Palin: Take the Money & Run?

There has been considerable speculation over why Sarah Palin quit her job as governor of Alaska. One hypothesis is that she resigned because she has a multimillion dollar book deal. That would make some sense. After all, people do often say that the first thing they would do after winning the lottery is quit their job. Perhaps Palin sees herself as a lottery winner.

There are also rumors that Palin believes that there are many other deals waiting for her. While I am not an expert on the law, I’m reasonable sure that holding the office of governor limits the sorts of money making deals that a person can accept. Perhaps Palin looked at the opportunities that would be available to her if she left office and was won over by the power of green.

Of course, this is all speculation. It can, however, be assessed in an empirical way: if Palin avails herself of such deals, then that would lend credence to the claim that her motivation was financial. Of course, even this would not be conclusive. After all, she might have left office for other (and more noble) reasons and simply decided to take advantage of the offers. It would, of course, be foolish to say “no” to such deals.

Now, if Palin were to reject such deals and instead devoted her time and energy to the public good, then the claim that she was financially motivated would be undercut.

Naturally, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with her leaving a job to seek a better income. If by quitting my current job I could make millions of dollars, I would do so. After all, I could still teach for free and could also do more good than I do now-that kind of money would pay all my debts, provide me with a fine income and still leave me plenty of money with which to create scholarships, give to charity, help my friends & family and aid my community.