ABC: Palin Put Alaskan Women and Kids at Risk in Pursuit of Vendetta

[kpete]

Critics Question Palin's Record on "Epidemic" Rape, Domestic Violence in Alaska
Effort to Tackle Sex Violence Stalled by Palin's Office, Sources Say
By JUSTIN ROOD
September 15, 2008

ABC News:

Evangelicals and social conservatives have embraced McCain's vice presidential pick for what they call her "pro-family," "pro-woman" values. But in Alaska, critics say Gov. Sarah Palin has not addressed the rampant sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence and murder that make her state one of the most dangerous places in the country for women and children.

Alaska leads the nation in reported forcible rapes per capita, according to the FBI, with a rate two and a half times the national average - a ranking it has held for many years. Children are no safer: Public safety experts believe that the prevalence of rape and sexual assault of minors in Alaska makes the state's record one of the worst in the U.S. And while solid statistics on domestic violence are hard to come by, most - including Gov. Palin - agree it is an "epidemic."

................

Some members of Palin's administration were focused on the issue of sexual violence. Officials in the Department of Public Safety were devising an ambitious, multi-million-dollar initiative to seriously tackle sex crimes in the state...

................

Days later, Palin fired its chief proponent, Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, after he declined to dismiss a state trooper Palin accused of threatening her own family members. Palin has said she fired Monegan because she wanted to move his department in a "new direction," and he was not being "a team player on budgeting issues." The dismissal is now at the center of a hotly-contested investigation by the state legislature.

Yes, that's right. In her effort to "protect her family" from domestic violence, she fired the state's leading advocate for domestic violence prevention. Because he wouldn't agree to fire her ex-brother in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten, on her say-so.

How she hoped to protect her family by making it more difficult for Wooten to pay his bills, nobody has yet figured out.

But in the meantime, the victims of Alaska's absolutely scandalous rate of violence against women and children -- not to mention the one guy who actually cared -- are paying the price for a governor who puts her obsession with using the trappings of high office to settle personal scores ahead of protecting public safety.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/16/11402/8612/999/600050



more at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5804581&page=1

[thereismore]

1. The plot thickens. This has to be said. nt

[BeyondGeography]

2. Maybe Katie can pursue this angle when she interviews her next week

:sarcasm:

[WI_DEM]

3. Will the McCain camp yell, "sexism" about this, too?

[JuniperLea]

4. It would be sexist NOT to put her to the same test we would give any man!

Keep up the excellent work in finding all these great articles, kpete! You are such an asset!

:patriot:

[progressivebydesign]

5. Good on ABC for exposing this! I'd heard that Alaska was awful for women.

It's still very much the macho frontier vibe there... and unfortunately, the Native Alaskan women are frequently the victims of heinous sex crimes, and their attackers let off with a slap on the wrist. The inequity for non-whites, and for women, is staggering there.

I did some research recently about racism in Alaska, and it led me to many cases of sexual assaults perpetrated on women because of their race. Thankfully, many groups have been formed up there to deal with this, but when your own Governor doesn't care, there is only so much you can do. Palin is "one of the boys" to the extent that she has little regard for women, and since Todd is the Shadow Governor, I'd hardly peg him for a champion on women's rights.

[justiceischeap]

6. But the biggest rub is this

She claims she went after Wooten because of the "domestic violence" angle, then claims she didn't, then admits that the reason he was fired was to get more funding to help women and children of domestic violence because it went against a bill she had already vetoed.

This can't be good for them.

[central scrutinizer]

8. irony alert -

the guy she put in Wooten's place had been reprimanded for sexual harrassment, which she knew about. But when it became public, she let him go as well, but he got the nice parting gift of $10,000. Monegan got squat.

[Kalyke]

7. And, yet, "women are flocking to Palin," according to the

corporate M$M.

:eyes:

[dgibby]

9. Move over wolves

Move over wolves, you've got company. Looks like it's open season on women and children, too. Other than a fetus, is there any life form this woman respects?:shrug: :mad: K&R

[jonestonesusa]

10. What a story - thanks for posting this.

It almost seems that the mainstream media is turning again to investigative journalism.

There's no excuse for the Dems not to have this info on a national commercial.

Thanks for the post.

[jonestonesusa]

11. What a story - thanks for posting this.

It almost seems that the mainstream media is turning again to investigative journalism.

There's no excuse for the Dems not to have this info on a national commercial.

Thanks for the post.

[jonestonesusa]

12. Sorry for the dupe..

[Tansy_Gold]

13. Isn't this essentially the same story that was behind the

Willie Horton ad, except that the Horton ad wasn't based on truth?

Sarah Palin put women and children at risk of rape and murder.