Saucy State Senator Who Pushed Aside Sex Abuse Victims for Pizza Party Complains about Daily News Story

By Glenn Blain, Michael O’keeffe, Larry Mcshane
New York Daily News
May 5, 2016

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/state-senator-angry-news-pizza-abuse-vics-article-1.2626758

A day after Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco told child sex abuse victims that he didn't have time to meet with them (pictured), he complained that the Daily News wrote about the pizza party he threw instead.

It’s his pizza party, and he’ll cry if he wants to.

Powerful state Senate Republican John DeFrancisco whined Thursday after the Daily News reported he served pizza pies to the Syracuse women’s basketball team while three child sex abuse survivors stood nearby in his office.

“It’s ridiculous,” DeFrancisco said just before the Senate went into session in Albany. “If you think that’s good reporting, then we have a difference of opinion.”

DeFrancisco said he was willing to meet with the trio to discuss their support for the pending Child Victims Act (CVA). But he said the timing of Wednesday’s pop-in was just wrong.

“I just think there is some basic office management that you have to do, no matter who happens to come in,” the Syracuse senator said.

John DeFrancisco (r.) and John Flanagan (l.) are key the passage of legislation to prevent abusers from hiding behind statute of limitations laws — which made DeFrancisco's baked brush-off even worse for sex abuse victims.

“And you’ve got people in the office — guests who were asked to come in because of their great achievement — and it’s blown up into a story about pizza and it was ridiculous.”

DeFrancisco spent about two minutes on the Senate floor, crying to a Daily News reporter on Thursday -— about the same amount of time it took for him to brush off the sex abuse survivors the day before.

The CVA, first proposed in 2006, has never cleared the state Senate. The support of Deputy Majority Leader DeFrancisco and Majority Leader John Flanagan is key to the passage of the legislation.

The Syracuse women's basketball team lost in the NCAA tournament championship game.

The bill would eliminate the existing New York state statute of limitations requiring child sex abuse targets to file civil or criminal charges by age 23. It would also open a one-year window for abuse survivors unable to take legal action in the past to receive their day in court.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan), who sponsored Assembly member Margaret Markey's bill in the Senate, said DeFrancisco should have met with the victims.

“I think it's important for every member of the Senate to hear these tragic stories,” Hoylman said.

Abuse survivors Steve Jiminez, Kathryn Robb and his sister Dorothy Robb Farrell — who got a slice of disrespect from DeFrancisco on Wednesday — were part of a group attending a two-day Albany lobbying effort on behalf of the CVA.

State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester), one of the bill’s supporters, called out her GOP colleagues over the proposed bill.

“The victims of these heinous crimes deserve justice and protection,” said the Senate Minority Leader. “It would be shameful if the Senate Republicans refuse to take action.”

The two minutes DeFrancisco spent on the floor of the Senate was roughly the same amount of time it took for him to brush off the sex abuse survivors the day before.

Abuse survivor Ana Wagner, who was inspired to come to Albany on Tuesday by a Daily News front page, was outraged when she saw The News front page about the pizza party celebrating Syracuse’s runner-up finish in the women’s NCAA tournament.

“I thought, ‘You have to be kidding me. Can’t you even act like you care?’” she asked as her eyes welled up with tears. “Who is fighting for the children? Children can’t stand up for themselves. They need adults to do it for them.”

Contact: gblain@nydailynews.com