Survivor of rape confronts Vitter

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Nov 4, 2009 - Page: 1A

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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.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6YZ1wP1978

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 U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., 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 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 re-election 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 news 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 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 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.”