As you well know, this blog has been Palin-obsessed ever since she hit the national scene. All ya’ll are sick of me talking about Sarah’s personal life. So here’s some real moose meat for ya, the Alaska Dispatch. That article title below? It’s a link!
Going off the reservation was the last straw? |
| September 17, 2008 |
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By Amanda Coyne On Monday, a McCain-Palin spokeswoman in Anchorage, Meg Stapleton, said in a press conference that one of the reasons Gov. Palin fired public safety commissioner Walt Monegan was because he planned to go to D.C. to ask for money to investigate and prosecute sexual assaults. It was the “last straw,” she said. This contradicts what Palin has said in the past. But even if it is true, admitting that Palin fired Monegan for soliciting for more funds for sexual abuse victims might not be the smartest PR move at a time when Palin’s sympathy for such victims is being scrutinized for the following reasons: |
1. It was recently reported that while Palin was mayor of Wasilla, rape victims had to pay for their own evidence kits. A Palin-McCain spokesperson, Maria Comella, said to the Anchorage Daily News that Palin “does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test.” However, it took a state law, over the objections of Wasilla’s chief of police, to rid the city of the practice in 2000.
2. Palin hired a Kenai police officer, Chuck Kopp, to take the place of Monegan. Turns out the Kopp had a sexual harassment complaint against him, which Palin knew about, but said she thought nothing came of it. What she didn’t know about, she said, is that a letter of reprimand was in his file, which was revealed about a month after she hired Kopp. The victim of the harassment called and wrote to the administration after Palin made the Kopp announcement. She never got a call back.
3. Monegan is, according to Palin herself, a strong advocate for women who have experienced sexual abuse.
According to the FBI, Alaska leads the nation in forcible rapes. A report issued last year by Amnesty International said that from 2000 to 2003, Alaska Native people in Anchorage were more than nine times more likely to be sexually assaulted than others living in the city, and that one in three Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetime.
Walt Monegan is Alaska Native. Geran Tarr, chair of Alaska Women’s lobby, said that this was one of the reasons that she and other women’s groups were supportive of Monegan’s appointment as commissioner and dismayed at his firing. “Alaska Native women are very reluctant to talk about issues of sexual abuse,” she said. “It has to do with their culture.” She said that Monegan’s heritage “might instill a greater sense of trust” with Alaska Native women who have been abused.
As far as him being fired for trying to get more funds to combat sexual abuse, she said, “I don’t even know how to respond to that.”
The Anchorage Daily News reported yesterday that the campaign released emails, one of which accuses Monegan’s department of “constantly going off the reservation,” which might not be the wisest term to use in relation to Monegan, considering that he is Alaska Native and his department is charged with keeping law and order in Alaska Native villages.
More great stuff:
Larry Persily, a former Alaska journalist who worked for Gov. Sarah Palin at the state office in Washington, D.C., until earlier this year, delivered to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Monday a down-to-earth, tell-it-how-it-is speech describing the historic, if not strange, political times Alaskans are now living under the national spotlight.
Former Alaska Native chief speaks out on Palin, oil and his state.
Karl Rove in Alaska? The new political landscape in Alaska now that McCain’s folks have come to town.
West Coast Grrlie Blather 
Why is Sarah Palin against funding rape kits? Because they contain emergency contraceptives. So that becomes state-sponsored and funded “abortion.” Up with that she will not put. It’s not that she’s all for putting raped women on the hook for evidence gathering, but the contraception is the deal breaker for her.
This theory is heresay, but man, is it consistent with her other positions. Sorry ladies for the violation. But since there’s a risk that rapist wrigglies get to your victim eggie-weggie, we’re not helping you. We’re helping that precious rape-baby.
How is my previous Wasilla city rape-victim-pays-for-rape kits comment related to the Monagan issue? If the money that Monagan sought included those same rape evidence kits that also contain emergency contraceptive, then that’s the insubordination that led to his firing.
For what it’s worth, my mother who has voted the republican ticket her entire life, is voting for Obama. She has two other republican friends who are taking the same route. I’d like to think that they are a representation of what others are feeling.
Grrr Blather, I appreciate that you are doing the political footwork for me. Your posts are informative and they kinda scare the bee-jezuz out of me too. Hi Susan!
My father who voted for Carter and Clinton is voting for McCain.
Yes indeed, I hear that having military experience during times of war can advance your political career. It’s not to late AP.
I believe the Wasilla rape-kit policy was in fact a Mat-Su Borough policy, as well as a policy in some other boroughs. It had nothing to do with Sarah Palin. IAC, the rape kits were supposed to be paid by the alleged victim’s health insurance, if she had insurance, and not by the complainant if she didn’t.
I could see one benefit to such a policy, however: a person filing a rape accusation would probably not file a frivolous one if she (or at least her insurance) had to pay for the rape kit. This would eliminate one line of defense for the alleged perp in court.