With the mounting criticism against Sen. Elaine Phillips for her opposition to the Child Victims Act (CVA), one might expect that she would submit a formal statement to local news media defending her record.
Instead, it appears she’s asked Sen. Catharine Young, whose district is located hundreds of miles away, to write to Blank Slate Media on her behalf.
For those who don’t know, Young wrote the GOP’s alternative to the CVA, Senate Bill S8736A, which never made it to the Senate floor for a vote.
Phillips was a co-sponsor of Young’s bill.
In her letter published Aug. 17, Young falsely accused Blank Slate Media of claiming that the victim compensation fund she proposed would be funded by “taxpayer dollars.”
This was a willful misrepresentation of that editorial’s contents.
Blank Slate Media’s editorial staff clearly stated that, despite the fact that the money would come from an asset forfeiture fund managed by the Manhattan district attorney’s office (and not tax revenue), it was still “public” money.
Apparently, Young felt that her argument was so weak, she had to resort to lying, hoping that Blank Slate Media’s readers wouldn’t be paying close enough attention to realize they were being misled.
Young also criticized the CVA’s one-year civil look-back window for not benefiting enough victims of childhood sexual abuse.
Meanwhile, she failed to mention that the reason her bill included no look-back window at all was to mollify the large, traditionally conservative religious and social institutions who were terrified of being held accountable for decades of complicity.
Further, Young didn’t make it especially clear if she was writing this letter in her official capacity as state senator or as a partisan candidate for re-election.
Although she signed the letter “Senator Catharine Young,” she also took the opportunity to remind readers she was running for re-election on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines.
If she used Senate staff or resources to send that letter, she committed a clear ethical violation (and an unnecessary one, considering that Blank Slate Media doesn’t publish any newspapers in or near her district.)
It’s important to note that, while Phillips took office just last year, Young has served in the Senate since 2005.
The only conceivable reason she waited until this spring to introduce her alternative bill was because Democrats were starting to publicly pressure vulnerable Republican senators, such as Phillips, on the issue.
Conveniently, by the time Young’s bill was ready to leave committee, the Independent Democratic Conference (a group of Democrats who caucused with Republicans) had formally disbanded and Republican Sen. Thomas Croci had returned to active military duty, leaving the chamber deadlocked.
This was a “best-of-both-worlds” scenario for Young, Phillips and Republican Majority Leader John Flanagan, who could hold up Young’s failed bill as proof that they cared about victims of childhood sexual abuse, while not alienating the institutions that lobbied against any substantive reform.
While Young will never be held accountable for her inaction (she trounced her last Democratic opponent by over 65 points), eligible voters in Phillips’ district have an unprecedented opportunity to set this wrong right.
Unseating Phillips would not only chalk up one more vote in favor of the superior bill, the CVA, but it could also grant the Democrats the power to call the CVA to the Senate floor. Without this power, the bill will never pass.
Again, I strongly encourage all eligible voters reading this letter to vote for Phillips’ Democratic opponent, Anna Kaplan, on Nov. 6. The 7th District deserves a senator that will advocate on behalf of victims, rather than on behalf of their victimizers.
Matthew Zeidman
New Hyde Park
