Washington (CNN) - Sarah Palin's spokeswoman Meg Stapleton, a close adviser to the former Alaska governor who developed a rocky relationship with other Republicans and members of the media, has resigned, two sources close to Palin confirmed Wednesday to CNN.
Stapleton, a spokesperson for the former governor since 2006, cited the need to spend more time with her husband and young daughter. In a statement first reported by Politico, Stapleton explained that serving Palin "has been an honor" but said it is time to "refocus my priorities."
But ever since Palin was suddenly elevated to the national stage in August 2008, Palin insiders, members of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and other Republicans sympathetic to the former governor have grumbled privately about Stapleton's ability to handle the increasingly monumental task of advising Palin, a global political celebrity whose every word is dissected and analyzed by pundits, celebrity magazines and the blogosphere.
Members of the political press corps have also long been frustrated with Stapleton, who was the primary conduit between Palin and members of the media since the end of the 2008 presidential race, but rarely responded to phone calls or e-mails. When Stapleton did, they were often terse or combative.
She and Palin had previously spoken about resigning, but Stapleton informed SarahPAC staffers of her decision by e-mail last week.
"Earlier this week, I handed Governor Palin my resignation, effective the end of this month," the e-mail said. "While I had hoped to work together on so many more projects, time with my precious 2-year-old has been further minimized with the whirlwind commitments of all things Palin. I have done my best to scale back, but Isabella is now resorting to hiding my BlackBerry, and she shouldn't grow up begging for a mother to start acting like a mother."
There are no immediate plans to hire a replacement for Stapleton, a source close to the Palin family told CNN. The source noted that the family, which takes pride in their Alaskan identity, are comfortable speaking in their own voice.
UPDATE: Fred Malek, an influential GOP fundraiser and adviser to Palin, e-mailed to compliment Stapleton on her service.
"Any professional has to be judged by success, and by any measure, Team Palin has been an enormous success," Malek told CNN. "As Governor Palin's principle aide during this awesome rise, she has been a one woman band and deserves much credit and admiration."
From CNN Politics
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Palin who?
..."grumbled privately about Stapleton's ability to handle the increasingly monumental task of advising Palin"...
How could anyone advise former Gov. Palin? She seems to be able to talk about anything, and never lets facts or the truth get in the way. I can't blame Ms. Stapleton for wanting out of that mess. Good luck to Gov. Palin on finding another sucker to be her spokesperson.
Just to offer an alternative view point to the "political press corps" who found Meg "terse or combatitive"-as just a plain old reporter sent to Alaska after John McCain's surprise announcement, I found Meg to be a breath of fresh air. She didn't have all the baggage of the usual Washington insider crowd, didn't play favorites, didn't bow to the altar of the political and/or media elite.
She always responded to my phone calls, politely. And in person, Meg was a delight.
If she was guilty of anything, it was not knowing and following the "rules" of the self-absorbed national press.
Good luck Meg.
I'm sure being around a lunatic will grind on your nerves!
Too low level even by GOP standards.
"a global political celebrity"
Palin is not. She works for FOX News, meaning she's catering to Tea Partiers, which is a very narrow subset of the American People. And no one outside of America cares about Palin.
Please stop giving the idiots more attention, she's not even a politician anymore.
Hay everybody, Let's focus on Palin instead of the White House admiting that the Fort Hood killings are actually Islamic Terrorism.
Quick, throw up a Palin article so nobody notices. Good God, what a bunch of sheep!
It must be a great relief for her to be able to move on and put the frustration of the last few years behind her. I hope that she decides to write a book and tell us who the real Sarah Palin is.
She is jumping the U.S.S Failin Palin ship.
Spend more time with family is Code for this is getting too stupid. Get me out of here!
they take pride in their Alaskan identity and are comfortable speaking in their own voice? What does "Alaska" have to do with it?
But who will write Palin's facebook and little twitterings now?
What I'm wondering is: Why would Palin in her daily routine of facebooking, twittering and occasional paid Fox news guest have a need to keep on a "spokesperson?"
It's more likely Meg realized she was in the presence of a perpetual natural disaster.
Uh-oh... who's gonna write Sarah's Facebook messages for her? Also.
Whether you like Palin or not, it was obvious from the beginning that this woman was in WAY over her head.
Palin will be better off without her, but she still has to deal with her most embarrassing liability–herself.
She wants to spend time with her husband and daughter, HEY SARAH, take a lesson from her and go home to your family. Oh and stay there please!!!
" have done my best to scale back, but Isabella is now resorting to hiding my BlackBerry, and she shouldn't grow up begging for a mother to start acting like a mother."
IF she is indeed the adviser, on her way out, her advise to Palin with a younger child and 5 others should be to do the same.
Sarah does not need you. she can do it all herself. she is the most intelligent, brave, wise, religious person on the Earth.(Got,cha)
Please take Liar Liar Pants on fire with you.
Let Palin be Palin – rotfl
Too bad for Palin's children that she feels no obligation to "mother them"
It appears Ms.Stapleton has finally seen through the lying dishonest shrill Palen. To bad she has wasted so much of her precious time serving this dumber then rocks person, Mike from Florida
I can't to the tell all book come along. We all know SP doesn't like anyone to advise on anything. Lord knows the clueless woman need someone.
Oooh, I can't wait for Stapleton's tell-all to come out! I doubt she'll need a ghost writer for it.
Why, after reading this, do I feel the urge to say something about rats abandoning sinking ships? I mean, who wouldn't want the plum job of defending to the world's media a person who quits, lies, 'pals around' with racists, homophobes, right-wing conspiracy nutjobs, uses her children to score questionable political points (but only against those who happen to disagree with her politically), and is more than happy to simply 'make stuff up' to sell books (oh yeah, that's right, she buys her own books with PAC money so she can pocket the profits). Yep, sounds like the job for me, ya sure, ya betcha!
Perhaps Mrs. Palin could follow Stapleton's example and leave the public spotlight to focus on her family by acting like a mother.