NY Assembly democrats won’t allow showing of #Spotlight to help Markey fight #childsexualabuse

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey plans to fight her chamber's leadership for permission to show the film "Spotlight" at the Capitol complex in May.

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) fights to get Statute of Limitations laws changed but her own party hinders her.  Assembly Democratic leaders say the Oscar-winning film Spotlight can’t be shown on government property.  Markey’s office has a permit to show the film and will continue to push for the screening to follow a May 4 roundtable on child abuse issues.

Three times in the past decade the Assembly has passed a bill sponsored by Markey that would not only make it easier for victims to sue, but would also grant a one-year window for those whose statute of limitations had expired to bring a civil lawsuit. The last time the bill cleared the Assembly was in 2008. 

But under pressure from the Catholic Church and other religious organizations, the Senate failed to take up the matter each time. Republicans, who control the Senate, don’t see that changing this year. 

The roadblock to justice for countless sex abuse victims in New York is the continued handiwork of Senate Republicans more concerned about the rights of perverts than their accusers — or too busy to even consider reforms.

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan through his staff wouldn’t even discuss the matter this week despite repeated requests from the Daily News. “We aren’t going to discuss it until after the (state) budget is settled,” Flanagan spokesman Scott Reif said.

Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco, a retired Syracuse lawyer, said the current law strikes a fair balance.  What he said sounds like a direct quote from the catholic church leadership in NY state: He said,

“I believe that there’s a purpose for a statute of limitations,” DeFrancisco said. “The further back the case is, the more difficult it is for anybody to defend themselves. Witnesses are gone. That’s why a statute of limitation is there.” That goes for both criminal and civil cases, he said.

We need more politicians like Assemblywoman Markey and no politicians like those democrats and republicans who can be bought off by the catholic church.

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