NEW YORK
Times Union
Chris Churchill
Albany
Much of what’s wrong with New York government can be summed up by two moments from the waning hours of the legislative session.
The first came at a little before 5 p.m. Tuesday, when Sen. Majority Leader John Flanagan revealed that there would not be a vote on the Child Victims Act.
The second arrived 28 hours later, when Flanagan introduced an 11th-hour bill to name the Tappan Zee Bridge after the governor’s father. It passed the Senate unanimously.
What a juxtaposition. Really, you couldn’t ask for a better illustration of how Albany power brokers put the wants of the political class over the needs of ordinary people — especially the weak and the powerless. It was out-flipping-rageous.
The Child Victims Act is about protecting children from sexual abuse. It would do away with a disgraceful statute of limitations — one of the most restrictive in the nation — that bars child sexual-abuse victims from proceeding with cases once they turn 23.
It would allow survivors to bring civil cases until they turn 50 and felony criminal cases until they’re 28. It also includes a one-year window to revive old cases.
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Victims have been lobbying for the bill for more than a decade. They’ve made endless trips to Albany to cajole lawmakers. They have worked tirelessly for their cause.
Even if you oppose the Child Victims Act, which easily passed the Assembly, there’s no justification for denying it a Senate vote. Advocates deserved that much for their hard work. They deserved to see which lawmakers were on their side.
Flanagan denied them that. The Republican from Long Island couldn’t even be bothered to offer an explanation. The arrogance is staggering.
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