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	Magistrate Supports Child Sex-Abuse Law, Says GOP Meeting Was Not Illegal By Jim Provance Toledo Blade September 26, 2006 http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060926/NEWS24/609260371 Columbus - A court magistrate has recommended that a new law addressing old cases of child sex abuse should stand, rejecting arguments that Ohio House Republicans illegally conspired behind closed doors to weaken the measure. Christine Lippe, a Franklin County Common Pleas Court magistrate, found that a majority of House Judiciary Committee members were at a private, prearranged meeting on March 28 and that Senate Bill 17 was discussed. But she said plaintiffs failed to prove a majority of members participated in those discussions, thus violating Ohio's open meetings law. She recommended that Judge Patrick Sheeran dismiss a lawsuit filed by three members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests seeking to overturn that vote as well as the law that resulted. After returning to the public meeting, the committee's majority killed a one-time, one-year window sought by victim advocates for filing abuse lawsuits for which the statute of limitations had long expired. The majority substituted an unprecedented civil registry Roman Catholic bishops proposed that could lead to a civil declaration that an accused person is a sex offender even if the person never faced criminal charges. It also scaled back a proposed expansion of the statute of limitations for filing abuse lawsuits. An entire Republican or Democratic caucus can meet privately to discuss legislation, but there is no similar exemption for a committee majority. "When considering that this controversial bill was drawing much media attention, was pending for a vote, and Republican committee members, Republican leadership, and key legislative aides were not only gathering in, but summoning members to the same room during a 90-minute interval of time, this magistrate concludes that any discussion, if any, of Senate 17 that took place was prearranged," the magistrate wrote. But, she said, while at least one committee member, Chairman John Willamowski (R., Lima), discussed the bill with an aide during the meeting, the suing victims couldn't prove the committee majority did. "We agree with the outcome, but not with how it was reached," said Karen Tabor, House Republicans' spokesman. She said the GOP caucus disputes that there was a prearranged meeting with Senate Bill 17 as the topic. Magistrate Lippe refused to let victim advocates introduce a TV interview in which Rep. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati) admitted the bill was discussed. Mr. Seitz is not a committee member, but he was a civil registry architect. The magistrate said Mr. Seitz's legislative immunity against lawsuits extends to the TV interview. "Seitz is not on the committee. Neither is [House Speaker Jon] Husted," said Catherine Hoolahan of Toledo, one of the attorneys for the suing victims. "Why were they there if not to pressure the committee members?" she asked. "They had clearly come down to see what was going on with deliberations. At some point, common sense has to be credited." She said objections to the magistrate's recommendation will be filed before Judge Sheeran issues a final ruling. Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.
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