profile, have never changed his cool demeanor.

Chuck Francis Baird, 52, a competitive snow machine racer who has known him for years, said: "Todd's not real outgoing, and he's not very flamboyant. Sometime people mistake that for being stuck up."

"He's just a really down-to-earth, good guy," Baird added. "He's the kind of guy who if you were in a bind, you could just call him up and say you need a favor."

When Sarah Palin first became governor, friends said, her husband played it down.

"He was almost embarrassed about it or shy, I guess," Davis said.

"It never changed him one iota. It took him a little while to adjust to the attention."

Todd Palin was born in Dillingham, Alaska, and claims Alaska Native heritage through his grandmother, who was part Yup'ik Eskimo.

He and his wife met in high school, at a basketball game, and were married eight years later - they eloped, he once told a newspaper, because it was a bad year for fish and they did not have the money for a wedding.

He took classes in college but did not complete a degree, learning on the job at BP. His career shaped his advocacy when he became first spouse: vocational education and encouraging young Alaskans to get stable jobs in the oil and gas industry.

His homepage on the Web site of the National Governors' Association describes him as "a dedicated community volunteer" who "devotes his time and efforts in support of youth sports, coaching hockey and basketball."

"In his free time," it reads, "the first gentleman enjoys fishing, flying and spending time with his family."

Palin took a leave from BP while his wife was campaigning.

Alaskan news outlets reported that she said he would not work for BP if she were elected, because of the potential for conflict of interest in a state where oil is the dominant industry - the company has been involved in negotiations about a gas pipeline with his wife's administration.

But Palin returned to work for BP six months later; the governor's office then said there was no conflict, because he had taken a nonmanagement position.

In the ethics investigation, Todd Palin was accused of pressuring the state's commissioner of public safety and the head of state troopers to fire a trooper who was divorcing Governor Palin's sister.

He acknowledged that he met with the commissioner, Walt Monegan, a month after his wife's election to give him a dossier that Todd Palin and a private investigator had gathered on the trooper. Palin described it as "informing" the police, not putting pressure on them. He also acknowledged giving the head of the state troopers a picture of the former brother-in-law on a snow machine, because he thought it was a violation of a worker's compensation claim.


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