Victims of Priest Sexual Abuse to Matt Flynn: Get out of the Race

By Patrick Marley and Mary Spicuzza
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
July 25, 2018

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/24/matt-flynn-rails-against-victimology-elite-he-defends-his-church-work/827167002/

Members of the Milwaukee chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests on Tuesday urged supporters of Democratic candidate for governor Matt Flynn to call on him to get out of the race. Left to right are: Arthur Budzinski, Father Domenic Roscioli, his mother Angie Roscioli, Peter Isely, and Mike Sneesby.

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse by priests angrily rejected claims Tuesday from Democratic candidate for governor Matt Flynn that people trying to push him out of the race are part of a "victimology elite."

Peter Isely, the former Midwest director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, scoffed at the idea that elites were the ones trying to get Flynn out of the race because of his work as a lawyer for the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

"That's quite an elite group of people," Isely said as he pointed to photographs of children who were sexually abused by priests.

"I can tell you right now, because I'm one of them. Being raped and sexually assaulted as a child — that's no elite group that anyone, anyone's ever going to want to belong to."

Isely made his comments at a Milwaukee news conference a day after Flynn — one of eight Democrats hoping to take on GOP Gov. Scott Walker — held a 45-minute conference call with reporters to defend his work for the archdiocese. At times, Flynn drifted from talking about that work to complain about those who opposed him.

“I’m talking about the elites in our party who make this a victimology seminar,” Flynn said of those who would criticize his wealth and Yale University education.

Matt Flynn, Democratic candidate for Wisconsin governor. (Photo: handout from the candidate)

Flynn did not accuse those who were abused by priests of engaging in “victimology,” but the phrase stood out given that he had slated the call to address his work for the church. He used the term as he described what he thought was wrong with his party.

“Why do you think so many Democrats and labor people voted for (President Donald) Trump? Because they were tired of people, whining elites whining about — imposing on them some world view that wasn’t true,” he said. “I’m talking about the victimology elite, the identity politics elite, and they are what’s holding this party back and people didn’t buy their message."

In an interview, Milwaukee County Judge David Borowski said he believed the archdiocese under Flynn's guidance had followed a legal approach that "re-victimized victims and made their lives worse."

"These cases were handled in my view in the most litigious ways possible instead of following the church's own dictates (of) helping your fellow man," he said.

Borowski did not participate in the news conference hosted by SNAP and has not endorsed anyone in the governor's race. As an attorney, he represented a priest abuse victim in the early 1990s.

"As a judge who has presided over hundreds if not thousands of sexual assault cases where many of the victims are children, I've never heard the term 'victimology elite,' " Borowski said.

SNAP's news conference included Angie Roscioli, 94, who wept at times as she held a photograph of herself from her First Communion, which is around the time she was first raped by her parish priest.

Her son, Father Dominic Roscioli, stood by her side at the news conference outside the Archbishop Weakland Center. He argued the facility should instead be named the Holy Innocents Center because he doesn't believe former Archbishop Rembert Weakland deserves to be honored with a building name.

“Flynn and Weakland violated the deepest and most sacred ethical code of any profession, including my own: first do no harm,” Father Roscioli said in a statement this week.

Isely and the others called on Flynn's backers to join their effort to get him out of the race. They targeted Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and philanthropist Sheldon Lubar, who they said are hosting a fundraiser for him this month.

"It's wrong for anybody — no matter what their motive, no matter what their professional occupation or ambition — to cover up for child sex crimes," Isely said.

Chisholm said he has long supported SNAP, noting he testified with the group in 2010 as part of an unsuccessful push to change the statute of limitations for abuse victims. But he also backs Flynn.

“I continue to support Matt, and my position is simply this — the criminal justice system and the justice system as a whole would not work if we excluded people from public service who have zealously advocated for their clients," Chisholm said.

He later added, "As a prosecutor, I'm never going to attack a defense attorney for being a good defense attorney."

Isely said he hoped to meet with Chisholm to review documents detailing Flynn's work.

"It is not OK to cover up for child sex crimes. End of story," Isely said. "I just find that impossible to believe that that's OK with John Chisholm."

An aide to Lubar did not return a call.

Also running for governor as Democrats are state Schools Superintendent Tony Evers, liberal activist Mike McCabe, firefighters union president Mahlon Mitchell, lawyer Josh Pade, former state Rep. Kelda Roys, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout.