Jul. 7--DILLINGHAM -- Gov. Sarah Palin, three days after abruptly announcing she would resign as governor, said Monday that she did it because ethics complaints and politically ambitious state legislators would have been paralyzing.

"Especially when all these lawmakers are lining up for office. Their desire would be to clobber the administration left and right so that they can position themselves for office. I'm not going to put Alaskans through that," the governor said, wearing a Cabela's fishing bib as she stood on a Bristol Bay beach outside Dillingham.

Palin, who will hand power over to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell on July 26, said she was particularly frustrated by the ethics complaints filed against her and costs and time involved for the state in dealing with them.

"It's a combination of things that has brought me to this place of knowing. I love Alaskans too much to put them through a lame duck session heading into my final year in office; I was going to be honest and tell them I'm not going to run for re-election. I'm not going to let Alaskans go through a year of stymied, paralyzed administration and not getting anything done. I'm going to let Sean Parnell take this and we will see that things will let up," she said.

"With Sean in the governor's seat it won't be the politics of personal destruction, I don't believe," Palin said.

Palin spoke to the press on Monday evening for the first time since she announced her plans to resign as governor on July 26. National television camera crews flew out to Dillingham to take their turns interviewing her for 10 minutes that she allotted each, one at a time, on the beach.

The sudden and unexpected nature of her decision to resign has fueled runaway speculation about what's really going on, whether it's the start of a presidential bid or the flameout of her political career.

Her husband, Todd, and daughter Piper stood and waited for her to finish, then took the camera crews out to their commercial setnet site on the Nushagak River.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said after Palin's resignation that she was "deeply disappointed that the governor has decided to abandon the state and her constituents before her term has concluded."

Palin responded Monday by saying there's a double standard. She brought up the fact Murkowski left the Legislature when her father, then-governor Frank Murkowski, appointed her to the U.S. Senate seat he gave up to become governor.

"The double standard that's applied here is a bit perplexing. ... Didn't Lisa Murkowski leave office to go take her dad's seat? (Govs.) Huntsman left, Napolitano just left ...