BishopAccountability.org
	Website Claims Ed Martin Hid Priest Sexual Abuse By Charles Jaco Fox 2 October 21, 2010 http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-ed-martin-sex-abuse-website-priest-102110,0,3756435.story [with video] ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) — A website produced by a New Mexico private investigator and a freelance TV producer charges that Republican Congressional candidate Ed Martin failed to tell police or prosecutors about pedophile priests in the St. Louis Archdiocese when Martin was a top aide to then-Archbishop Justin Rigali starting in 1998. The website--The Real Ed Martin dot com--cl;aims Martin had to be aware of dozens of pedophilia and sex abuse charges while he was both the head of the Archdiocese Office of Human Rights and a member of the Curia--the Archdiocese's ruling body. At a Thursday afternoon news conference, Martin, running for the 3rd Congressional District seat current held by Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan, angrily denounced the website as a Democratic, anti-Catholic smear. "It's as clear as can be, it's a smear," said Martin. "It's a smear because it says you can't have served your church because we're going to associate you with things whether the facts are true or not." But New Mexico private investigator Michael Corwin stands by the web site, which features a six minute video, footnotes and references, and biographies of everyone interviewed. "As an attorney, Ed Martin made a conscious decision not to do the right thing and tell police or prosecutors what he knew," Corwin said. "When it comes to pedophilia and molestations, there is no gray area." Martin called Corwin a Democratic operative who had worked for the Russ Carnahan campaign. "When you look at who's behind it, it's people who worked with, a direct connection to the Carnahan campaign." Corwin says he has worked for Democrats, and did work doing research for Russ Carnahan until June. He says he quit in anger then because the campaign refused to use any of the information he had unearthed. "The Carnahan campaign said they wouldn't touch it," Corwin said. "They were afraid they would (tick) off Catholic voters. I argued for it, and I quit." The Carnahan campaign denies any involvement with the web site. David Clohessy, founder of SNAP--the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests--says Martyin has explaining to do, no matter who is behind the web site. "I certainly believe Ed Martin has information about some of these predator priests that he hasn't shared publicly," said Clohessy, who was himself abused by a priest when he was a boy. "And I doubt he's shared it with law enforcement. I'd love to be proven wrong." But Martin maintains this is nothing but anti-Catholic propaganda. "This is an insult to every Catholic in St. Louis, every Catholic in Missouri, and every Catholic in the United States," Martin said. Replied the web site's Corwin, "You'll notice in his responses he doesn't deny that he knew. He definitely knew. There is no two ways about it." Martin, a favorite of the Tea Party movement, has mounted an unexpectedly strong challenge to incumbent Carnahan.
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