BishopAccountability.org
	Group Says Church Unduly Influenced Wis. Lawmaker By Dinesh Ramde Wcco May 7, 2010 http://wcco.com/wireapnewswi/Group.says.Catholic.2.1679304.html A support group for victims of priest abuse questioned Thursday whether state Sen. Jim Sullivan allowed his Catholic faith to influence his legislative actions on a measure concerning child victims. The Wauwatosa Democrat described the allegation as groundless. The measure at issue is the Child Victims Act, a bill that would have made it easier for victims of clergy sexual abuse to file lawsuits. The now-dead measure, first introduced in 2008, would in part have erased the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits against child sex abusers. That could have led to a flood of lawsuits against a number of Wisconsin churches. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests alleged that the reason Sullivan opposed the measure was because he feared that his church would deny him communion, a sacred Catholic rite. As proof, SNAP distributed a Dec. 16 e-mail that lobbyist Joe Strohl had written to a colleague. In it, Strohl wrote of a conversation he had with Sullivan the previous day about the lawmaker's opposition to the bill. "As he said, 'he still takes communion every Sunday' and wants to be able to keep doing that," Strohl wrote. The line suggests Sullivan was feeling pressure, direct or implied, from church officials who wanted him to prevent the bill from coming up for a vote, said Peter Isely, SNAP's Midwest director. "Something happened to this bill," Isely said. "This seems to be the most plausible explanation." Sullivan confirmed with The Associated Press that he made the comment, but said it was being misinterpreted. "Never, ever has anybody ever threatened to withhold communion or any other sacraments from me or my family," the senator told the AP. He said he opposed the Child Victims Act because statutes of limitations are fair and important protections for defendants accused of having committed a crime decades earlier. "You have to be able to weigh the needs of those seeking justice with the need to mount a vigorous defense," Sullivan said. Strohl, the lobbyist and a former Democratic Senate leader, told AP he wrote the e-mail after a client had asked him to solicit Sullivan's stance on the Child Victims Act. When Sullivan made the communion comment there was nothing in his tone or body language that suggested he was being threatened or pressured to oppose it, Strohl said.
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