Palin Had DIRECT ROLE in Charging Rape Victims for Evidence-Collecting Exams

[DemoRabbit]

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html

New Evidence: Palin Had Direct Role In Charging Rape Victims For Exams

Despite denials by the Palin campaign, new evidence proves that as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin had a direct hand in imposing fees to pay for post-sexual assault medical exams conducted by the city to gather evidence.

Palin's role is now confirmed by Wasilla City budget documents available online.

Under Sarah Palin's administration, Wasilla cut funds that had previously paid for the medical exams and began charging victims or their health insurers the $500 to $1200 fees. Although Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella wrote USA Today earlier this week that the GOP vice presidential nominee "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test...To suggest otherwise is a deliberate misrepresentation of her commitment to supporting victims and bringing violent criminals to justice," Palin, as mayor, fired police chief Irl Stambaugh and replaced him with Charlie Fannon, who with Palin's knowledge, slashed the budget for the exams and began charging the city's victims of sexual assault. The city budget documents demonstrate Palin read and signed off on the new budget. A year later, alarmed Alaska lawmakers passed legislation outlawing the practice.

[Bluebear]

1. "Despite denials by the Palin campaign" - that's becoming a regular theme

[indepat]

43. Gawd, this issue alone should spur every American woman to not vote for Palin

:P

[jeff30997]

2. K&R

I'm ready to puke!

[DemoRabbit]

3. You and me both

[uppityperson]

4. k&r with pride. Good lord, the more that comes out, the worse she is.

[Tigress DEM]

26. Palin shoulda spent less time going over bro-i-laws confidential files & read the budget b4 signing.

If she didn't "see" that in the budget, it's still on her.

As we say in the lower 48 - ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Especially when YOU ARE THE LAW.

[beac]

73. Exactly! Especially when they are pushing her 'executive experience'

as a reason she's 'ready to lead.'

It's a win-win for us, IMO. Either she's a cold-hearted budget-slasher who re-victimized rape victims to save Wasillians $2 each OR she was just a pretty figure-head who signed things others gave her without ever reading them.

[uppityperson]

5. kick again for people who keep on digging for evidence of this crap. Good job!

[Tigress DEM]

27. AND mad props to Arianna Huffington.

Just bought her book the other day.

On becoming FEARLESS in Love Work and Life.

Huffington Post hasn't backed down on these type of stories and it's really investigative reporting done quite well.

[Union Thug]

6. K&R : That blathering harpie cannot be allowed anywhere near the whitehouse n/t

[Tigress DEM]

28. K&R YOUR POST!

[libnnc]

7. kick -- I loathe this woman

[SammyWinstonJack]

76. She is cold hearted ! In more ways than one!

[unkachuck]

8. and she'll pull....

....more right-wing shenanigans, like with recommending Nazi Supreme Court nominees, when, (not if), she becomes president....

....I don't understand Conservative and some Independent women....when the old man dies and palin becomes president she's going to try to own your reproductive tract....she going to make you do things with it you may not want to do....can't you see her far right-wing agenda?....don't you get where she's coming from?....don't you understand what she's all about?....aren't you scared?

....but hey, that's your decision, that's your call, I've got a schwantz....

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[beyurslf]

47. How are we "flaming extremists?" Because we point out FACT and call out her LIES?

They get up and they say none of this true but the paper trail proves otherwise. I am sorry you ignore truth and disregard evidence as extremism.

[Mister Ed]

56. Can you point out anything in the OP or the article it links to that is not factual and documented?

:shrug:

[sunnystarr]

60. In case you didn't notice ...

this is democraticunderground.com and is a place for democrats to voice their opinions and frustrations, share facts, and during elections organize to help our candidates win their seats. Republicans go to freerepublic.com to do the same and any democrat (or independent agreeing with democrats) who posts there is quickly tombstoned.

You can go to many democratic leaning sites, such as huffingtonpost.com, to express contrary views.

It's great that you're here to check out the facts that we research since you may get a more complete picture of Sarah Palin. It's important that you recognize that voters normally and traditionally vote for the top of the ticket. I noticed you didn't identify yourself as a McCain supporter/voter.

Since it will be McCain who will be in the driver's seat, if Republicans have their way, please be ready to either enlist or have your children enlist (depending on age) for the next war, since he has publicly stated numerous times that there will be other wars and he's ready to fight Iran. He is supportive of the Bush Doctrine, and if you, like Sarah, don't have a clue what that entails, I suggest you use Google and educate yourself.

[wolfgangmo]

63. Yah be he has to come here.

Have you seen FreeperRepublic.commie? It looks like it was put together by someone who still codes for windows 3.1. Crap. The last time I saw layout that lame was when my computer screen was in monochrome.

I guess political views are not the only thing out of date with the retarded right.

[sce56]

62. The trouble is you people take a lie and call it the truth just like the Nazis did!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html

The story of the Wasilla policy has made its way from comments on Daily Kos to the pages of USA Today. But clear evidence suggesting Palin knew Wasilla was charging the victims of sexual assault has been hard to find. Placing the city budget records, however, alongside a timetable of Palin's firing Chief Stambaugh and hiring Chief Fannon makes it clear the policy was put in place as a direct result of Palin's leadership.

The mayor of Wasilla before Sarah Palin, John C. Stein, was also a Republican, though the office was and continues to be non-partisan. Mayor Stein was defeated by Sarah Palin in a campaign that brought in the NRA, Republican partisans, and a whisper campaign that Mayor Stein was Jewish (he is a Christian, but is "proud of such a reputation"). He now runs the Sitka Sound Science Center, a marine research facility in Sitka, Alaska.

Mayor Stein told OffTheBus that he didn't "think victims were billed while was mayor," but that he wasn't certain. He did mention that "Wasilla participated in establishing a Sexual Assault Response Team to set-up a one-stop forensic exam room for victims," evidence of a pro-victim police department. In order to confirm his assertion about the billing policy, he recommended I contact current police chief Angella Long for confirmation. She did not return my request for comment.

However, I was able to eventually track down Irl Stambaugh, police chief of Wasilla from the founding of the department until Sarah Palin fired him for "not fully supporting her efforts to govern." Stambaugh sued for breach of contract, but lost when a federal judge ruled that "police chiefs serve at the behest of the mayor unless otherwise specified." He later served as the executive director of the Alaska Police Standards Council.

Refute that!

[BrainStorm]

9. Women voting for Palin need to know this.

:kick:

[usregimechange]

10. So much for helping with the female vote...

[ColbertWatcher]

11. So, to put it in perspective ...

... Palin insists Alaska pay for her to live in her own home (because she's too good to live in the Governor's house), but rape victims have to pay for forensic testing.

Is that right?

[Tigress DEM]

30. By Jove, you've sniffed out the hypocrisy quite nicely. Well done!

[beac]

74. Great comparison. I'm going to add it to my arsenal! n/t

[FrenchieCat]

12. That's one scary piece of work!

Sarah, I mean.....

[melody]

13. Just when I think I couldn't hate this woman more, she surprises me n/t

[FLyellowdog]

14. And we're shocked...why?

[Tigress DEM]

31. Because she has ovaries? Human. Female. No like rapist who stiff us with the bill.

Oh, yeah, it wasn't the rapist who tossed her the tab, it was the Governor's hand picked man.


Dunno. These rethuglican women get lobotomized at a young age I think.

[usregimechange]

15. MSM?

[muntrv]

16. Sarah Palin is pro-rapist.

[usregimechange]

17. Compared to Biden, the author of the violence against women act

[Taverner]

71. Ironic, in this election the misogynist is a woman and the feminist is a man

[earthlover]

89. She is anti-victim, that's for sure

[MadMaddie]

90. That would be the Neocon Repugs in a nutshell wouldn't it?

[Max_powers94]

18. K & R Inc.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. Sarah Palin loves rapists and even wants their victims to have their babies......

:puke:

[silverweb]

20. The anti-woman woman.

And yet, many women will still vote for her simply because she has ovaries.

[undeterred]

65. You said it.

She is pretty extreme. Any woman who votes for her hates herself and other women.

[drm604]

21. K&R

:kick:

[FreakinDJ]

22. 1 way to get the number of Rapes down in Alaska

Who in the fuck is going to report a rape if it cost $1200 for the honor

[Tigress DEM]

32. 1 way to get the number of "reported" Rapes down in Alaska.

Yes, it's all about appearance of doing the job, not actually making any progress that means anything to the people living under the rule of the elite.

[SemperEadem]

80. After all, Alaska leads the nation in registered sex offenders

It's a virtual haven up there for them. I'm sure she's said somewhere that God helps her dream up her policy.:sarcasm:

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. A mayor doesn't simply "read and sign off" on a budget.

The budget is her budget. The mayor is directly responsible for every item therein.

It may or may not be adopted as-is by the council, but it's her document. If her budget had no money for post-assault medical exams, she is the one who established that policy. Not the police chief. Only a coward blames her actions on her subordinates.

[Tigress DEM]

33. Other departments submit their piece, BUT it's STILL HERS.

If she gave a damn and saw that in their proposal, it was her job to fix it and make it work for her constituents.

[wolfgangmo]

64. Isn't there an old saying in Republican Circles?

"The Buck Stops Here!"

Whatever happened to that.

[beac]

77. It's now spelled with a "T" in front of that last word. n/t

[beac]

75. 'Only a coward blames her actions on her subordinates' --

Blaming subordinates has been the established MO for BushCo AND McInsane for years now. She's fitting right in!

[lumberjack_jeff]

88. Partly because no one uses the appropriate words. "Liar" and "Coward". n/t

[DemFromMem]

24. where?

There are hundreds of pages of materials in dozens of documents. It would be great if you be specific.

[Tigress DEM]

36. Where "exactly" isn't the point. Palin pawned off responsibility that is HERS.

The section of the budget that deals with the issue has been found and it was originally proposed by the guy she replaced her brother in law with, but she can't make it his fault because every line in the budget is her responsibility. No ifs ands or maybes.

If she didn't care enough about the people of the state to read it or have others go over it with a fine tooth comb to find these issues, then she just wasn't doing her job.

[DemFromMem]

55. I don't doubt this post is true

But I would like to actually see the smoking gun. The poster put a link up that was to a library of documents from the town and it is not particularly useful. The point would be a lot stronger if he or she would provide the link to the specific PDF document and tell us the page number or page range. I pulled up the master budget and it is 132 pages long. And I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for.

[usregimechange]

25. MSM???

[Tigress DEM]

37. Huffington Post so far. You know the internet gets it done faster.

[Jim Lane]

69. USA Today is sniffing at it

The story in USA Today quoted the Palin spokeswoman as saying that Palin doesn't support charging women for the rape kits. The story also reported that the spokeswoman "would not answer other questions, including when Palin learned of Wasilla's policy or whether she tried to change it."

The HuffPo blogger drew an inference from official Wasilla documents available online. The newspaper is instead pursuing inquiries with the current town government: "After calling Wasilla Mayor Dianne Keller for comment Tuesday, USA TODAY was instructed to submit a public records request, under which the city has 10 days to respond. As of Wednesday, the city had not responded to a request for records reflecting Wasilla's prior policy, including when it took effect and the cost to sexual assault victims."

is from September 9, so we may well have some more hard information in another week or so. (It's fine with me if it gets dragged out so as to make multiple headlines instead of just one.)

[neverforget]

29. This needs to be an attack ad on McSame/Pius

[eshfemme]

34. Also, little known fact, Biden had a direct role in specifically fighting Palin here.

Don't believe me? See this vid from the Young Turks, Cenk breaks it down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nmk6BSUwEA

[WhiteTara]

35. she is despicable

[Ranting_Wacko]

38. K&R - This Needs To Be the next Obama/Biden advert....

Broadcast this fact far and wide, along with Sarah's belief that women should be forced to have their rapist's babies... even if the rapist was a family member.

Honestly, any woman who can vote for McCain/Palin knowing that... it hurts my head to think about it.

[phycomycetes]

39. Kudos for the Huffington Post!

Thanks for posting it.

I just have one word:

REPUGNANT


:puke:

[Douglas Carpenter]

40. kcik and RECOMMENDED!!

[Bubba Ho Tep]

41. But she will pay a bounty for a wolf paw. Nice to see her priorities.

This woman is not a nice person in my book.

[ExPatLeftist]

42. Women voting for Palin...

Is like African Americans voting Republican.

Or Jews voting for Hitler.

[riverdeep]

44. FYI, I have a lengthy post on this Palin thing here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3996573

There is a problem with this article. It contains at least one flaw. They claim the signature of Palin is proof of her sign off of the budget. The signature is actually a sign off on applying for a certificate of achievement.

"A Certificate of Achievement is valid for one year only. We believe our current report continues to conform to the Certificate of Achievement program requirements, and we are submitting it to GFOA.

Respectfully submitted, Sarah Palin, Mayor/ Erling P. Nelson, Finance Director."

Does that negate her responsibility? No, it's written into the municipal code, but this sort of sloppiness leaves us open to attack.

[riverdeep]

45. The other issue is, Obama's hands are not clean.

While he did introduce legislation to eliminate the need for poor or uninsured women to pay for rape kits, the fact remains that Illinois had the same policy of making women pay for rape kits.

This is not a winning issue, in my opinion. We are looking for 'scandal', and right past the twin 800 lb. elephants in this campaign. One of the elephants, is terrible for women without this thing. Her stated views are enough to put her away, if we were smarter in framing them.

[KelleyKramer]

49. Your concern is noted

Not a winning issue, eh?

Thats not at all surprising coming from you.

[riverdeep]

52. Hey, I'd love it if it was.

But what will you say when they bring up Illinois? If you can come up with a plausible answer, I'm all ears.

[KelleyKramer]

59. What will I say?

I'll say Obama fixed it.

What do you say about Palin firing the police chief...

And then when the AK legislature passed a law to specifically stop Wasilla mayor Palins town from doing this... then her hand picked police chief complained that taxpayers would be burdened...

Are you concerned about that at all??

[riverdeep]

70. Yes, I am concerned.

It was a ridiculous practice that happened in Wasilla. But the thing is, Obama didn't fix it completely. Try this, fill in the blank, _____ charged women for rape kits. That blank can be filled in by either Palin or Obama. He did stop the need for poor women to pay, but otherwise women's insurance companies were charged just like in Wasilla.

Now a mayor, even with a city council to navigate, I would think has more direct control over a town's practices than a senator does over a state's practices, especially with a large deliberative body to get through, but that's not what's going to be said. What will be repeated is that 'Obama did it too.' And then another few days of a news cycle will be down the drain with they said, they said. Meanwhile, we've got vulnerabilities on her galore, I would say go for those.

My concern is not about rightness or wrongness. It's about what will get lasting traction. We're not trying to convince ourselves, we're trying to convince the middle.

[tabasco]

53. Say what?

Obama fixed the same problem, where he lived, that Palin caused, where she lived, and it's not a winning issue?

:shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug:

[riverdeep]

54. He fixed the problem to a degree.

The uninsured or otherwise unable to pay could claim compensation, something he scores points on.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet92/summary/920HB1814.html

However, the larger practice of charging women's insurance carriers, which is what was happening in Wasilla, continued. That is what you need to get around. Then the issue becomes arguable.

[DemoRabbit]

78. Obama wasn't RESPONSIBLE for hurting rape victims - he worked to fix it...

While Palin had a DIRECT ROLE in hurting rape victims.

It's pretty simple really.

While Obama didn't overturn the entire practice, he at least made sure those without the money or insurance didn't get a bill, victimizing the rape sufferer over again. He also wasn't directly responsible for putting the practice of charging victims into play. That's a HUGE difference from what Palin did.

In addition, Obama is NOT a woman, claiming to be an advocate for women by gender alone.

[riverdeep]

81. Good, you've made a good point I hadn't considered.

I'm trying to be wrong! But my head won't let me off that easy.

While Palin's choice to bring in a chief wasn't chosen specifically to hurt women, that's what wound up happening. Obama, had a system handed to him that he tried to improve, although he didn't or couldn't go far enough. I would really like to find out his take from a rep on whether it was 'didn't' or 'couldn't'. The latter provides more cover.

[progdonkey]

82. yeah, when Obama was mayor of Chicago...

he fired the chief of police and replaced him with a lackey, and they proceeded to charge rape victims for their own rape kits, a policy which was only stopped when the Republican governor of Illinois passed a law prohibiting such practices.


Oh, wait.... :eyes:

[usregimechange]

48. kick

[KelleyKramer]

50. Well, well....

Isnt that interesting....

It just gets curious and curiouser

K & R !

[lisainmilo]

51. This woman is truly freakin NUTS! and....

McCain is even more NUTS for choosing her....ABSOLUTE INSANITY, to think these two could run our country....

[unapatriciated]

57. She didn't improve her reading skills when she became Governor....

why would anyone think she would actually do her required reading as VP.

http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/8825231p-8726532c.html

System faulted for high Alaska Native rape rate
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Report says 1 in 3 women will fall victim to the crime and government is to blame.
By ALEX deMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 25, 2007
Last Modified: April 25, 2007 at 02:08 PM

"Gov. Sarah Palin hadn't seen the Amnesty report, said spokeswoman Sharon Leighow early Thursday afternoon."

[Swede Atlanta]

68. Reading isn't a required skill in the GOP

Remember that George W has repeatedly said he doesn't read that much and relies on summaries from his underlings. I wonder if he in fact read the National Security Briefing in early August 2001 or got the Reader's Digest version, "well sir someone may try to do something bad to us with airplanes".

Our elected leaders need to read and understand everything that bears their signature. Now granted something like the federal budget is so massive that the Executive branch has to rely on summary data. But I can't imagine the budget for the City of Wasilla was so massive she couldn't have read it line by line in a few hours of focused attention.

This is ridiculous. Remember how Bill Clinton was known to spend hours into the night reading briefings, newspapers, etc. so that he was personlly informed about the issues. Oh, issues...that's right...the GOP doesn't care about issues, just personalities. Speaking of personalities, isn't that really a "celebrity" thing, the very charge being made against Obama by the Repukes?

[hisownpetard]

58. Did she also support the idea of charging murder victims for the forensic tests

on the bloody knife or gun?

Disgusting human being.

[theodosis2]

61. Palin

XLNT post---"THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING" I can't recall where the quote came from, but it certainly is apropos and I have used it in my op-eds on many occasions.
A bookmaker friend of mine in L.A. has decided to set a betting line on how long Palin would
remain on the ticket. When I asked him why he would get involved in politics? His explanation was this--"Many of my clients are hard-line 'REPUKES' and they came through for me when I set the first line--she'd resign by 9/10, over and under being the 5th of September. He has set a new date--she'd resign by 10/31, over and under being 10/15. ASSUMING THERE IS AN ELECTION!

[mcollier]

72. STOP Giving McCain A Pass

Must attack McCain's Judgment "Make No Mistake!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRpIfTDHG2U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWUS0J9Pt9U

Pass this along...

Time to get aggressive... Palin is a distraction....


Judgment to handle our nations challenges needs to be focused...

bush cheny = terrible judgment
mccain palin = more of the same terrible judment

[w4rma]

87. Palin isn't a distraction, because if McCain/Palin win then Palin will be president when McCain dies

in office.

[orleans]

66. bitch. n/t

[Rocknrule]

67. The sad thing is

her attitude towards rape victims seems in line with the Old Testament

[beac]

79. K&R ! n/t

[Thegonagle]

83. Gee, who'd a thunk it?

Why, why, why do they lie?

They're so busted!

Why does the mainstream media suck? Why can't they report the truth.

The preponderance of the evidence is stacked so far against them, and it's still not a story?

This is hugh. I'm series.

[Imagevision]

84. Can anyone imagine Palin as Prez? geeeesh!

[mzmolly]

85. Horrendous.

:(

[w4rma]

86. Bam. There's the whole story and it's connections: Police chief with integrity wouldn't fire

her ex-brother-in-law when she told him to. She fires the police chief with integrity and hires one without integrity. The new police chief is in her pocket. Palin's personal police chief forces rape victims to pay up to $1200 per rape exam. (As an aside: I wonder if he forced the girls to pay up front or if he billed them later.)

So, did she start "hunting" wolves from airplanes as mayor, using the city's funds, or did she start shooting wolves from planes when she had the larger pocketbook of the whole state of Alaska at her bidding, after she was elected governor?