a new anti-feminist low for palin - making woman pay for their own rape kits

link: palin's administration made women pay for their own rape kits

from the diary of prof frink @ dailykos

During her time as mayor she hired a lobbyist linked to the now disgraced and convicted Jack Abramoff. The city of 6,500 obtained $26.7 million in pork-barrel earmarks during her last four years as mayor, that’s a per capita of over $1000 per person, expensive for even Alaska. Steven R has already written a wonderful diary about a policy position of her appointee as Police Chief, Charlie Fannon.Chief Fannon went on the record with his opposition to a law signed in May of 2000 requiring that cities foot the bill for rape kits for victims, essential to the conviction of the perpetrator. You see, until that time, Wasilla expected women to pay for their own kit for $300-$1300, on the premise that the kit would be paid for by the fines and penalties assessed of the eventual convict, assuming a conviction was forthcoming.

    A city swimming in federal earmark money that can’t afford to help ensure that victimized women don’t have to pay for the evidence to seek justice, this is the city that Palin led as mayor. Between 2000 and 2005 Wasilla averaged 2 arrests per year for rape. This number does not count attempted rapes.This also doesn’t account that the DOJ estimates that as little as 26% of rapes go unreported, or those who are never arrested and charged for a notoriously hard to try and convict crime. In 2003, her last budget, Wasilla had a total budget of $12.5 million including capital projects (Ordinance 02-23 (am), 5/13/2002). In 2000, said Chief Fannon, "I just don’t want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer" when asked about the rape kit law.

    Maybe she could have used of the $27 million in earmarks the city had obtained. Just how many rape kits could she have afforded with that? Assuming the maximum price of $1300 per kit, that money could have bought 20,538 kits. Alaska averaged 541 rape arrests per year between 1996 and 2002. That means that just the federal pork money Wasilla obtained could have provided enough rape kits to provide the entire state of Alaska with rape kits for at least 30 years. And yet Sarah Palin’s own police chief couldn’t see the point in "burdening the tax payers" with the costs of the kits for his town’s women.

what we know about palin - week 1

today is the one week anniversary of the announcement of sarah palin's appointment as the republican vice-presidential nominee.  i've put together a listing of bunch of information about palin that has come to light in the last week.

perhaps i'll start a weekly roundup of all the delightful information that comes to light about this ultra-conservative, anti-choice, oil-drilling, earmark-demanding, polar-bear killing, loyalty-demanding bully who's got a sneer that makes dubya look like a benevolent deity.

enjoy.

anne kilkenny, a concerned citizen from wasilla, alaska (palin's hometown - the one she was mayor of) who knows sarah palin well, wrote a letter on august 31, 2008 to a few friends which is now circulating wildly through the internet.

the mccain camp is trying to halt the "troopergate" investigation into palin's firing of walter monegan because of his failure to fire her sister's ex-husband (even though she'd been demanding that her ex-brother in law be fired for over a year!).  "there's a question as to whether [the investigation] should continue" said one mccain/palin advisor.  because she's a woman, no doubt.

palin attended five different colleges in six years before graduating from the university of idaho.  all five schools claim that the mccain camp contacted none of them during palin's background investigation and "vetting process."  it is as yet unknown why she had to switch colleges every year.

though she casts herself as a "fresh face" and "maverick," republican party officials say that she's been being "groomed for higher office" since her run for mayor of wasilla in 1996.

the anchorage daily news has the story about palin, upon securing the mayorship of wasilla in 1996, threatening and then firing the city librarian for refusing to ban books, as well as firing the former police chief, irl stambaugh, an action which violated civil rights laws that prohibit retaliation for politial activity.  she also fired 3 other city directors in the same sweep, and claimed, at the time, that the firings were simply loyalty tests.  

a group of citizens residing in wasilla discussed a recall of palin due to the controversial firings, but decided not to pursue it as they did not want to be "divisive."

politico.com talks about the 2006 research document put together by palin's opponent in the alaska gubernatorial race, describing her overzealous conservatism and micromanaging, bullying governing style.

the seattle times has a lengthy article reviewing many of the issues that have arisen upon palin's propulsion into the national spotlight, including her controversial firings, her vindictive nature, her firing of walter monegan, the public safety commissioner, for refusing to fire her brother-in-law, her rare, bizarre appearances at alaskan gubernatorial debates in 2006, and of course, her flip-flopping on the bridge to nowhere.

more about palin... and more, and more...

The Associated Press: Campaign money hurts Palin's outsider image

GOP vice presidential pick Sarah Palin accepted at least $4,500 in campaign contributions in the same fundraising scheme at the center of a public corruption scandal that led to the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens.

The contributions, made during Palin's failed 2002 bid to become Alaska's lieutenant governor, were not illegal for her to accept. But they show how Palin, a self-proclaimed champion for clean government, has been part of an Alaska political system that is now under the cloud of an ongoing FBI investigation.

It's the latest in a string of revelations that raise questions about whether John McCain's presidential campaign had sufficiently investigated the background of Palin, 44, a little-known governor new to the national stage.

(snip)

The list of potentially embarrassing details grew Tuesday:

- Her husband once belonged to a fringe political group in Alaska with some members supporting succession from the United States.

- In her earlier career as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin hired a lobbyist to help the tiny town secure at least 14 earmarks, worth $27 million between 2000-2003. McCain has touted Palin as a force in his long battle against earmarks.

- Under her leadership this year, Alaska asked for almost $300 per person in requests for pet projects from Stevens, one of McCain's top adversaries. That's more than any other state received, per person, from Congress.

- The head of the firm hired to defend Gov. Palin in a state ethics investigation was previously her family's lawyer and is permitted to bill the state up to $95,000 for work in the current case. It involves the dismissal of public safety commissioner Walt Monegan after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced the governor's sister.

- Palin opposed the U.S. government's listing of a variety of animals as endangered, including the polar bear and the beluga whale, both of which inhabit areas also rich in oil and natural gas.

good move, john...