WASHINGTON – A Baton Rouge rape survivor whose videotaped confrontation with U.S. Sen. David Vitter is circulating around the Internet said Tuesday that the incident was not politically motivated.

The incident is posted on YouTube and has had more than 100,000 viewers as of Tuesday evening.

Jennie Waldrop, a senior at LSU, clashed with the Louisiana Republican on Saturday over an amendment he opposed last month. The legislation would bar the federal government from contracting with companies that require employees to handle sexual assault claims through arbitration.

The legislation, offered by Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, grew out of the case of Jamie Lee Jones, a Halliburton employee who said she was raped by coworkers with the defense contractor. Some defense contractors, as a condition of employment, require employees to submit to arbitration rather than take their disputes with their employer to civil court.

Franken’s amendment was added to a Defense Appropriations Bill that already had passed the U.S. House of Representatives.

Vitter joined 30 Republican male senators who opposed the amendment, which passed. They noted that the amendment also was opposed by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Vitter’s reelection to the U.S. Senate is being challenged by Democratic U.S. Rep. Charles “Charlie” Melancon of Napoleonville, who urged his House colleagues to accept the Franken amendment.

In a telephone press conference organized Tuesday by the Louisiana Democratic Party, Waldrop said she was alerted by a rape counselor to Saturday’s town hall meeting on health care at the Westdale Middle School in Baton Rouge.

“I’m not a political person,” said Waldrop, who said she is a registered independent. “People were asking me about this amendment and this bill and I said ‘I don’t have an idea.’”

Waldrop acknowledged that she attended a planning meeting for the event held by Democrats the night before Vitter’s meeting on Saturday. She also handed out fliers with Jones’ story on it with Democratic organizers outside Westdale before Vitter’s meeting.

Waldrop confronted Vitter at the end of the meeting, accusing him of turning his back on her when she said she wanted to ask him a question and was holding up a sign that said “You Cannot Silence the Survivors.”

“I think when he did that he turned his back on me and women,” Waldrop said Tuesday. “It was like my rights walking out the door.”

The confrontation was filmed by a videographer, who is affiliated with Democrats but whom party officials refuse to identify.

Vitter declined to comment on the incident Tuesday but issued a prepared statement calling Jones’ story horrific. Vitter said he has backed legislation in the past making it easier to prosecute overseas sexual assault incidents and was filmed telling Waldrop that cases like Jones’ should be prosecuted.

“But the Franken amendment is far broader and would hurt our military’s ability to get the help it needs,” Vitter said in the statement. He noted that President Barack Obama also is against the amendment.

Officials with Obama’s Defense Department have said that the law would be difficult to enforce because contractors would have no say over the rules of subcontractors. A call and e-mail to the Defense Department’s public affairs office were not returned Tuesday.

Waldrop said she was raped in November 2005 by a man who broke into her apartment, beat her, raped her, held her hostage and threatened to kill her. The perpetrator was arrested and is now serving a life term in Angola State Penitentiary, Waldrop said.

“Everybody should have the right to stand up in court and say that’s the person that raped me,” Waldrop said.

A federal appeals court ruled that Jones could sue Halliburton for monetary damages. Waldrop said Tuesday that she would continue pressing the issue.

“I’ve got a big mouth if anybody knows me,” Waldrop said. “I’m very passionate about this.”

The YouTube video is available http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6YZ1wP1978