Palin & Rape Kits - Billing the Victims

[Andy9o8 2]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/opinion/26fri4.html?em=&pagewanted=print

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The New York Times

September 26, 2008
Editorial Observer
Wasilla Watch: Sarah Palin and the Rape Kits
By DOROTHY SAMUELS

Even in tough budget times, there are lines that cannot be crossed. So I was startled by this tidbit reported recently by The Associated Press: When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the small town began billing sexual-assault victims for the cost of rape kits and forensic exams.

Ms. Palin owes voters an explanation. What was the thinking behind cutting the measly few thousand dollars needed to cover the yearly cost of swabs, specimen containers and medical tests? Whose dumb idea was it to make assault victims and their insurance companies pay instead? Unfortunately, her campaign is shielding the candidate from the press, so Americans may still be waiting for answers on Election Day.

The rape-kit controversy is a troubling matter. The insult to rape victims is obvious. So is the sexism inherent in singling them out to foot the bill for investigating their own case. And the main result of billing rape victims is to protect their attackers by discouraging women from reporting sexual assaults.

That’s why when Senator Joseph Biden, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, drafted the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, he included provisions to make states ineligible for federal grant money if they charged rape victims for exams and the kits containing the medical supplies needed to conduct them. (Senator John McCain, Ms. Palin’s running mate, voted against Mr. Biden’s initiative, and his name has not been among the long list of co-sponsors each time the act has been renewed.)

That’s also why, when news of Wasilla’s practice of billing rape victims got around, Alaska’s State Legislature approved a bill in 2000 to stop it.

“We would never bill the victim of a burglary for fingerprinting and photographing the crime scene, or for the cost of gathering other evidence,” said Alaska’s then-governor, Tony Knowles. “Nor should we bill rape victims just because the crime scene happens to be their bodies.”

If Ms. Palin ever spoke out about the issue, one way or another, no record has surfaced. Her campaign would not answer questions about when she learned of the policy, strongly supported by the police chief: whether she saw it in the budget and if not, whether she learned of it before or after the State Legislature outlawed the practice.

All the campaign would do was provide a press release pronouncing: “Prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault is a priority for Gov. Palin.”

Eric Croft, a former Democratic state lawmaker who sponsored the corrective legislation, believes that Wasilla’s mayor knew what was going on. (She does seem to have paid heed to every other detail of town life, including what books were on the library’s shelves.)

The local hospital did the billing, but it was the town that set the policy, Mr. Croft noted. That policy was reflected in budget documents that Ms. Palin signed.

Mr. Croft further noted that right after his measure became law, Wasilla’s local paper reported that Ms. Palin’s handpicked police chief, Charlie Fannon, acknowledged the practice of billing to collect evidence for sexual-assault cases. He complained that the state was requiring the town to spend $5,000 to $14,000 a year to cover the costs. “I just don’t want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer,” the chief explained.

“I can’t imagine any police chief, big city or small, who would take on the entire State Legislature on a bill that passed unanimously and not mention to their mayor that they’re doing this,” Mr. Croft said. Even if he didn’t inform her, the newspaper article would have been hard for her to miss.

In the absence of answers, speculation is bubbling in the blogosphere that Wasilla’s policy of billing rape victims may have something to do with Ms. Palin’s extreme opposition to abortion, even in cases of rape. Sexual-assault victims are typically offered an emergency contraception pill, which some people in the anti-choice camp wrongly equate with abortion.

My hunch is that it was the result of outmoded attitudes and boneheaded budget cutting. Still, Ms. Palin has been governor for under two years, and she’s running for vice president largely on her experience as mayor of tiny Wasilla — a far superior credential, she’s told us, to being a community organizer. On the rape kits, as on other issues, she owes voters a direct answer.

[jclalor 12]

Palin is done. I can't wait to watch her ass crash and burn. To think she was suppose to nab all the women voters was a joke.

[mnealtx 0]

According to stuff I've read, it was the POLICE DEPARTMENT that did the charge for the evidence gathering. It wasn't a budget line item for the town council/mayor to prove disprove.

I'd like to see the purported budget and policy docs.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

According to stuff I've read, it was the POLICE DEPARTMENT that did the charge for the evidence gathering. It wasn't a budget line item for the town council/mayor to prove disprove.

I'd like to see the purported budget and policy docs.

Quote

The local hospital did the billing, but it was the town that set the policy, Mr. Croft noted. That policy was reflected in budget documents that Ms. Palin signed.

The buck stopped with her. (No pun intended.)

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

Quote

According to stuff I've read, it was the POLICE DEPARTMENT that did the charge for the evidence gathering. It wasn't a budget line item for the town council/mayor to prove disprove.

I'd like to see the purported budget and policy docs.

Quote

The local hospital did the billing, but it was the town that set the policy, Mr. Croft noted. That policy was reflected in budget documents that Ms. Palin signed.

The buck stopped with her. (No pun intended.)

habeus corpus, counselor.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

habeus corpus, counselor.

muneris portum officium

[mnealtx 0]

No translation available for that.

But, back to info:

In the attached picture, please note the dates for the first two procedures - June of 2000 - BEFORE the state required the cities to pay for the procedures. So much for "Wasilia's practice of billing the victims".

Referencing Mr. Croft and the legislation:

Quote

From the NRO

The Democratic sponsor of the legislation, Eric Croft, told USA Today recently that “the law was aimed in part at Wasilla, where now-Gov. Sarah Palin was mayor.” Yet in six committee meetings, Wasilla was never mentioned, even when the discussion turned to the specific topic of where victims were being charged. (The Matanuska-Susitna Valley, the surrounding region — the most densely populated region of the state, and roughly the size of West Virginia — is mentioned in passing.) Croft testified at the hearing where Phillips read the Juneau woman’s statement, so he must have known that it was a problem well beyond Palin’s jurisdiction, even if he chose not to tell USA Today about it.

And:

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Del Smith, the state’s deputy commissioner at the Department of Public Safety, testified in support of the rape-kit-charging-ban legislation during multiple hearings. During one, state representative Jeannette James asked if she “understood correctly that Mr. Smith is saying that the department has never billed a victim for exams.”

Smith replied that “the department might have been billed, but he has not found any police agency that has ever billed a victim.”

To clarify: In preparation to attend a hearing and support the bill, one of the state’s top law-enforcement officials found no case of a rape victim ever being charged. And roughly a month after 30 Democratic lawyers, investigators, and opposition researchers, not to mention reporters from every major news agency in the country, landed in Alaska, we still have no instances to consider.

And:

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Lauree Hugonin, director of the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, spoke at several committee meetings. She noted in response to Smith’s comment that while he had not found an instance where law enforcement has forwarded a bill, “hospitals have. It has happened in the Mat-Su Valley, on the Kenai Peninsula, and in Southeast, and that is why the bill is being brought forward.”

At another hearing, Hugonin said, “these charges occur as a result of hospital accounting procedures. The range of costs can be from between $300 and $1,000. The direct charges usually result from the accounting procedures at the hospitals and not the law enforcement agencies. She noted that there has been some difficulty in Mat-Su, Anchorage, Kenai and Sitka, and possibly in Bethel.”

Also at one of the meetings, Trisha Gentile, executive director of the Council on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, said some Alaska hospitals “have chosen to separate some of the costs of sexual-assault exams. Hospitals are adding sexually-transmitted-disease (STD) and blood tests to the cost of sexual-assault exams, and the hospital makes a choice to bill the victim for those charges. Police departments are willing to pay for sexual assault exams, but it is an internal decision on the part of the hospital as to who pays the hospital bill.”

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[jcd11235 0]

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In the attached picture, please note the dates for the first two procedures - June of 2000 - BEFORE the state required the cities to pay for the procedures. So much for "Wasilia's practice of billing the victims".

According to the article in the OP, "That’s also why, when news of Wasilla’s practice of billing rape victims got around, Alaska’s State Legislature approved a bill in 2000 to stop it."

Your picture doesn't appear to be relevant.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

Quote

In the attached picture, please note the dates for the first two procedures - June of 2000 - BEFORE the state required the cities to pay for the procedures. So much for "Wasilia's practice of billing the victims".

According to the article in the OP, "That’s also why, when news of Wasilla’s practice of billing rape victims got around, Alaska’s State Legislature approved a bill in 2000 to stop it."

Your picture doesn't appear to be relevant.

Other than proving the city WAS paying the cost BEFORE they were required to by law? How is that NOT relevant?

Perhaps you'd care to speak to the OTHER part of the post, were Wasilia was NEVER mentioned in the hearings for the law?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[kallend 2,032]

Quote

Quote

Quote

In the attached picture, please note the dates for the first two procedures - June of 2000 - BEFORE the state required the cities to pay for the procedures. So much for "Wasilia's practice of billing the victims".

According to the article in the OP, "That’s also why, when news of Wasilla’s practice of billing rape victims got around, Alaska’s State Legislature approved a bill in 2000 to stop it."

Your picture doesn't appear to be relevant.

Other than proving the city WAS paying the cost BEFORE they were required to by law? How is that NOT relevant?

Perhaps you'd care to speak to the OTHER part of the post, were Wasilia was NEVER mentioned in the hearings for the law?

When was the law passed in 2000? When did it come up for discussion?

Does one payment in June 2000 prove that the city didn't charge before that?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[jcd11235 0]

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Your picture doesn't appear to be relevant.

Other than proving the city WAS paying the cost BEFORE they were required to by law? How is that NOT relevant?

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

How did you come to that conclusion? The bill was signed into state law in May 2000. The earliest charge paid by Wasilla for which you provided evidence occurred in June 2000.

The effective date of the law was 8/14/00.

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According to the sponsor, Democrat Eric Croft, the law was aimed in part at Wasilla

Funny how Wasilia was never mentioned in the meeting minutes for the bill, then isn't it?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Lucky... 0]

Quote

Quote

According to stuff I've read, it was the POLICE DEPARTMENT that did the charge for the evidence gathering. It wasn't a budget line item for the town council/mayor to prove disprove.

I'd like to see the purported budget and policy docs.

Quote

The local hospital did the billing, but it was the town that set the policy, Mr. Croft noted. That policy was reflected in budget documents that Ms. Palin signed.

The buck stopped with her. (No pun intended.)

Wasn't it a moose?

[jcd11235 0]

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Quote

How did you come to that conclusion? The bill was signed into state law in May 2000. The earliest charge paid by Wasilla for which you provided evidence occurred in June 2000.

The effective date of the law was 8/14/00.

[Andy9o8 2]

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The buck stopped with her.

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habeus corpus, counselor.

muneris portum officium

No translation available for that.

"With duty comes responsibility."

(Actually, I think the proper syntax might be muneris officium portum.)

Or how about this one:

Res ipsa loquitur.

• Quote

[billvon 3,009]

> it was the POLICE DEPARTMENT that did the charge for the evidence gathering.

Funny how right wingers use her connection to, say, the National Guard to prove how much experience she has commanding the military - but when something shows up with a connection to the police, well, she had almost nothing to do with THEM!

But to go a step beyond - who cares what she did do or didn't do in terms of charging people for rape kits? It's an emotional argument, not a logical one. Indeed, I'd be willing to bet that no rape victim was ever forced to pay $100 out of pocket, even given that policy, nor was anyone ever not examined based on their inability to pay. (And given the size of Wasilla, I would be surprised if that was even a common occurrence.)

So far I have not been impressed by Palin. I would be most impressed if, this once, she stood up and said "yes, that happened while I was mayor of Wasilla. So what?"

[kallend 2,032]

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> it was the POLICE DEPARTMENT that did the charge for the evidence gathering.

Funny how right wingers use her connection to, say, the National Guard to prove how much experience she has commanding the military - but when something shows up with a connection to the police, well, she had almost nothing to do with THEM!

?"

Anchorage Daily News, 3/28/97

“Wasilla got a new police chief Thursday, one who said he will bring to the job a philosophy of personal freedom that doesn’t include his predecessor’s support of limiting bar hours…’I don’t think the answer to crime is restricting people’s freedom more and more.’ Fannon is replacing Irl Stambaugh, whom the mayor fired in January. Palin said she did not think Stambaugh supported her administration…Stambaugh has sued the city, alleging Palin fired him because local bar owners and the National Rifle Association asked the mayor to do so. Stambaugh wanted the city to adopt earlier bar closings as a way to combat alcohol-related traffic accidents, according to the complaint.”

Nope, Palin had NOTHING to do with the Wasilla police. No power to hire and fire.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[skycop 0]

Geez,
The army of lawyers sent to gather dirt and this is the best they can do?
I mean really, a small town mayor playing politics with the police department, say it ain't so!
Talk about a major news story, thank god for the 24hour news cycle!

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[Andy9o8 2]

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Geez, The army of lawyers sent to gather dirt and this is the best they can do?

No. I hear they also have cops who have avatars that look vaguely like dildos.

[skycop 0]

Nice answer,

My statement still stands.
Considering Obama comes out of the Chicago Daley machine, one of the most corrupt local governments in the country. I don't see the NYT swooping in on that. This story is just nit-noy baloney, again after a month of digging this is pretty weak.


BTW, it's a USAF Master Missile Badge that I wear proudly.

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[mnealtx 0]

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A much more plausible explanation is that Wasilla police changed their policy sometime between the time Governor Knowles signed the law, and when it actually went into effect.

Then provide the proof. With the small army of media whores that have descended on the town, they can't find ONE person that was charged?

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Not at all. Why would Wasilla be mentioned specifically in the minutes? It was statewide legislature that was being discussed, not anything that singled Wasilla out. That Croft was motivated, in part, by Wasilla's policy wouldn't have changed that any.

Ah, I see - so Wasilia's policy was SO important that Croft had to submit the bill to the legislature, but NOT so important as to be mentioned in the minutes of the discussion.

Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[kallend 2,032]

Quote

Quote

A much more plausible explanation is that Wasilla police changed their policy sometime between the time Governor Knowles signed the law, and when it actually went into effect.

Then provide the proof. With the small army of media whores that have descended on the town, they can't find ONE person that was charged?

.

Weaseling and Lame. Just having the rule on the books indicates Palin's policy.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[skycop 0]

Weaseling and Lame.

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That describes this entire story and thread.......

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

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[kallend 2,032]

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Weaseling and Lame.

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That describes this entire story and thread.......

The right seems to be getting increasingly embarrassed about Palin. I guess you just wish she'd go away.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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[mnealtx 0]

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A much more plausible explanation is that Wasilla police changed their policy sometime between the time Governor Knowles signed the law, and when it actually went into effect.

Then provide the proof. With the small army of media whores that have descended on the town, they can't find ONE person that was charged?

.

Weaseling and Lame. Just having the rule on the books indicates Palin's policy.

PROVE IT!!!!

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706