BY ALLISON LEVITSKY
Daily Post Staff Writer
Christine Blasey Ford, the Palo Alto psychologist who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of trying to rape her when they were in high school, has been named the 24th Assembly District’s Woman of the Year by Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto.
Ford, 52, continues to do biostatistics research and work with doctoral students at Palo Alto University but is not currently teaching classes, a university spokeswoman said yesterday (March 4).
Berman will present Ford with the award at a private event later this month.
“In a remarkable act of courage, Dr. Ford put the country ahead of her own well-being, speaking out in the most public way imaginable about her sexual assault,” Berman said in a statement. “Dr. Ford exhibited strength and dignity under the most extraordinary conditions, and in telling her truth, she paved the way for countless other survivors to tell their own.”
The award commemorates Women’s History Month by having legislators choose a woman from each Assembly District to honor for her contributions to the district and the state.
Ford has worked in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford School of Medicine since 1998. She’s also a psychology professor in the Stanford-PGSP Consortium for Clinical Psychology, a collaborative program between Palo Alto University and Stanford.
‘Civic duty’
“Dr. Ford’s tremendous courage and strength are a testament to her civic duty and she will forever be an inspiration to countless Americans, including me, that believe survivors who are willing to risk everything to tell their truth,” state Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, said in a statement. Leyva chairs the state Legislative Women’s Caucus.
Ford came forward with the allegations to Sen. Dianne Feinstein in July, weeks after President Trump nominated Kavanaugh to fill Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court vacancy.
In September, she testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that at a house party in Bethesda, Maryland, a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her down on a bed, tried to pull her clothes off and covered her mouth while another boy turned up the music to drown out her screams.
Kavanaugh denied the allegations, and Republicans on the committee said her claims lacked corroboration. The Senate then voted to confirm Kavanaugh’s lifetime appointment on Oct. 6.
City proclamation put on hold
A plan in by Palo Alto City Council to present Ford with a public proclamation in October was put on hold because of Ford’s ongoing privacy and security concerns, including death threats.
Ford said in October that she had moved her family four times between mid-September and early October.
“Over the last few years we have seen women rise up together despite the setbacks that force important issues to remain in the shadows,” Assemblywoman Monique Limon, D-Santa Barbara and vice chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, said in a statement. “Dr. Ford is an example of the bravery required to do the right thing.”
This really stinks and ford is a fraud.
Liars shoud not be rewarded….seems pretty basic to me.
And remember you reap what you sow…it may come back to bite you.
She deserves this honor. She did her civic duty and was unmercifully attacked to the point of death threats. Speaking truth to power is sometimes hard. Kudos to her!
Trash
Ford made accusations that not only COULD NOT be proven due to the lack of ANY detail (when, where, why), they WERE NOT supported by the very people she claims were there that night, including her BEST FRIEND and supposedly the only other woman at the “party.” Pretty strange that the ONLY detail Ford can remember is the “who,” and only when he became Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, even after 6 other federal appointments and background checks.
As a teenager, I attended parties too, and if my best friend and only other female at the party had simply disappeared, I would have looked for her and worried about her, drunk or not. I would definitely have reached out to her the next morning (if I hadn’t called the police the night before).
Also: Ford’s testimony was that she and her best friend were there with four boys, and after the “attack,” she ran out the door. So she left her best friend there alone with four drunk boys, two of whom had just tried to assault her? Good friend she was! Left her friend to the same or worse fate, and didn’t even check in on her afterward.
And then there are the lies about her fear of flying while she has flown all over the place for pleasure trips.
Yes, of course, let’s give this woman the key to the city.
Berman just has a political agenda, and it’s embarrassing.
Good points, and further, Ford was able to name all of these people who allegedly attended the party except one very important person: the host of the party. Once you name the host, then evidence and possibly other clues can be gathered from the house.
Like you, I can remember attending several high school parties from almost 30 years ago. Can’t really remember the people who were there but I remember the house and/or the host of these parties. I think she conveniently left out that very important detail.
But the main problem I have with Ford is we should have never learned about this. It was too late to come forward. The time to say anything passed many decades ago. And I also believe Kavanaugh and think this woman is a nut job with a political agenda to stop another conservative from reaching the supreme court.
Maybe something happened to Ford, but it’s not what she testified to. Two teenage girls go to a party with four boys, and then one girl just leaves, and the two never talk about it again. Not at all normal.
Apparently, Ford left her friend alone with four drunk boys, two of whom had just attacked her. Nice friend. Didn’t even care what happened to her?
Ford claims she was afraid to fly, but has flown all over the place for pleasure.
Yeah, let’s give her a medal.
Sorry for the double reply – first one didn’t post for a while so I was experimenting with another.
Why isn’t Ford dismissed from her current position for attending an unsupervised party and illegally drinking alcoholic beverages decades ago?
The message to your daughters today is that such behavior is acceptable.
Disgraceful. Nothing about her charges have been verified. At best, fantasies, at worst deliberate falsehoods. Our officials shame us all with these commendations. Ford got her money and attention, that should be enough. Those who adore her bravery for coming forward, there is nothing – nothing, not even corraboration from her friends, not one, to confirm her impressions against a highly respected jurist.
I am glad to see majority of comments are sided with truth and integrity.
I want to know what happened to her voice. Her voice during the hearings was different from her voice I’ve heard in conversations earlier.