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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
take care
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.
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!
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?
Obama's got my vote anyway, but could you explain how he plans to prevent the crime of rape?
Seriously, what?
Obviously, Hillary doesn't want to get involved.
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.
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.
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
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.