Irish-American Pols Group Skips Salute to Cardinal Dolan in Disagreement with Church Views

By Kenneth Lovett
New York Daily News
February 27, 2012

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Timothy Cardinal Dolan was atop the list to be guest of honor at the New York State American-Irish Legislators Society dinner on March 12, but squabbling over Catholic Church politics killed the plan, members said. Photo by Kevin Hagen

Nod goes from 'no-brainer' to nonstarter after some lawmakers object to Catholic positions on gay marriage and priest sex abuse, Albany group members say

It's not just the folks at the Empire State Building who are snubbing Cardinal Dolan — a group of Irish-American state legislators in Albany have dissed him, too.

A push to make Dolan the guest of honor at the March 12 annual dinner for the New York State American-Irish Legislators Society was squashed amid internal controversy, multiple sources said.

"Dolan was the first one mentioned to honor, given his recent ascension to cardinal, and originally it looked like it was leaning that way," said one supporter of the idea. "It was a no-brainer."

But some Assembly Democratic members are said to have balked because of the church's vehement opposition both to same-sex marriage and a bill to extend the statute of limitations for past victims of sex abuse by priests.

"It was clear there were certain members of the majority who would be unhappy and uncomfortable if the honoree was the cardinal," a second member of the society said.

It was decided, instead, to honor Brian O'Dwyer, the liberal lawyer .

Several members of the bipartisan group groused that an honoree's political views shouldn't be a major consideration.

"We're an Irish organization," said one source. "Our guest of honor should be a prominent person in the Irish community."

Dolan, he said, "is a newly elevated cardinal and he is a fine Irishman and a prominent player on the stage. You can make the argument I disagree with Mr. O'Dwyer's politics, but I think he's a fine Irishman and a great honoree — only he should have been next year."

Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island), the society president, denied Dolan was snubbed.

Cusick said Dolan was one of several names recommended, but was not chosen after his staff said the cardinal would be unable to attend.

A Dolan spokesman said Dolan is scheduled to leave Albany that evening for Washington to chair a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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The nasty fight over legislative district boundaries in New York is about to go national.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he and others plan to highlight the issue during a five-day march from Selma to Montgomery to commemorate the 46th anniversary of the 1965 voting rights march.

"We intend to raise that it's not just a Southern problem in terms of voter ID laws, it's also a Northern problem in terms of how districts are drawn," Sharpton said.

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New York Republicans haven't won a statewide contest since 2002.

Even top GOPers are pessimistic the streak will end this year against U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

A top GOP official predicted that the party's chances of defeating Gillibrand with either of the two announced candidates — Nassau County Controller George Maragos or little-known judicial activist Wendy Long — is "one in three."

Contact: klovett@nydailynews.com