Catholic Church spent $2M on major N.Y. lobbying firms to block child-sex law reform

Governor Andrew Cuomo and Cardinal Timothy Dolan

ALBANY — Not leaving it to divine chance, the state Catholic Conference has turned in recent years to some of Albany’s most well-connected and influential lobby firms to help block a bill that would make it easier for child sex abuse victims to seek justice.

The Catholic Conference, headed by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, has used Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, Patricia Lynch & Associates, Hank Sheinkopf, and Mark Behan Communications to lobby against the Child Victims Act as well as for or against other measures.

All told, the conference spent more than $2.1 million on lobbying from 2007 through the end of 2015, state records show. That does not include the conference’s own internal lobbying team.

Filings show the lobbyists were retained, in part, to work on issues associated with “statute of limitations” and “timelines for commencing certain civil actions related to sex offenses.”  (more...)

Catholic Church spent $2M on major N.Y. lobbying firms to block child-sex law reform

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The New York Catholic Church Paid Lobbyists $2.1 Million to Block Child Sex-Abuse Law Reform

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