Women charged for rape exams under Mayor Palin

As the race for the presidential and vice presidential seat wages on, Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin cannot seem to escape the hot seat. It recently come to light that during her tenure as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, rape victims were charged by law enforcement for rape kits.

A rape kit is an examination performed after a person has been sexually assaulted. The victim is placed in a room with a medical specialist and their body, like a crime scene, is searched for evidence. This procedure can cost anywhere from $500 to $1200 if the victim is made to pay for it.

According to CNN.com, former Alaska state Rep. Eric Croft, a Democrat, sponsored a state law requiring cities to provide the examinations free of charge to victims. He said the only ongoing resistance he met was from Wasilla, where Palin was mayor from 1996 to 2002.

“It was one of those things everyone could agree on except Wasilla,” Croft told CNN. “We couldn’t convince the chief of police to stop charging them.”

In other evidence that Palin was fully aware victims were being charged for the kits, former Chief of Police Irl Stambaugh was fired by Palin, who replaced him with Charlie Fannon. During Stambaugh’s term he included a line item for a least $11,000 in his budget to pay for the cost of rape exams and other forensic testing. His replacement, Fannon, cut the budget for exams like rape kits only requesting $3,000 dollars for that line Item.

Stambaugh was fired from his position “for not fully supporting the efforts to govern.” He tried to sue, but lost when a federal judge ruled that “police chiefs serve at the behest of the mayor unless otherwise specified,” said Jacob Alperin-Sheriff in a recent article posted on Sept.11.

Though Palin has yet to go on the record about this issue, her supporters say there is no way she could have known that victims were being charged and not speak up for them. However, according to the financial report for the 1999 fiscal year, Palin was fully aware of the decisions being made in Wasilla and even signed off on the budget. budget

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Comments (1):

The Daily Source

2008 09 24

Here is a useful resource related to Gov. Sarah Palin - the most comprehensive page of information on her record available on the Net. It includes videos of her saying her proposed $30 billion natural gas pipeline is the “will of God,” her saying a month ago she doesn’t know what the VP of the U.S. does, and her complaining four months ago that Hillary Clinton was whining about “sexist” coverage -

http://dailysource.org/palin

It has in-depth research, audio clips, videos, excerpts and links to hundreds of articles, including many from papers and TV stations in Alaska. It has rare footage, including her telling the 2008 convention of the Alaska Independence Party, whose goal is to give Alaska a vote on seceding from the U.S. to “keep up the good work.”

The level of research is unparalleled. The site’s editors include an Emmy-award winning CNN reporter, the former operating editor of the Christian Science Monitor’s web site, the former head of NPRs News Blog and the Executive Director of the Online News Association. Check it out here -

http://dailysource.org/

Please spread the word about this Palin info to anyone who might want to know more.

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