Palin's Wasilla To Rape Victims: Bring Your Checkbook

Hat tip to AmericaBlog for this one.

In 2000, then-Governor Tony Knowles signed a bill in Alaska that ensured law enforcement around the state would pay for the processing of "Rape Kits" - forensics evidence collected in rape cases. Seemed common sense enough. Knowles noted, correctly, that we don't charge robbery victims the cost of dusting for prints, so why would be charge rape victims the cost of gathering evidence to apprehend their assailant?

Except one little town objected, and had previously refused to foot the bill to solve rape cases - Wasilla, under Mayor Sarah Palin.

Reported the local paper, The Frontiersman, at the time:

While the Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies have covered the cost of exams, which cost between $300 to $1,200 apiece, the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests.

Now, look, maybe this was long-standing policy, instituted far before Palin took office in Wasilla. Maybe she had been appointing people who would overturn this policy. Uh, no. After taking office, Palin fired the police chief, Irl Stambaugh (which made her a subject of a recall effort) and replaced him with Charlie Fannon. Fannon's view of paying to solve rape cases?

Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon does not agree with the new legislation, saying the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to cover the costs of the forensic exams.

So, for four years - from 1996, when Palin took office to 2000 when this law was passed - Palin didn't seem to have a problem with charging rape victims to solve their own crime. And if she did, she certainly didn't communicate that to her hand-picked Police Chief, who didn't have a problem with it.

I guess that's one way to be a "Maverick."

Of course, I'd be willing to say that Palin was just a part-time Mayor with very little oversight or responsibility, and it's unfair to say she could do something about it.

But, as Palin has made clear, being Mayor was "kiiiiiind of like being a community organizer, except you have actual responsibility." And, of course, John McCain and his campaign have made clear that as Mayor, Palin had a ton of responsibility and decision-making pressure, which is why she's ready to assume the Presidency from Day One.

As much as this seems like a post about Sarah Palin, it's really not. It's about John McCain. What I want to know is at what point in the vetting process, after going through Mayoral records, did the McCain campaign learn that Palin condoned the charging of rape victims the cost of processing rape kits? And after they found out, before he selected her, did he discuss the matter in the extensive discussions he had with Palin about her record and her views?

Oh wait, that's right he didn't do any of this, because he made his decision after a short phone call. And now he has, on his ticket, someone who didn't seem to think that charging rape victims for forensics processing in their rape cases was all that big of a problem. Or, at least it wasn't a big enough problem to use her "responsibility" to change the policy.

One heartbeat away from being President.

Comments

[Maude08]

What struck me about the rape kit claims was the comment of the police chief about the possibility of paying $5000 to $14,000 for rape kits per year. In a town of less than 6000 people at the time Ms. Palin was mayor, 3-9 rapes a year seems to be a bit high. A fair question for Ms. Palin might be for her to explain the crime rate for crimes against women during her tenure, and ask what she did to combat the problem.

I do not buy the idea that she did not know about fees for rape kits and who might be expected to pay. In a small one-horse town, with her being the chief horse, if she did not know, it was because she listened with her thumbs stuck in her ears.

Her job is to know what is happening in her baliwick. It couldn't have been that hard in a town that small. If nothing else, town gossips would have kept her informed. Having served on city council in a town much larger than Wasilla, it was MY JOB to know critical policies.

The expenditure for rape kits and who pays should have been a part of routine budgetary discussions. If her police chief did not ever bring this up at a budget meeting, he was derelict in his duty to the citizens of Wasilla and perhaps more interested in remaining on her good side than keeping her informed.

[FawkesNews]

Palin believes life begins at rape

Part of the reason Palin did not support paying for forensic kits is at the end of the rape exam the victim is offered emergency contraception.

Despite what the McSame campaign is saying, she took this incredible stance to be consistent with her view that government should require victims of rape and/or incest to carry the babies of criminals to term.

comment on this article: http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/523708.html

[Annie77]

your reasoning is merely your opinion and not based on fact. I read the article you highlighted. Check these articles and you will see that victims paying for their own rape kits has been an ongoing problem and not isolated to Alaska:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-health-and-money/2008/9/10/sarah-palin-and-the-rape-kit-question.html

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-health-and-money/2008/02/21/rape-victims-can-be-hurt-financially-too.html

[plattform]

Hate to rain on everyone's party...but...

Can you prove that a single victim was forced to pay this kit fee? The police chief takes an honorable stance, essentially saying that the perpetrator should be stuck with the bill. I actually prefer that, really stick it to him/her. If the city billed the victims, then this is an awful and disgusting thing. However, if they absorbed the cost but their greater position was that they wanted to charge the offender, then this whole thing will blow back up in your face and you will be forced to retract the claims, because you didn't do the necessary research. Not that we need any more analogies this week, but then its the left that wasn't properly vetting their sources, and that sounds sort of like the one with the pot calling the kettle a color that could be construed as racist! Wow this is getting fun.

So, my recommendation to any of you that want to pursue this:

If the Wasilla records are online and transparent as they are claimed to be, would someone please just check to see who was charged for these rape kits and/or did the city of Wasilla absorb the cost? Until this is answered, I really think everyone should calm the F down and get to the bottom of it before we have another babygate blow up in our faces.

[wayne64]

I agree ....this story needs to be thoroughly investigated beyond the attention getting headline. I can't imagine there not being more to the story than what has been reported. Babygate was too much of a stretch for me to believe from the beginning.....and yes it hurt the credibility of everyone who posted it and believed it. If a blog or post sound too unbelievable to be true..no matter how much you want to believe it ...then it probably is.

[chriss0114]

You cannot "charge" a suspect for the investigation of an alleged crime. Go grow a brain.

[luvangelHussein330]

mkay...so if you got raped, you would have had to pay for it...and if you got knocked up, if Paylin had her way you'd have to keep the baby

[RepubGirl]

It's an Insurance thing, with the rape victim at the hospital. Insurance covers this type of medical procedure. It's not like they walk up to the girl and ask for the cash to pay for anything. If the victim has no insurance then it is covered by the govt. If you just read liberal blogs you will just get liberal views. Also, while I don't agree with having to have a baby after being raped, she doesn't ecpect the woman to keep the child, they can put them up for adoption. Her view is that you shouldn't punish the baby for something they had no control over. Again, I don't agree with her on this matter but it is a minor view for me in the grand scheme of things. I am worried about the country as a whole, not just one particular right. By the way, I heard that Illinois makes their rape victim's pay for this test too, isn't that Obama's state? If it's true, you won't see it on Huffington Post.

[kenyaaustin]

RepubGirl, what is wrong with you? U said: Also, while I don't agree with having to have a baby after being raped, she doesn't ecpect the woman to keep the child, they can put them up for adoption. clearly shows me that you have no remorse for someone that has been raped. I have been a victim, and I can tell you that had I conceived, merely giving the child up for adoption would not have been suffice for me. There is no way, I would think that a woman pregnant from rape/incest should be required to carry the child full-term. That is cruel and unusual punishment. Just being a victim will drive you crazy enough, I would have surely been locked in a mental institution if a life was created out of such a tragic event.

you know I don't want to be so harsh. I wouldn't say that you have no remorse, maybe it's just that you may have never been in this type of situation and you just can't relate. Or maybe, you have been in this type of situation and you are just a much stronger person that I would have been. But we cannot be so straight and narrow on this kind of issue, a woman has to have a choice.

[kenyaaustin]

And I agree, there are so many other things that we need to be concerned with, this is just one right. it just hits close to home for me. I try not to get too emotional and "caught up" in 1 are 2 things when there's so much more going on. Hopefully, I didn't sound too mean in the beginning, my emotion just took over.

take care

[RealHRCFansVoteObama]

Every poster here needs to do a search on conservative blogs and make sure this story makes the rounds.

I have posted this story on every mom-oriented site I can find, but we ALL need to do it. None of us can afford ads on FOX, but posting on Free Republic, Urban Conservative and the like are FREE!

Make the issue known. Conservative women will face this issue too. She is not like the rest of us.

[RepubGirl]

This is going to boomerang back to you! Obama's state does it too!

[zcanelakat]

I don't think so... Here is more about the Illinois Rape Kit Legislation passed in 2001:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/9/124815/2904/672/592233
Thankyou GirlZero! And Obama is the Illinois Senate co-sponser.
Alaska blocked the Wasilla Rape Kit Doctrine. Good for them!

[didyounotice]

The Obama camp should make this a commercial and place it on continuous loop now until election day.

[RealHRCFansVoteObama]

I would donate to any organization who would make an ad out of this.

One in 3 women raped in this country. McCain jokes about it, Palin punishes the victims, OBAMA PREVENTS THEM.

Who is in the right place on women's issues?

[jood42]

Wait...what?

Obama's got my vote anyway, but could you explain how he plans to prevent the crime of rape?

Seriously, what?

[Calinative]

Howard Dean should be on the talk show circuit hammering them with this stuff.
Obviously, Hillary doesn't want to get involved.

[omarkhyam1951]

Why does this sound so much like a desparate attempt to distort facts at the last moment? Why was this not brought up when she was running for election as governor?

[sytgrl]

If you look at the original article in the Frontiersman, the article was written in 2000. In other words, it WAS.

[bluevespagirl]

Maybe this is why McCain picked her as his running mate? Remember the "joke" McCain told back in the day that equated the woman being raped by a "monkey" and enjoying it? Maybe Palin thinks the same way - women must enjoy it so let's charge them for the rape test kit since it must obviously be a frivolous claim.

It will be a very, very sad day in America if McSame/Pain is elected. It already brings tears to my eyes to think how much further our country will sink under their rule.

[eduvert]

Thank you for posting this item. This one story should get every woman in America so angry McCain and Palin will be merely historical footnotes. Keep telling it, over and over and over.

[Mason]

Makes one wonder how many rape victims decided against permitting the rape kit to be used to collect evidence because they couldn't afford it resulting in a decision not to prosecute the rapist due to the lack of evidence.

Also makes one wonder if rape victims were denied abortion relief, give Palin's well known views on the subject.

Certainly looks like Wasilla was a rape-free zone during Palin's term as mayor.

[Mason]

Sorry, I should have added the link to the story in a May 2000, issue of The Frontiersman. BTW, rape victims were charged between $300 and $1,200 for the kits. Apparently medical insurance, assuming the victim was insured and the insurance company agreed that the cost was covered by the oh-so-wond­erful-fine­-print that no one bothers to read since rarely do they ever have a choice in the matter, picked up the tab -- subject to the deductible, of course.

So how does the nurse or ER doc explain this "little" extra charge to a traumatized and possibly hysterical patient? Who decides what fee to charge and on what basis? I believe that a kit is a kit is a kit, so I assume the kits don't vary in cost and I also assume that the medical staff doesn't retain the unused portion of a kit to use on the next victim that comes in. My inquiring mind also wants to know who profited from the mark-up in cost? From the article, it looks like the city police department typically pays the fee -- with the single exception of Wasilla during Palin's administration, of course. I suppose the fee is paid to the hospital.

Finally, I wonder if any victim has been sued for non-payment?

http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2000/05/23/news.txt

[Mlinares210]

I saw this on another site last night, and I've been livid ever since. The original article appeared in The Frontiersman, Wasilla's home town paper. I also looked up the FBI crime statistics for Wasilla, and during Mayor Palin's tenure there was a spike in violent crime, including rape. According to the article, city thought that paying somewhere between $5000-$14,000 year on rape kits was too burdensome to the tax payers. This is coming from a town that employed a lobbyist to bring tens of millions of dollars in federal pork to the city. Now I see Palin is claiming government can cure social ills, but apparently not in any administration that she's a part of. Between this and her stance that rape victims should be forced to bear their rapists children, I can't help but wonder what her beef is with rape victims. Is it because when women seek help for rape they are administered emergency contraception and she wants to suppress the numbers of women seeking treatment for that reason? Is it because she thinks rape only happens to women who allow it to happen? What's her deal? This coupled with McCain's well publicized propensity to joke about rape alarms me so deeply that I literally prayed last night and thanked God that I have only sons...and went to bed in fear and frustration over the welfare of my neices.

[dapperd72]

Talk about counter-intuitive, turning logic and gender issues on their head. Here we have Sarah Palin, a so-called "pro-life" pseudo-maverick, who some Republican women bizarrely call a "feminist" further extorting rape victims (most of whom are statistically female) to pay to track down & prosecute their perpetrators, and OTOH, we have Joe Biden, a veteran *male* Senator who wrote the Violence Against Women Act competing for the 2nd most responsible executive position in the Western world, Vice President. Palin proved amply in the 2006 Gubernatorial debate, broadcast this past Sunday night on C-SPAN, that she has no true concern for the people's interests, particularly regarding medically suffering citizens. She opposes not only abortion in all cases, sex education except where abstinence-only is taught and birth control, but worse yet, stem-cell research involving fetal tissue that would otherwise be disposed. She has zero compassion for the most vulnerable members of society. Her treatment of the average working person or child is about as respectful as that of her treatment of her hunting victims. Her political campaign & career, along with that of McCain (who publicly joked that his wife should be a contestant in a topless beauty contest), should go down in flames. The American people must decide if they want a misogynistic pair of hypocrites to lead this nation further downhill or Obama & Biden, true feminists & mavericks with the people's interests at heart.

[TrooAmerican]

The Experienced Mayor. ... Nice.
Kwame Kilpatrick who's going to jail soon has WAY more experience and qualifications from running Detroit than she does running her personal club house called the Mayorship of Wasilla.

[TECH410]

It just gets worse doesn't it? I so hope that people start picking up this stuff and running with it. Barack should do it, or maybe Biden would make even more sense. McCain sure went "maverick" with his pick-- Just another flaw, just another reason he should NEVER become president. Thanks for covering this.