Legal Commentary

Yesterday I posted on Sarah Palin's, ah, flexible notion of fiscal conservatism. I suggested that the sports complex Governor Palin supported back when she was mayor of the townopolis of Wasilla was perhaps not the best example of principled small-governmentism.

On a related note, I thought it might be instructive to discuss a service that wasn't covered under Mayor Palin: rape kits.

Driving home today, I heard a conference call involving former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles and current Ketchican Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein. One thing that came up was the rather stunning-to-me fact that under Mayor Palin, rape victims were billed for the rape kits used to treat them and collect forensic evidence. On the call, Knowles discussed his great surprise at having to sign a bill that banned law enforcement agencies from billing victims (or their insurance companies) for rape kits. (After all, he noted, when your house is robbed, no one charges you for finger-print dust.)

I had a hard time believing this was really all true, but according to this article in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, a newspaper published three times a week in Wasilla, it is. According to the article:

Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon does not agree with the new legislation, saying the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to cover the costs of the forensic exams.

In the past weve charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible. I just dont want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer, Fannon said.

According to Fannon, the new law will cost the Wasilla Police Department approximately $5,000 to $14,000 a year to collect evidence for sexual assault cases.

Incidentally, according to this blog post quoting the Anchorage Daily News, Charlie Fannon was the police chief hired after Mayor Palin fired the previous chief (you'll be shocked to read that the fired chief sued the city, claiming foul play).*

Let's recap:

• Sports complex = good use of public funds (regardless of title status of land on which complex is built!)
• Rape kit = bad use of public funds.

Compassionate? Conservative? Nuts? You decide. I just tell you about it.

*For more on the rape kit issue, see this post, and this one, which notes that Obama cosponsored Illinois legislation, the Illinois Crime Victim?s Compensation Act, that requires reimbursement of any out-of-pocket costs related to medical treatment for rape victims.

One last thing. I understand that the first piece of Palin's interview with Charlie Gibson is set to air on Entertainment Tonight (yeah, I know, 20/20, my bad) Friday night. I'll be in Las Vegas, check-raising the locals at that time, so I guess I'll have to read about it. But here are some predictions.

1. Gibson will ask mostly fluffy questions. He will likely allow Palin to dissemble in response to what real questions he does ask, and I seriously doubt that he will ask tough follow-ups.

2. Even Gibson will ask about Palin's serial Bridge-to-Nowhere lies, but he will not call them lies, and he will not press her on the issue. Deference is the key to McCain campaign access, after all.

3. Notwithstanding his series of ridiculous questions for Obama in the debate that he and George Stephanopoulos "moderated" last spring, Gibson will not ask Palin about her husband's history of support for a party whose motto is "Alaska [not Country] First....Alaska Always" and which demands a vote to secede under the aegis of UN law.

4. Gibson will ask Palin if it hurt her feelings when "people" "attack" her family.

5. If Gibson does ask about economic/tax policy, his questions' premise will likely be dubious at best. His track record is not good, to say the least.

6. Regardless of what happens, the McCain campaign and the right will crow about what a wonderful job Palin did under such stressful conditions. And the campaign will shut off any further media access to Palin.

I would be delighted to be wrong on every one of these issues, but I'm not holding my breath.