Cuomo Blasts Dolan's Claim of "Toxic" Clause in Child Victims Act

By Kenneth Lovett
New York Daily News
March 21, 2018

http://www.nydailynews.com/amp/news/politics/cuomo-blasts-dolan-claim-toxic-clause-child-victims-act-article-1.3888657?__twitter_impression=true

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan stand on stage before a rally to raise the minimum wage on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. Cuomo says raising the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour will "show the nation the way forward" and offer working families hope instead of the fear mongering that he says has marked this year's presidential race. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Gov. Cuomo stood up for survivors of childhood sexual assault on Wednesday, and pushed back against Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s statement that a lookback provision for them to revive old legal claims would be “toxic.”

"These victims have been denied their day in court for far too long and we stand with them," Cuomo told the Daily News in a statement. “The arguments against a lookback do not stand up against the experience of every other state and this debate only wastes time and delays justice.”

While his statement did not mention Dolan by name, it came one day after the cardinal met with him to argue against a lookback provision being included in the Child Victims Act, which would extend the statute of limitations on criminal and civil child sex abuse cases.

After meeting separately with Cuomo and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk County), Dolan told reporters a lookback provision would be “toxic for us” because it would lead to a flood of civil cases against the Church.

Dennis Poust, spokesman for the state Catholic Conference that Dolan heads, said, "We share the governor's outrage at the crime of child sexual abuse and we know that he also understands that wherever a child is victimized, they should have the same access to the court system."

"However,” he added, “we respectfully differ with him regarding an unlimited retroactive window to bring up claims from decades ago against institutions of all kinds."

Advocates were still outraged over Dolan’s remarks.

Julianne Moore urged her Twitter followers to hound New York Senate Republicans who have opposed the Child Victims Act.

“Shame on Dolan and his un-Christ-like scare tactics to keep their secrets and known predators hidden,” said Kathryn Robb, a survivor and co-founder of New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators.

Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda, a Bronx Democrat running for the state Senate in a special election next month, also ripped Dolan.

"As a Catholic, I am really shocked and disgusted by his hypocrisy," Sepulveda said. "He is putting the Church's finances ahead of the interest of these abused victims. If the Church had done the right thing in the first place, instead of years of covering up criminal acts and protecting its priests, it never would have come to this point.”

Advocates are hoping Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature will deal with the issue in the final state budget due April 1.

Cuomo and the Assembly Democrats included different versions of the Child Victims Act in their respective state budget proposals.

The Senate Republicans, who have blocked passage of the measure in prior years, left the door open for a deal this year in their budget plan by expressing support for “amendments to both the civil and criminal statutes of limitations to further protect children from sexual predators.”

Moore went on Twitter and shared the phone numbers of state pols including Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan.

The push for action got some high-profile help Wednesday, when actress Julianne Moore took to Twitter to urge her 800,000 followers to call Senate Republicans blocking passage of the CVA.

She even provided their office phone numbers.

“Tell NY State Senators to stop blocking the Child Victims Act & protecting predators. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse deserve justice!” Moore wrote.

Moore recently wrote a column for the Daily News linking the #MeToo movement to passage of the CVA.