Sarah 'I can haz mooseburgers' Palin had Wasilla pay $24,000 for her SUV

[ana-mish-ana]

Sarah 'I can haz mooseburgers' Palin Had Wasilla Pay $24,000 For Her SUV, but no money was found for more important things like rape kits.

If you were a small town mayor, what would be your priority: a new SUV for yourself, or justice for women who have been raped? If your name is Sarah Palin, the answer is shocking.
Buried within last weekend's explosive NY Times story on Sarah Palin was a much-overlooked tidbit:

Ms. Palin ordered city employees not to talk to the press. And she used city money to buy a white Suburban for the mayor’s use — employees sarcastically called it the mayor-mobile.

The MSRP for a 1997 Chevy Suburban was about $24,000. For a town with only 6,000 residents, that's a LOT of money. And that's not including insurance, registration, maintenance and gas money.
And as DemocraticLuntz pointed out to me yesterday, that $24,000 could have covered the costs of up to 80 RAPE KITS.
Apparently the "mayor-mobile" was a priority for Sarah Palin. Rape victims were not.

• existenz's diary :: ::

I've heard of big city mayors driving city-owned vehicles (though some, like Buffalo NY, are cutting back), but in a very small town like Wasilla this is a ridiculous abuse of taxpayer money. And it is even more shocking when you learn that Wasilla decided that they didn't have enough funds to cover the costs of rape investigations.
Remember this story:

May 23, 2000
ANCHORAGE - Gov. Tony Knowles recently 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....
While the Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies have covered the cost of exams, which cost between $300 to $1,200 apiece, the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests.
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.

Chief Fannon was hired by Sarah Palin in 1996, after she fired the previous police chief Irl Stambaugh. Here is some background on Stambaugh, and the two issues that led Palin to fire him:

In 1994, Wasilla nominated Stambaugh to be Alaska's Municipal Employee of the Year. He started with nothing, but, within a year, assembled a trained staff of eight officers who would record 206 drunken-driving arrests.
In the summer of 1996, Stambaugh encouraged Wasilla and the Mat-Su Borough, the regional governing body, to pass ordinances requiring bars and liquor stores to close earlier than 5 a.m., the latest hour allowed by state law. Because bars in Anchorage closed earlier, some people drove to Wasilla to keep drinking, endangering themselves and others, Stambaugh argued. He wanted Wasilla's bars to close at 2:30 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends.
The idea's supporters talked of reducing roadway fatalities. Opponents talked of an encroachment on their individual freedom. The borough's leadership rejected the proposal, and afterward so did the Wasilla City Council, by a 3-2 vote. Palin was in the majority.
This same year, Stambaugh opposed a state legislative proposal to lift some restrictions on Alaska's concealed-weapons law. Among other things, it would allow concealed weapons in banks and even bars. Stambaugh called the idea "ridiculous." "Bars, guns and booze don't mix under any circumstances," he would later say.
The proposal passed the legislature, but Stambaugh and others asked Alaska's governor, Tony Knowles, to veto it. The governor did — to the dismay of the bill's proponents, which included the NRA.

Once Palin was elected mayor, she fired Stambaugh for perceived "disloyalty" despite all evidence to the contrary. His real crime was to go against the NRA and the local bar owners.
The new police chief, Charlie Fannon, quickly began cutting funds for the rape kits:

Charles Fannon, his replacement, halved the budget request in 1997-1998, with a request of $7,298, spending $3,454. However, it seems he began the "victim pays" policy in the 1998-1999 fiscal year. That year, he requested $3,000 but spent only $205.

When the state legislature overturned Wasilla's offensive policy, Palin's hand-picked police chief bemoaned how much it would cost:

"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.

Bottom line: Sarah Palin believed that her $24,000 SUV was a wise use of taxpayer money. But when the women in Wasilla were raped, the city was just too hard up for cash to pay for their rape examinations.
She should have sold the SUV on eBay and used the money to cover this cost.

Daily Kos: Palin Had Wasilla Pay $24,000 For Her SUV, Nothing For Rape Kits

[kingcap72]

And that's why she's 'Miss Mooseballs' instead of 'Miss Congeniality.'

[witchcurlgirl]

In NYC people high up in the mayor's office are all provided with SUV's as well. In my mom's town in NJ there are lots of vehicles with municipal plates.

I'm pretty sure this goes on all over...


and again, the rape kit thing is not exclusive to Palin or repubs.....maybe people that live in places where this is going on- besides Wasilla- should organize and try to change it...

The entire state of NC does it....under a Democratic governor......so maybe the outrage should be directed at this practice regardless of which politician it is

[ana-mish-ana]

But this is a small town - not a major city or even a town that has over 10,000 people. But her priorities was to get a brand new expensive car, yet she claims that she hates unnecessary spending. Like the last line said she could have sold it on ebay to get those kits or spent the money more wisely. She left the town with a debt of 22 million but other mayors in similar towns or even larger cities/towns did not get the taxpayer to pay for their cars. And considering she had her own businesses along with her husband - its not like they couldn't bloody afford it.

[*DIVA!]

NYC has more rats than Wasilla have people!!

[dolem]

Originally Posted by witchcurlgirl

In NYC people high up in the mayor's office are all provided with SUV's as well. In my mom's town in NJ there are lots of vehicles with municipal plates.

My understanding was that Wasilla is a very small town and the taxpayers had to pay the $24k for the SUV. You can't really compare NYC and Wasilla with it's 6000 residents.

The burden is much greater when spread out that way.

[witchcurlgirl]

Originally Posted by dolem

My understanding was that Wasilla is a very small town and the taxpayers had to pay the $24k for the SUV. You can't really compare NYC and Wasilla with it's 6000 residents.

The burden is much greater when spread out that way.

Yes but NY does not have only one SUV...there are hundreds..

and my moms town is small and has lots of vehicles....

It's all relative, relating to a budget....

But hey this is from DailyKos, so no more needs to be said

[dolem]

Even if NYC has hundreds of SUV's the burden to tax payers is probably far less than it would be for those in Wasilla. You are comparing a city of 8 million (I think) to that of 6,000.

Maybe the city of Wasilla had a budget for that vehicle, if it did then I suppose that's fine.

[gogodancer]

And maybe Sarah Palin is just a greedy, self-centered hypocrite.

[ana-mish-ana]

But Palin couldnt handle the budget of one small town with the population of 7000 - she had to hire a lobbyist with the tax payers money, which by the way helped to get earmarks but shes suppose to be against that- and this was when she was mayor and not governor. She stated that she could handle managing the responsibilities but she couldnt do the bookeeping.
I

[gogodancer]

^^She was too busy pushing her religious agenda and trying to get books banned and firing people.

[twitchy2.0]

Originally Posted by witchcurlgirl

YBut hey this is from DailyKos, so no more needs to be said

It's quoting the NYTimes story.

[witchcurlgirl]

Here's my point clearer...

NYC has 8 million people....and a couple of thousand cars in it's municipal fleet...(not counting specialized trucks, vehicles that serve a specific purpose)

Even if it was only 1000 cars, divide 8 million people by 1000 and you get 8000- a little bit more than the Pop. of Wasilla...1 car per approx 8000 people

So the relativity of the expense in proportion to budget and population is the same.....

BTW the Federal government spent $3.4 billion last year on their fleet of cars, according to General Services Administration.

[ana-mish-ana]

But its still a small town - thats the thing. Unlike huge cities like NY which need those extra resources especially if there was an incident. Wasilla is a small town - Palin had to hire a lobbyist to help her out so add the cost of their wage on top of the fact that she needed a new car which really was for her vanity. But she is selling herself as a reformer and advocates change from the typical abuse of the perks of the job. Shes a hypocrite because at a small town level she'd rather concentrate on getting the perks rather than acutally helping out her constituents.

By the way - this article is really interesting about Troopergate- Monaghan the chief she fired over the Brother in law fiasco. Well it looks like he went over head to get more money government to go after child abusers. She has changed her story several times but if she fired him over that - wow just wow.

TPMMuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Trooper-Gate: Palin's Shifting Stories

[witchcurlgirl]

Originally Posted by ana-mish-ana

But its still a small town - thats the thing. Unlike huge cities like NY which need those extra resources especially if there was an incident. Wasilla is a small town - Palin had to hire a lobbyist to help her out so add the cost of their wage on top of the fact that she needed a new car which really was for her vanity. But she is selling herself as a reformer and advocates change from the typical abuse of the perks of the job. Shes a hypocrite because at a small town level she'd rather concentrate on getting the perks rather than acutally helping out her constituents.

Sorry, but when I talk about the NY fleet of cars I'm not talking about cars that would be needed for an incident. I'm talking about the city employee's that get company cars for their use. Cars that they can use while a city employee, and get to take home at night and on weekends as well.

She didn't keep the car either, it's Wasilla property. This is a common practice in the US in tons of towns,cities, states, and on the Federal level.