WASILLA -- Sarah Palin arrives at a coffee shop for an interview looking like any other soccer mom running late for her next rendezvous with an offspring.

She's dressed down in a pantsuit, her youngest, daughter Piper Indy, tugging at a pants leg. Her son Track will arrive later with a friend, and mother will dutifully hand over a few dollars. She needs a job, and soon, she quipped, just to keep her brood in gas money.

Palin, 41, and most commonly appended the former mayor of Wasilla, has been out of public service but not the public eye the past 17 months.

Palin resigned in January 2004 as chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Most recently, she appeared in newspaper and TV ads as an advocate ofan all-Alaska natural gas pipeline. That effort semi-collapsed even as Palin sat for this interview June 1 when California energy company Sempra withdrew its financial backing. Sempra cited a lack of progress in Juneau toward securing a natural gas supply it could ship to the West Coast.

Palin, once an up-and-coming member of the Republican Party, asserts a passion for inquiry that she says put her on the outs with the party establishment. That hasn't dimmed her political ambition, judging by what she had to say Thursday.

Palin resigned from the oil and gas commission after a public squabble with fellow commissioner Randy Ruedrich, who also happens to chair the Republican Party of Alaska. Palin in 2003 alerted Gov. Frank Murkowski's administration that she suspected Ruedrich of an ethical misstep, doing party work on government time.

Political suicide, perhaps. But Palin had already surprised some with a strong but losing bid for lieutenant governor in the 2002 Republican primary. Afterward, she was mentioned as a possible choice to fill Gov. Frank Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat and then as a contender to unseat the woman who filled that seat, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, also a Republican.

Palin resigned from the commission rather than, she said at the time, be forced to remain silent about Ruederich's ethical lapses. Ruederich too later resigned and settled the complaint against him at the state personnel board by agreeing to pay a $1,200 fine.

Palin, holder of a journalism degree from the University of Idaho, was not finished needling her Republican cohorts. She rose in 2004 to formally complain, along with state Sen. Eric Croft, an Anchorage Democrat, that former state Attorney General Greg Renkes also suffered an ethical handicap. They based the charge on newspaper reports that Renkes held $100,000 in stock in a company with which he negotiated a coal contract for the state. Renkes ultimately resigned.

Palin said she believes divisions have deepened between her and the party leadership.

Until June 1, Palin, who started out in politics more than 10 years ago on the Wasilla City Council and then served two terms as mayor, stood shoulder to shoulder in newspaper ads and TV spots touting an all-Alaska natural-gas line with former state Govs. Jay Hammond and Wally Hickel and retired state Senate President Rick Halford.

During this intermission in Palin's political life, we asked her what the next act holds.

Q: I noticed there was a new business license acquired in the Mat-Su under your name.

A: Rouge Cou, it's a classy way of saying redneck. It's a French word, rouge is red, cou is neck. It's for marketing and consulting, in case I wanted to go that route, I'd have my ducks all lined up and have a business license. I just was granted that business license.

Q: You're not actively pursuing a business, it's setting aside the rights, the name, rather?

A: It was to, again, get my ducks lined up, because I would like to, with some of the endeavors that I have going on right now, there comes a time when one desires to be paid for them!

Q: What does your husband do?

A: He is a North Slope production worker. His name is Todd Palin, and he's a commercial fisherman. In fact, he's doing swaps, making up time up there now so he can take off the time to fish. As a family, we commercial fish in Bristol Bay. We're out there with our nets on the beach and on the skiff. Todd, he's Alaska native, born and raised in Bristol Bay, so he's been doing that forever.

Q: I see that you have a penchant for quoting people like John Wooden and Plato, do you consider yourself well-read?

A: (Laughs). I'll let other people judge that. I'm glad you mentioned John Wooden. Most of my inspiration has come from being involved in sports and just recognizing all the positive that comes from healthy competition that sports provide.

Q: Obviously that transfers into the political realm, in terms of being an elected representative in the past, at least, does that figure into your political philosophy?

A: Absolutely. You know, it's always a pleasure for me to speak at high school graduations. I'm speaking at Colony's this weekend, to remind the students, especially those who have an opportunity to be involved in sports, to take what they've gained through these years of athletic competition and translate that into their family life, their community life, their business life. And those are the obvious ... the self-discipline, the grace in defeat and in victory, the drive, the teamwork.

Q: It sounds as though you've adopted energy independence and a supply for Southcentral as sort of a cause. And so, I'm curious how you found yourself, for example, on the all-Alaska pipeline advertising, the only woman along with so-called elder statesmen. How did that strike you?

A: Well, the guys asked about it, what did I think about an all-Alaska line. Of course, my position is, all things being equal, of course it needs to be all Alaska. It's constitutionally mandated that our resources be developed for the benefit of all Alaskans.

It's not a difficult decision for me to make when asked, would you rather see the jobs, the revenue derived go more towards a foreign company and foreign country, Canada, or keep it all in Alaska? And I look forward also to seeing how, what kind of compromises in the best interest of Alaskans will come from this. I trust that there will be decisions that will be made, we better be able to trust that there are decisions that will be made by the administration that are open to public scrutiny. And that's the concern I have right now, the lack of open government that we see in state government.

Q: Were you at all surprised with the outcome of the Renkes case?

A: I'm surprised at the reactions still from the administration on the whole issue, that there's still such denial that there was any wrongdoing when obviously and legally there was wrongdoing. But between that and the Randy Ruederich case, I'm amazed still that some in the administration don't want to believe that there was anything amiss when obviously there was.

Q:Do you see any fallout?

A: The fallout politically for me is that the chair of the Republican Party, Randy Ruderich, he certainly is not an ally. The crazy thing about it too is that he and some of his followers used to act like, you know, I could do anything. I would help the state, help the party, and I'm the same person that I was back then, when he still supported me. I have the same positions; I have the same values. But now, I'm an enemy, ... because I asked questions, because I did my job as a supervisor and asked.

Q: Did you get any of that from your journalism background?

A: I did. I did. Two things I called upon, well, three things. One is just, you know, things that you teach your kids, that you want your kids to be honest and have a good character. But my journalism degree and my 10 years in local government had me very perplexed as to why there was a, it seemed, this desire to wheel and deal behind closed doors. This was the public's business. The attorney general is a public servant; it's the public's business that we were dealing with there. ...You would have no motivation to try to get away with something like that in a small town like Wasilla or anywhere else across Alaska. So for those who came from Washington, D.C., and came from outside of Alaska, to come in here and to engage in some of those activities, it was, it was un-Alaskan even, that that was going on.

Q:What do you plan to do next?

A: We talked in the beginning about our passions and what piques our interest.

And as much as I've become so frustrated with the Alaskan political scene, that still is my interest is serving Alaska in whatever capacity Alaskans may see fit in the future. And I recognize that there is a time and a season for everything. I don't know exactly when the season would be, but I would like to serve somehow statewide at some point because this is my home. I have great respect for my husband's native roots and I'm so fortunate to have married into this family that has ties to Alaska's, our foundation. Bush Alaska, villages, Native communities ... I think deserve a lot more respect. It's another one of my passions, and it's another kind of driving force that gets me thinking if Alaskans would choose me to do something in the future for them, I would love to serve them.

Q: Do you have your sights set on any particular office that you'd like to serve in?

A: The list is long and I think the most, maybe the most fruitful office would be in the executive branch because ... our form of government in Alaska allows the governor and the lieutenant governor, if the governor will give some credence to the lieutenant governor, a lot of say in the direction of the state ...

It was like when I was on City Council for four years and I was making decisions, I was trying to help, but I realized then that in order to really set a tone and help set some direction and bring in what I thought the community needed, I needed to run for governor, I mean, run for mayor, get out of my comfort zone as one of many on the council and run for mayor.

With that line of thinking, I wouldn't hesitate if at some point in the future a door opened for me to be able to serve Alaskans in the executive branch, I would.

Q: What's keeping you from pursuing that today?

A: Unfortunately in politics in Alaska, the nature of the beast is that so many things are not within one's control, the potential candidate's control. When it comes to endorsements, when it comes to raising funds, you know, if you're not dubbed a "golden child," you've got ... um, you've got a tougher road ahead of you than someone who already has the campaign contributions set up, already has the endorsements ready to go.

I certainly have the blessing of my husband and my kids, my family, to get out there and do something, to run for whatever I want to run for.

Then my kids too, I've been home enough, 17 months, and I think they're really ready for me to go do something. I'm in their business all the time.

Q: Which is the better lawn ornament for the Valley: a pink flamingo or a pickup truck with a tarp on it?