When Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, Dominick Bellotte, a senior football player at Valparaiso University, didn't have to read up on her.

Palin was the mayor of his hometown, Wasilla, Alaska, for two terms.

"Sarah Palin is very good to work with," Bellotte said Monday. "If you need something done, she will listen and then go to work for you."

Bellotte worked with Palin, who was mayor of Wasilla at the time, to promote constructing a hockey rink by speaking to the City Council, said Bellotte's mother, Louisa Bellotte.

"Dominick spoke on behalf of Sarah Palin on how instrumental having that sports complex would be, with one hockey rink and six high schools and all youth organizations trying to get access," Louisa Bellotte said.

Louisa Bellotte was on the committee for the Wasilla Sports Complex, she said by phone Saturday.

Wasilla is a growing town about an hour north of Anchorage.

Palin made her way into Wasilla politics in 1992 when she joined the City Council. She served two terms on the council and two terms as mayor. After a landslide primary victory over a Republican incumbent, she was elected governor in 2006. She drew on grass-roots support during her campaign, relying on neighbors and friends for staff, rather than veterans of big-time campaigns.

"She is about change and she doesn't care what party it's for, Republican or Democrat, she is about good change," Dominick Bellotte said.

As mayor, Palin also was instrumental in getting grants for the grade school and helped get a park and playground built, Louisa Bellotte said.

"When she's determined to do something, she does it," she said. "She's really big in cleaning up corruption and big into change."

Days after Palin's 2006 primary victory, an FBI investigation into political corruption involving the oil industry and her former Republican opponent burst into view, with surprise raids of legislative offices. As criminal indictments and convictions followed, Palin's outsider status helped her maintain consistently sky-high approval ratings.

"I think she's a great choice, she's very ethical and has got a lot of integrity," Louisa Bellotte said.

Times staff writer Kirsten Srinivasan, Times correspondent Paul Oren and Tom Kizzia, of McClatchy Newspapers, contributed to this report.