COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson And Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News
February 24, 2006
Insisting she has nothing to hide, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald on Thursday released more than 1,000 pages of documents she says absolve her of suspicion that she's out to get the Catholic Church.
"Unfortunately, recent allegations have impugned my motivation for introducing Senate Bill 143 to such a degree that I will waive confidentiality and release these privileged documents," Fitz-Gerald said in a news release.
Her decision followed open records requests by radio talk show host and attorney Dan Caplis and the Rocky Mountain News for correspondence and other documents relating to the bill. Fitz-Gerald, D- Coal Creek Canyon, allowed a review of the material for about 90 minutes at her Senate office Thursday.
Fitz-Gerald has come under fire from Caplis and, in more veiled terms, from Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput over her bill.
SB 143, which is pending in the full Senate, would open a two- year window allowing the filing of sex abuse lawsuits against nonprofit organizations and churches that otherwise would be beyond the statute of limitations. The Denver Archdiocese faces 24 such lawsuits filed since last summer.