The Sarahpoleon spin machine has been working furiously to try to paint the former MAyor of Wasilla as being either (1.) unaware of, or (2.) unable to stop the Wasilla practice of charging the victims of forcible rape for their examinations ever since the news broke that in Sarahpoleon’s Wasilla, you needed a fat checking account to find any justice as a rape victim.

There’s just one little problem with Sarahpoleon’s latest denials; while her handlers have been doing all this furious denying of her role in getting rape victims billed for police services, there has been a concerted effort in the left blogosphere to go through Wasilla city documents to examine her record as Mayor. I’m betting that no one will be surprised that the Huffington Post has found documentation proving beyond any doubt that Sarahpoleon approved of charging rape victims for examonations.

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.

News of the controversial policy has leaked slowly into the press this week as the presidential campaign has heated up and Palin’s record has been subject to increasing scrutiny. The practice of charging rape victims has called into question Palin’s stated commitment to women’s issues, her judgment as an executive and her honesty about her record.

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 [he] 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.

In wingtard world, Sarah’s lie will suffice; no evidence to back up her lies will be necessary. But all of those women who have (according to the MSM, at least) been swayed by her “hockey mom” bullshit should look very carefully at her record of governance. Whether it be her contempt for rape victims, or her slashing of services for homeless pregnant women, it is clear that Sarahpoleon is more hostile to women than any male wingtard we know of.

Tags: 2008 election, lies, palin, rape, wasilla

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Election '08. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.