"As Governor, she has appointed one person to the Alaska Supreme Court.  A graduate of Berkeley, Justice Daniel Winfree was in private practice, general counsel and executive director for the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation, president of the Alaska Bar Association, and president of the Western States Bar Conference.  Palin has also appointed 10 persons to trial court positions in Alaska, including three women.  Based on the qualifications of these judges, it seems that Palin placed more emphasis on merit than politics.  (Click here and here for more.)

Palin also made recent appointments to the Alaska Labor Relations Agency.  While all of these appointees may have had political connections, their backgrounds are full of human resources and labor relations substance:  labor relations manager, human resource manager, chairman of State Personnel Board, and vice-chairman of the Public Employee Retirement Board; member of State Commission for Human Rights and director of the Division of Equal Opportunity Employment; vice president of human resources, senior labor relations manager and labor relations specialist, and human resources manager; and human resources manager and special assistant to the director of employee relations."