-By Warner Todd Huston
This year the Violence Against Women Act is getting some stronger penalties for stalking, assault, and other crimes. With all these new provisions, one wonders that if this law were around 15 years ago, how it would have hit good old Congressman Bill Foster, a man who is guilty of abusing his wife?
The law, called The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (S47), would most certainly have sent Foster to jail for a long time. You see the Illinois Democrat has a chequered history of violence against women.
Some of the additions to S47 include,
- Reauthorizes VAWA formula and discretionary grants for five years; consolidates certain grants to streamline grant administration and save taxpayer money.
- Increases the emphasis on the investigation, prosecution, and services for victims of sexual assault.
- Increases focus on training for law enforcement and prosecutors and efforts to reduce rape kit backlogs.
- Expands grants to tribal governments and coalitions to address violence against women on tribal land.
- Enhances penalties for assault and improves the federal stalking statute.
The latter provision would have hit Foster particularly hard and his divorce papers prove.
As the Washington Free Beacon revealed last year, Foster has some pretty unsavory charges against him.
A March 1996 court filing contends that Foster “pushed, shoved, and caused physical abuse and emotional harm” to his then-wife, who had asked Foster repeatedly to leave the family home because his presence was “upsetting” to their two young children.
Foster’s wife’s attorney requested a temporary restraining order against Foster from “calling, harassing, or touching” his client, the records show.
Foster also tried to get the courts to force his soon to be ex from being allowed to move wherever she wanted after the divorce, even demanding that the courts “fine” her thousands, in fact $50,000, if she dared to move.
“It almost sounds, on the initial surface, as if you are holding someone hostage to stay within any school district, which is not the law of the State of Illinois,” Judge Keith Brown said during the trial in 1996.
