Some Label Markey As ‘anti-catholic’

By Christopher Barca
Queens Chronicle
June 16, 2016

http://www.qchron.com/editions/central/some-label-markey-as-anti-catholic/article_fd5b22bd-9887-563e-a0a8-9a738aaa9fce.html

Tony Nunziato, a two-time challenger to Assemblywoman Marge Markey, called the lawmaker anti-Catholic at the Juniper Park Civic Association.

Assemblywoman Marge Markey (D-Maspeth) has been catching hell in recent days over her claim that Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, head of the Diocese of Brooklyn, tried to bribe her in 2007 to end her support of legislation to extend the statute of limitations for lawsuits over child sex abuse allegations.

“She’s definitely anti-Catholic,” Tony Nunziato, Markey’s two-time Assembly race opponent, said at the Juniper Park Civic Association last Thursday. “Her attack against the bishop was horrendous.”

The assemblywoman — who for a decade has been fighting to pass reforms to the statute of limitations regarding child sex abuse crimes — told the Daily News last Tuesday that DiMarzio offered her $5,000 to drop her support for such legislation

However, the clergyman denied the allegation in a June 7 letter to Markey and in a letter last weekend to the diocese, calling it “patently false.”

DiMarzio confirmed that the two of them did meet to discuss sex abuse in December 2007 — not in 2010 as Markey originally told the Daily News but later clarified — and that the discussion centered around policy implications of such legislation and the counseling services the church makes available to victims of abuse.

“There was absolutely no offer of money,” DiMarzio wrote to the parishoners of the diocese, “nor a quid pro quo.”

He also slammed the Daily News for its “irresponsible and inaccurate reports” that he said prove why statutes of limitations on sex abuse accusations makes sense.

“Memories fade, witnesses die and evidence gets lost,” he said.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights also hammered Markey and the Daily News over the bribery claim, saying the newspaper has no credibility and that Markey is a “notorious anti-Catholic bigot” and the “number one enemy of Catholics in New York.”

“When a public official tells malicious tales about a bishop, it is serious business,” Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement. “When the same person is a known anti-Catholic bigot, it is time for him or her to immediately resign.

“Assemblywoman Margaret Markey should resign immediately,” he continued, saying Markey needs to be investigated. “There is no place in public office for rogues like her.”

Markey fired back on Tuesday through her spokesman, Mike Armstrong.

“I thought it was the Pope who decided who was or was not a good Catholic,” Armstrong said. “This is a 10-year-long crusade to reform NY’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse crimes that Marge Markey will continue as long as it takes to make it law.”

The Maspeth lawmaker may have to wait longer before the measure has a chance to become law, however.

Despite coming to a compromise with Assembly colleagues last week, Markey conceded to the Daily News that the bill that would extend the time child sex abuse victims can bring cases by five years — as well as open a six-month window to revive old cases and treat public and private entities equally when it comes to child sex abuse cases — would most likely not be voted on before the legislative session ends today, June 16.

Under that bill, A10600, the statute of limitations for criminal cases would not begin to run until the victim turns 23. Previously, it started when the allegedly abused person turned 18.

With civil cases, victims would have until their 28th birthday to file a lawsuit against the accused predator.

Members of the clergy would also be legally obligated to report suspicions of abuse, with the exception being any information obtained during confession.

According to reports, lawmakers expect the issue to be brought back up for discussion after the fall elections.