Saradise Lost - Chapter Sixty-Seven -- $50,000 to Turn Sarah's Wasilla Ciy Hall Office Into a Bordello Scene, But No Money for Rape Investigations?

The efforts these past nineteen days, of Outside reporters, up here investigating the true Sarah Palin, are coming into more stark contrast with the efforts of the team of GOP slime attorneys and political hitmen sent up here by the McCain campaign and RNC that same late August day.

Every hour.

The reporters, by and large, have come and gone. The GOP attorneys are here until election day, as they do more subversion of our state's ways and of our excellent constitution, in a few days, than a horde of Exxon attorneys were able to do to us and our founding document in a generation.

Who is going to detail this all-too-obvious comparison first? Perhaps, Progressive Alaska, but I know Shannyn Moore is investigating it in more depth. And Celtic Diva, and Mudflats.

Here's another obvious linkage, provided by the non-MSM bloggers in Alaska, as we coordinate with bloggers and writers worldwide:

How come Sarah Palin could come up with $50,000 to redecorate the Wasilla mayor's office to look like a New Orleans madame's office, but couldn't come up with the same amount of money to fund more than four years of forensic exams for Wasilla rape victims?

David Talbot from salon.com wrote yesterday:

Carney, Palin's estranged former mentor, and others in city hall were astounded when they found out about a lavish expenditure of Palin's own after her 1996 election. According to Carney, the newly elected mayor spent more than $50,000 in city funds to redecorate her office, without the council's authorization.

"I thought it was an outrageous expense, especially for someone who had run as a budget cutter," said Carney. "It was also illegal, because Sarah had not received the council's approval."

According to Carney, Palin's office makeover included flocked, red wallpaper. "It looked like a bordello."

Although Carney says he no longer has documentation of the expenditures, in his recollection Palin paid for the office face-lift with money from a city highway fund that was used to plow snow, grade roads and fill potholes -- essential municipal services, particularly in weather-battered Alaska.

Carney confronted Mayor Palin at a City Council hearing, and was shocked by her response.

"I braced her about it," he said. "I told her it was against the law to make such a large expenditure without the council taking a vote. She said, 'I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't.'"

"I'll never forget it -- it's one of the few times in my life I've been speechless," Carney added. "It would have been easier for her to finesse it. She had the votes on the council by then, she controlled it. But she just pushed forward. That's Sarah. She just has no respect for rules and regulations."

And back in May, 2000, when the Alaska Legislature had to devote days crafting legislation to overcome another Palin "shocker," the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman wrote:

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.

In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible. "I just don't 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.

Should our progressive Alaska bloggers hold our breath until the Anchorage Daily News catches up to this story? Not a chance, folks.

We have important work to do.