Palin-Style Fiscal Conservatism? (X-Posted)

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:

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