Aside from having listed a state plane on eBay, the most popular anecdotal example of Sarah Palin’s credentials as a reformer has been her firing the governor’s chef.  This has been quickly seized on by clueless Lower 48 Palin partisans as a colorful example of belt-tighting via downhome folksiness: Palin didn't just kick out the "uppity" gourmet chef, she claimed she planned on cooking herself, with her kids chipping in to make sandwiches.

As you might expect, this turns out to be another Palin fabrication. The 6/29/07 Anchorage Daily News article about the firing actually reveals the shocking truth behind the deception.

First, firing the governor's chef saved no money at all, because the chef was transferred, not fired. In the article, an e-mail from the fired chef, Stefani Marnon, to friends and colleagues is quoted as saying  "Friday will be my last day at the house, but I will still be employed with the state."

The chef Sarah fired in fact still prepares elitist gourmet meals in Juneau for government employees, just not in the Governor’s Mansion. According to an item in this ADN article from 1/20/08:

"Stefani Marnon was first reassigned as a ‘constituent relations assistant’ in the governor's office and later to the state museum. Earwigs report she's finally landed where they really appreciate a good chef: the Legislative Lounge. Lawmakers were smacking their lips in anticipation, according to Sen. Kim Elton's newsletter."

Sarah Palin, far from being a down-home fiscal hawk standing up to a decadent government culture, first placed Marnon in a make-work job, then placed the chef where her presence would most appeal to political insiders, literally catering to the finicky taste buds of state politicians.

But that’s not all.  The breezy item, headlined  "Chowhounds", starts off by giving away the actual reason Marnon left the Governor’s Mansion:

"Remember the long-time executive chef who lost her job at the Mansion when Sarah decided to live mostly in Wasilla instead of Juneau?"

Marnon, in short, wasn’t fired to save money.  She was fired because Governor Sarah Palin – whose executive credentials, displayed over an 18-month term, far out-strip Barack Obama’s accomplishments in some people's minds – spent most of her time as governor 567 bad-road miles away from the capital of Alaska.

The earlier article announcing Marnon’s firing also sheds light on Palin’s true devotion to her grueling, "ready at 3 A. M.", Presidential-like job:

"(Palin spokeswoman Meghan) Stapleton wouldn’t say exactly where Alaska’s first family is right now, citing security reasons. But the Palins will travel this summer, and spend time fishing, and plan to return to Juneau this fall."

Acting like Cheney even before her nomination as VP, Palin apparently had plenty of time while attending to the urgent business of serving Alaskans as their chief executive and commander in chief to see the Alaska countryside in stealthy comfort, even finding time to perhaps help her husband Todd set salmon traps.

Ironically, considering Palin's national base, it was conservatives in Alaska that were really incensed at Palin’s undercover travel itinerary.
This contemporary editorial blasts the ADN for reporting her disappearing act "without a whimper", claiming the paper routinely favored her over veteran politicians like Ted Stevens and Don Young.

Perhaps the paper was simply in awe of a woman able to reform Alaskan political culture so effectively, while spending so little time on such a daunting job.