Letter to President Obama: Yes We Can, and Should Protect Women in Our Homeland

The following letter will be sent tomorrow to President Obama.

***********************************************

Malia Litman

(address)

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave Nw

Washington, D.C. 20500

February 18, 2013

Re: Yes We Can, and Should Protect Women in our Homeland

Dear President Obama:

In the elections of 2008, and 2012, the majority of voters who voted for you were women. You rewarded our vote of confidence in you by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  Women were thrilled when you appointed Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court.  While Congress struggles to pass the Violence Against Women Act, Shailey Tripp is one woman you can help right now.

In January of 2011 the National Enquirer published a story about Todd Palin and a prostitute by the name of Shailey Tripp.  Ms. Tripp took three lie detector tests before publication of that story which asserted that Todd Palin recruited Ms. Tripp into a life of prostitution. Todd Palin has never denied the assertions in that story.

The lawyer for the Palins, Mr. Tiemessen, asked the Anchorage Police Department to issue a “press release” , which was contrary to their own records, attempting to exculpate Todd Palin from this scandal. Dave Parker of the Anchorage Police Department issued the statement Mr. Tiemessen asked him to issue, in spite of the fact it was contrary to the actual records of the Anchorage Police Department. 

Dave Parker gave a statement to the NY Daily News that there was not one “scintilla of evidence” connecting Todd Palin to Ms. Tripp.

Mr. Parker has now resigned from the Anchorage Police Department.

In February of 2012 Shailey Tripp published a book, Boys Will Be Boys, in which she provides explicit details about the way Todd Palin coerced her into a life of prostitution, how he exploited her desperate circumstances, descriptions of Mr. Palin’s anatomy, detailed descriptions of sexual encounters with Mr. Palin, and names of customers including members of the Anchorage Police Department.

In June of 2012 David Chaney, a Secret Service agent, was involved with Prostitutes in Colombia. He admitted his involvement.

Mr. Chaney was the agent assigned to guard Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign.

Shailey Tripp has provided two verbal statements and one written statement to an investigator for Homeland Security, Merek Shaffer, confirming that Todd Palin introduced her to David Chaney while he was in Alaska, for the purpose of making sexual services available to David Chaney while on assignment in Alaska. Ms. Tripp has confirmed that David Chaney did come to her place of business and receive sexual services while on assignment in Alaska.

Mr. Chaney has resigned from the Secret Service.

In the summer of 2012 Mark Sullivan, the head of the Secret Service, testified before Congress that the Colombia event involving Secret Service agents and prostitutes was an isolated event, and denied that there was a “culture of corruption” within the Secret Service.

Because I had personally notified Homeland Security and members of the Senate subcommittee on Homeland Security of the alleged involvement of Todd Palin in providing a prostitute to service David Chaney while in Alaska I expected that something would be mentioned at this hearing, or at a minimum, questions would be asked. Nothing was asked during this hearing about the allegations regarding Todd Palin, David Chaney, and Shailey Tripp.

In June of 2012 I filed a Freedom of Information Act Request, asking for a copy of the statement taken of David Chaney regarding the assertions of Ms. Tripp.  The initial request was denied, indicating that the information requested was information of a “personal” nature. In July of 2012 I filed an appeal of that denial of FOIA Request No. 2012-133, asserting that there was an “overriding public interest” in obtaining a copy of David Chaney’s statement.  No decision has been made by Homeland Security. No explanation has been provided to justify the delay in responding to my request.

Mark Sullivan has resigned as the director of the Secret Service, effective February 23, 2013.

Sarah Palin has either resigned, or her contract with Fox News has not been renewed.

Human trafficking and coercion of women into lives of prostitution by predators is perhaps the most vile and offensive of crimes against women. You, as the President, and the women who voted for you are unable to prevent all abuse and violence against women. However our inability to help every woman is no excuse not to help one woman. Shailey Tripp had the courage to tell her story to a national publication, to write a book, and to give statements to Homeland Security. Yet our government has failed to respond to her cries for help. Instead law enforcement officials have ignored or denied her assertions, and when called upon to be accountable for their denials, they have simply resigned.

As Dave Parker, David Chaney, and Mark Sullivan receive retirement checks from the U.S. government and the State of Alaska, Shailey Tripp remains in hiding, fearful for her safety and that of her children. She is branded as a prostitute and a liar, while Todd Palin is making money as the star in the television reality show “Stars Earn Stripes.” Sarah Palin has an estimated net worth of $12 Milllion dollars. Shailey Tripp will never star in a television show or be worth millions of dollars. She does deserve, at a minimum, for the government to reveal the truth. If Todd Palin was her pimp, we owe it to Ms. Tripp, and to women who are victims of abuse everywhere in America, to support them when they are willing to come forward and tell their story. Women who are victimized, raped, and abused are often hesitant to tell their stories as they are fearful that people will not believe them. When we don’t believe them, and promote their abusers as heroes and celebrities, we become complicit in their abuse. By protecting these men, we encourage other men to abuse women, and discourage women from revealing the truth about their abusers.

Please instruct Homeland Security to produce the documents requested in my FOIA request # 2012-133, NOW.

President Obama, please help women across the country have the courage to speak out and say NO MORE! Please be the HOPE and CHANGE we thought you would be in November of 2008 when we believed in you.

Sincerely,

Malia Litman

cc Janet Napolitano

Homeland Security

New Director of Secret Service