Sarah Palin did not slash funds for teen mothers
Contrary to a report from the Washington Post, Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, did not slash funding for a program for teen mothers.
The Washington Post’s Paul Kane reported late yesterday that “Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms.” The far-left Huffington Post repeated the story this morning. To support this contention Kane pointed out that “Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million.”
Covenant House Alaska is a faith-based, not-for-profit agency which provides a variety of services to troubled teens, including a home for teen moms. Although the work with adolescent mothers is only one component of their work, Kane focused on this aspect of their work due to the revelation that Governor Palin’s teen daughter is 5 months pregnant.
In Alaska, the governor is allowed to reduce spending allocations in the service of sound management and fiscal accountability. To prove his contention that Palin slashed funds for teen mothers, Kane produced the Alaska 2008 budget with Sarah Palin’s line by line adjustments. It is true that lawmakers allocated 5 million to Covenant House Alaska and that Mrs. Palin cut that allocation to 3.9 million dollars. However, what is misleading about the Post headline is that the allocation of 3.9 million is three times more than Covenant House Alaska received from government grants in 2007. According to records on the Covenant House Alaska website, the organization received just over 1.3 million dollars from grants in 2007 and nearly 1.2 million in 2006. Even with the reductions, Governor Palin signed a budget which provided three times more funds than the organization received in 2007.
Thus, the Post report is misleading on two counts. One, the funding in question went to an organization which engaged in many different services, including work with teen mothers. There was no funding exclusively earmarked for pregnant teens.
Two, the report leaves the impression that the Governor reduced existing funding levels, when in fact, the Palin-approved budget allowed a massive expansion of funding for this worthy faith-based organization. The organization’s total revenue for 2007 was just over 3 million dollars and so the 3.9 million approved by Palin and the Alaska legislature was a huge increase.
Viewed within the context of prior expenditures, it becomes clear that Governor Palin increased funding for social services which benefit kids, not “slashed” them as the Post reported. However, it also appears clear that she is not afraid to exercise some measure of fiscal discipline, even when the reduction targets those of similar ideology. Covenant House wants to expand housing capability and as a part of their marketing makes a clear religious appeal saying,
Just as Christ in His humanity is the visible sign of God’s presence among His people, so our efforts together in the covenant community are a visible sign that effects the presence of God, working through the Holy Spirit among ourselves and our kids.
I cannot figure out why this context was not provided. It is clear that Governor Palin did not cut funding. It cannot be a cut in funding when you get a raise, even if the raise was not as great as originally contemplated.
UPDATE: 9/4/08 – The Covenant House Alaska Executive Director states that she is glad for the support of Governor Palin.
I just watched the Palin speech.
W O W!!!!! She blew that place up!!! She is AWESOME!
Is it too late to switch the ticket to Palin/McCain from McCain/Palin?
Drowssap,
You are right – Sarah Palin rocked!
Are journalists required to have lobotomies before they graduate?
Will we see a retraction or correction?
Yeah — when that bear in Governor Palin’s office gets up and starts dancing.
[...] received this from Deirdre Cronin, Executive Director of Covenant House Alaska. This debunks the Washington Post’s story I addressed yesterday. I had asked her for a statement regarding the Post story and she provided [...]
[...] Originally Posted by -jro- why did she cut the funding? Because she’d rather spend the money elsewhere most likely….whatever meets her agenda. The story is on WaPo if you want to read it. I wouldn’t wipe my ass with the washington post! want the real story go here: Sarah Palin did not slash funds for teen mothers — Warren Throckmorton [...]
What is more disturbing is the promotion of religion with Alaska dollars. We don’t want religion in gov’t and we don’t want gov’t in religion.
Just how much of the funding goes to Passage House vs. Covenant House, and to what programs?
Here… have a place to stay and listen to our pastoral people tell you why God brought you to us. Thirsty? How about some kool-aid?
[...] Cronin, Executive Director of the Covenant House Alaska. Cronin’s release took issue with a Washington Post report claiming Alaska Governor Sarah Palin slashed funds for teen moms in the 2008 [...]
[...] story below which reports that Alaska Gov. and GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin cut funding to teen moms. Here is the link with the full story and here is the pertinent part, directly from the faith-based [...]
[...] Sarah Palin did not slash funds for teen mothers The Washington Post’s Paul Kane reported late that “Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms.” To support this contention Kane pointed out that “Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million.” [...]
It’s called liberal media bias. The headline on the article was misleading, saying that Alaska liberalized its abortion laws on “Governor Palin’s watch,” while it was the state Supreme Court that liberalized the laws over the Governor’s objections. If the headline was misleading (in fact, out-and-out false), is it any wonder that there would be misrepresentations of fact within the article itself?
The news media’s treatment of Governor Palin makes me ill. I wonder if Senator Obama’s “slip of the tongue,” referring to his Muslim religion on “This Week,” will get any coverage from the MSM.
[...] Truth. Palin increased funding for the program in question, to the tune of $3.9 million dollars over several years. Source. She did cut the size of the increase in funding. In 2006, the Covenant house received government grants of 1.2 million. In 2007, they got 1.3 million. In 2008, they get 3.9 million with the rest of the 5 million coming in the next fiscal year. Source. [...]
[...] addressed the facts on this matter via a blog post, a statement from Covenant House Director, Deirdre Cronin, and an op-ed published on Townhall.com. [...]
[...] Kane also fails to indicate that Covenant House Alaska does much more than work with pregnant teens, and none of the state money was exclusively earmarked for that. The details of this story are here. [...]
[...] The myth that Sarah Palin slashed funding to teen mothers arose from a Washington Post report about government money allocated to Covenant House Alaska, an organization that happens to run a home for teenage moms. As I’m sure you already know, that smear has been thoroughly debunked. [...]
That is quite a jump in funding from the previous 2 years.
I wonder if that is because her daughter got pregnant, and Gov. Palin saw the light?
I am glad that the girls are getting the help that they need.