The defining moment of Sarah Palin's political career-at least up until this past Friday-was probably one that took place while she didn't even hold elected office and occupied a place largely outside the public eye.

In 2004, two years after leaving the office of Mayor of Wasilla (a town of fewer than 10,000 souls), Palin had returned to the life of a hockey mom. Through her connections to the state GOP establishment she also landed a spot on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a state agency with oversight responsibility for some aspects of oil and gas development. Among the job's requirements was that she sign a statement each month reporting that there were no ethical violations occurring on the commission. When Palin decided she couldn't sign that statement, she knew there was a good chance she'd never hold public office again-after all, the man she was about to accuse of conflicts of interest, Randy Ruedrich, was chairman of the state's Republican Party. The Republicans dominated politics in Alaska and they were Palin's own party.

But Palin chose to become a whistleblower anyway. And far from destroying her political career, that action relaunched it. Ruedrich, resigned from the commission, and paid a $12,000 fine for his misdeeds (a record for Alaska).

And news was beginning to trickle out about the FBI's sweeping investigation into corruption. To date, four state representatives have been charged with  accepting bribes from Bill Allen, the CEO of VECO, and oilfield services company, who along with their customers-major North Slope producers like Exxon, BP and ConocoPhillips-stood to benefit from the lower petroleum profits tax that was being enacted. Then-Governor Frank Murkowksi's chief of staff pleaded guilty as well, and several lobbyists and businessmen have been caught up in this probe as well-including, most recently and publicly-US Senator Ted Stevens.

In this environment, Palin suddenly stood out as the rare politician who wasn't tainted, who'd stood up to corruption. By 2006, incumbent Republican gubernatorial candidate Frank Murkowski's approval ratings had tanked. In addition to pushing for the same industry-friendly Petroleum Profits Tax (the bulk of Alaska's revenue) that the indicted state legislators had backed, Murkowski had held closed-door negotiations with the major oil producers about a natural gas pipeline from reserves on the North Slope to markets in Canada and the Lower 48.  When Palin challenged him in the Republican gubernatorial primary, she beat him handily  taking 51 percent of the vote to his 19 (another challenger pulled 30 percent).

In office, Palin's main achievement has been getting a gasline act different from Murkowski's passed and a proposal (from Calgary-based TransCanada) approved under its provisions. The act is less favorable to the major producers of the North Slope than Murkowski's, as is a new petroleum profits tax she supported. And her administration has taken on Exxon head-on over their dormant leases at Point Thomson, threatening to cancel them if the oil giant doesn't develop them.

So it's shocking that the first scandal of Palin's short career as governor is one of ethics violation. In July, Palin dismissed Walt Monegan, her Public Safety Commissioner. Then word leaked out that Palin's staff, and possibly her husband Todd, had long (and unsuccessfully) pressured Monegan to fire a particular state trooper, Mike Wooten. Wooten has a handful of serious blots on his record as a cop, but it seems the main black mark against him from the administration was that he was divorced from Palin's sister Molly and locked in a custody battle with her, plus threats he allegedly made to kill their father Chuck Heath.

Thus far, the administration maintains that members within it who contacted Monegan about Wooten did so on their own and without Palin's knowledge or consent. The state legislature has appointed an independent investigator. The results of that investigation are due out at the end of October, on the eve of the presidential elections.

Palin on the issues:

Environment: The Palin administration strongly opposed the recent listing of the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act (Check out "Bearing Up," an op-ed Palin wrote for the New York Times on the subject earlier this year), and is currently suing the Department of the Interior to have the decision reversed.

She appointed an Alaska Native to the Board of Game earlier this year after an outcry from the Native community and others, but the board remains dominated by sport hunters, rather than subsistence communities.

She's largely stayed out of recent battles between mining and commercial fishing over a massive mining prospect in Western Alaska.

Abortion: Palin is firmly against abortion (although the issue hasn't come up much in the year and a half she's been in office). She famously chose to give birth to Trig Van Palin (yes, he's named after the band Van Halen), despite an in utero diagnosis of Down's Syndrome.

Foreign Policy: Palin doesn't have much experience here. She visited troops in Iraq last year, and her eldest son-18-year-old Track-is set to be deployed there on September 11.

Energy: She recently appointed an energy czar to help map the state's energy future. The plan includes both renewable energy and fossil fuels, including coal, oil and gas. She's taken on petroleum producers over a gasline, a petroleum profits tax, and inactive leases. She recently passed a rebate that will give $1,200 to most citizens to offset higher energy costs in Alaska.

Krestia DeGeorge, a former political writer for City Newspaper, is editor of the Anchorage Press, an Anchorage, Alaska, weekly.