Under Palin's leadership, Wasilla charged rape victims for collecting evidence

I shit you not. This article doesn't mention her by name, but check the dateline: Palin was mayor of Wasilla.

That means that under her leadership,

the Wasilla police department [did] charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests.

Back in 2000, Alaska's then-governor, Tony Knowles,

signed legislation protecting victims of sexual assault from being billed for tests to collect evidence of the crime, but one local police chief said the new law will further burden taxpayers.

That police chief was Charlie Fannon, Palin's appointee. One can only assume that she supported Wasilla's policy of billing rape victims for their own rape kits--the kits police and hospitals use to collect evidence after a rape--not only because Fannon was her appointee, but also because this was four years into her tenure as mayor and because, let's be honest: in a town of that size, the mayor doesn't get to plead ignorance of policies or public statements of her own chief of police.

What was Fannon's rationale? He didn't "want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer."

Palin was willing to raise taxes to build a sports complex. Her police chief was unwilling to use public funds to investigate rapes.

This shit needs to be in the national news. And Palin and McCain need to answer some hard questions about it.


Via Jack and Jill politics, who got it from Op-Edna.