One of the most egregious outcomes of the Palin-as-celeb hysteria over the last two weeks has been the media assertion that she speaks for women, that she somehow is a “symbol” for the 21st Century neo-female. In fact, the anti-choice creationist is so far from this ideal by not only denying women the right to choice even as victims of rape, as mayor, she hired a police chief who supported charging victims of rape for the costs of investigating the crimes against them.
First reported by Americablog, in 2000, Wasilla police chief Charlie Fallon, whom Sarah Palin hired, opposed then-governor Tony Knowles signing of a bill that would make it illegal for charging rape victims for gathering evidence of a sexual assault. “We would never bill the victim of a burglary for fingerprinting and photographing the crime scene, or for the cost of gathering other evidence,” Knowles told the Alaska Paper, The Frontiersman, in 2000.
Yet Fannon, Palin’s hire, opposed the legislation, saying it required the city and communities to come up the funds for the forensic exams.The total cost to the city? Approximately $5,000 to $14,000, according to the paper. “In the past, we’ve charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible,” Fannon said. “I just don’t want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer.”
Sarah Palin, who is supposedly gathering momentum with women voters, has gone on record saying hiring Fannon was “the best decision [she] ever made.”













18 Comments »
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 1:37 pm
Truly Shocking.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 1:38 pm
Disgusting. She makes me sad.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
What this article doesn't tell us is did Sarah Palin know this position from Charlie Fallon when she hired him? The timing of the hire and what Sarah Palin knew when she hired him are important details to leave out of that part of the story. Oh well, it's just opinion, break out the stocks!
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
Matt: Palin was mayor until 2002. She hired Fannon and continued to support him as chief. She still said, after Fannon's opposition to the bill that would help rape victims, that hiring Fannon was one of the best decisions for her administration. As mayor, she is responsible for hiring and firing the police chief. She never condemned his actions or comments but championed him.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
Okay, lets see now…Mrs. self-labeled Christian thinks it is A-Okay to hire someone & continue to support that someone who wanted to charge victims of rape for the investigation tools needed for their cases (so much for compassion for thy neighbor)…now this is ON TOP OF Mrs. self-labeled Christian thinking it is A-Okay to slaughter wolves from the air in order to increase the caribou population in order to increase caribou hunting tourism (so much for the Biblical duty of being good stewards of the Earth)…an this is ON TOP OF her lies about the “Bridge-to-Nowhere”–& the fact that even though the bridge idea was scrapped BY CONGRESS Alaska had already received MILLIONS of bucks for the project and she KEPT ALL OF THE MONEY & used it elsewhere (so much for the Christian ideal of honesty).
I am a Christian & although I understand that we all are sinners & make mistakes but for me to see/hear her running around making the claim of being a Christian but still does the things about makes me see her as NOT a real Christian in her deeds.
I am NOT a member of nor do I donate ANY $ to ANY special group (including animal, feminist or taxpayers groups) but 2 of facts I stated above make me sick & the last I chalk-up to typical political double-speak.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
Yeah, Alaska, with it having the highest incidences of rape in the country, I can imagine gathering evidence would be quite costly. Therefore, instead of cutting Public Safety's budget and firing police officers, wouldn't increasing their budget be a proactive measure? And if the crime is perpetrated, then recoup any evidence gathering costs by fining the criminals.
Women aren't asked to be raped. Why make them victims twice?
Hell, this woman is making me feel that I'm qualified to be Governor of Alaska.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 4:47 pm
Isn't that what interviews are for?
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 5:04 pm
Moderately pro-life women might not be bothered by her abortion position, but surely this news needs to get to those many women who switched to McCain according to the last polls. Plain/McCain is actually leading among women — how does that happen?
And don't assume everyone knows Palin/McCain is so prolife. Even that Clinton delegate who made the ad for McCain revealed she thought he was pro-choice.
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 11:37 pm
Yes, I like your thinking. Let's keep a count on this thread on how may times she is interviewed my someone other then an entertainment reporter/family member. I start. The current count on the number of time Sarah Palin has been interviewed since riding on the ticket is……. zero. Remember that Bill Clinton / Monica-gate thing? He avoided the media for what, two years?
Comment posted September 9, 2008 @ 11:52 pm
Nowhere in the piece said that the REASON hiring Fannon was “the best decision [she] ever made.” was BECAUSE of is opposition to the bill. It's just not there, it is an open question and thus makes the whole article suspect.
Comment posted September 10, 2008 @ 6:08 am
I was referring to “JOB INTERVIEWS.” She hired him.
As a social worker, I was subjected to all kinds of background checks: Criminal history, legal history, medical history (really, just screening for tuberculosis and drug and alcohol use ), credit check, college transcripts, the typical reference checks — employment, education, and personal, as well as personality questionnaires to measure my attitudes towards the people I'd be serving.
In a job interview, although you can't anticipate every attitude of the candidate, there must be some “standard” attitudes and ideologies for police officers, especially for the Chief of Police. And a skilled interviewer should be able to uncover them.
Since Palin's background is journalism, I would expect her to be a skilled interviewer. Therefore, I can deduce that Gov. Palin shared the attitude of Chief Fannon — even more because she wholeheartedly endorsed him.
Comment posted September 10, 2008 @ 6:28 am
I don't believe the rise in white women supporting McCain are women who moved away from Obama. I believe these are recently energized women who were not going to vote at all.
I've been out registering voters and I've encountered many people who said they don't vote or won't vote because they didn't like either candidate. And there are some who said they weren't interested in this election but has since become interested due to Palin.
Now, these people did not impress me as being educated on the issues; they seem to be attracted to her autobiography, looks, and the drama surrounding her. They can relate to that. She makes them feel good about themselves. And she fast-tracked with minimal qualifications.
Contrast “the elites” like Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama. Their careers, educational attainments and intellects are too much for average people and below-the-bar people to live up to. And everything they say goes over these people's heads. Otherwise, why would they keep saying that Obama hasn't stated his positions when that's all he does.
I suspect this is how that happened.
Comment posted September 10, 2008 @ 7:19 am
I'd love to see video of Sarah Palin as Mayor, especially on this issue, even if it was eight years ago. I assuming she ran the city council meetings. Are there tapes at a public access channel we could see? Is anyone on the beat around Wasilla? Time to get there before McCain's people.
Comment posted September 12, 2008 @ 1:14 pm
JMT wrote 2 days ago:
<< I am a Christian & although I understand that we all are sinners & make mistakes but for me to see/hear her running around making the claim of being a Christian but still does the things about makes me see her as NOT a real Christian in her deeds>>
I find you words very thought provoking and I couldn't agree with you more. I am NOT a christian and I find Palins position compkletely our of bounds. What every happened to victims rights?
Comment posted September 16, 2008 @ 11:49 am
MattJhsn, I have not seen anybody specifically say that the REASON she said the “best decision” comment was B/C of his opposition to the bill & it does NOT matter if the REASON she said the “best decision” comment was b/c of his opposition or not…the question is if she made the “best decision” comment AFTER his opposition was clear is what matters & I believe she did say it AFTER is position was CLEAR.
BTW, she PERSONALLY signed a budget for Wasilla that had the funds for pymt of rape kits by Wasilla REMOVED from the budget (the budget previously, under the previous police chief, did include the funds). And I DO NOT want to hear any BS like “but she did not notice that the funds for the kits were no longer included in the budget” b/c IF that was the case then it would show that she doesn't always read what she signs which is not a good credential (aka incompetent) for someone in power.
Comment posted September 22, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
Most of you need to read the supporting article where I Quote
“Ultimately it is the criminal who should bear the burden of the added costs, Fannon said.”
Also if you research about two minutes on Google you’ll see that Palin fired Fannon and faced a recall vote because of it .
Now every one of you that commented look at he fact that every major city in America has a back log of thousands of DNA test that need to be done The cost of processing DNA can start at 1,000 dollars if it is a good sample It can get exponentially more expensive if it is a degraded samples usual.
So almost all of the comments made are baseless and closed minded because all of you took this article as fact when it and the only Supporting evidence given only tell you part of the story. Stop being sheep and research for two minutes and you may get the fact not just propaganda.
Obama Or McCain Either way your voting for business as usual. VOTE RON PAUL
Comment posted September 22, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
Actually, Gabriel. You are entirely wrong. In fact, it would serve you well to look beyond the key words in a Google summary. It is ironic you tell people here to “research for two minutes” when you didn’t even read the exact article you site.
You see, Palin didn’t actually fire Fannon. The key word “fire” you homed in on in the six-word Google summary actually refers to Palin firing of the previous police chief, Irl Stambaugh, for including forensic rape kits in his budget.
Please keep comment here thoughtful and based in fact. There are enough places out their to spout nonsense. Thanks.
Comment posted September 24, 2008 @ 9:24 am
Actually she fired fannon also causing me and many other members of the Wasilla Alaska Sought another recall for Palin. The internet HAS twisted it So Molly you are wrong. This issue was not why Fannon got fired but he did none the less. Also Strambaugh was fired for may more reasons than Rape kits. MS. Priesmyer you are a Propagandist not a Journalist
VOTE RON PAUL
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