I was pleased to see in the Chronicle Sept. 9 the article "GOP ads are inaccurate," which corrected Sarah Palin's claim that she said "No thanks" to earmarks when -- in her two years as governor -- Alaska requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending!

This year, Alaska asked for almost $300 per person, while other states got just $34 worth of local projects per person on average. When she was mayor of Wasilla, she hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington to win $27 million worth of earmarks for the town of 6,000. (Anchorage Daily News , Sept. 4).

Is her claim "inaccurate" or is it just plain lying? ...

"That (state-owned) luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay," she told cheering Republican delegates at their convention. True, but she left out that it never sold on eBay. State staffers had to broker a deal with a buyer for a loss. Misleading? Most definitely! ...

She was forced to hire a city administrator to run the town of about 6,000 when her inept firings led to rebellion among the locals. She "promoted a sports complex and a park on land the city still can't claim to own, in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system and lowered taxes for businesses and increased the tax burden on residents. ...

Is she charismatic and a rising star in the Republican Party? Yes. Is she gutsy? Absolutely! The big question is whether she'd be ready to take over as president should 72-year-old John McCain die in office.

Gov. Palin doesn't have the typical resume of a vice-presidential candidate. She is strong on rallying public support; she's not so strong on the detailed work of governance and leaves the details and heavy lifting to others. This philosophy sounds too much like George Bush! ...