When Mayor, Palin Tried to Ban Books From Public Library

Posted by Staff, People For the American Way Foundation at 3:57 PM on September 2, 2008.

Editor's note: The following is a press release from People For the American Way.

Time Magazine today reports that Alaska Governor, and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, attempted to ban books from her local library as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and then threatened to fire the librarian who stood up to her for not giving "full support" to the mayor. People For the American Way president Kathryn Kolbert issued the following statement:

People can disagree about a lot of things, but censorship is completely beyond the pale. Our democracy was founded on the belief that government shouldn’t tell people what kinds of books to read or what kind of beliefs to hold. No one with that kind of history should be anywhere near the White House. Sarah Palin needs to clarify her stance on freedom of speech immediately, and John McCain needs to explain why he chose a running mate with so little regard for the Constitution.

Tagged as: alaska, palin