For shame, John Flanagan

Sen. John Flanagan thinks he can slink out of Albany quietly this week after failing again to give child abuse victims a fair opportunity to seek justice. Fellow Republican senators, portraits in cowardice all, are hiding behind their leader. Let a bright light shine clearly on their faces, for there is no excuse for letting the unconscionable status quo stand.

Under current law, New Yorkers abused as children have only until their 23rd birthday to file criminal or civil charges. Because it takes years for young people to reckon with their violation at the hands of teachers, clergy, guardians and others, that effectively slams the court doors shut.

The state Assembly, which has led the charge to give victims additional precious time to pursue both civil and criminal claims, has six times passed reforms.

Crucially included: a one-year window giving past victims the chance to seek justice for abuse that happened before the fix in law.

For months, Gov. Cuomo kept quiet — but that changed last week, as he got foursquare behind a bill that echoes the Assembly approach.

Which leaves the GOP-controlled Senate, the lone holdout, without any courage, without any answers.

They lamely claim opening a window would place undue burden on potentially culpable institutions, raising the specter even of bankruptcy of New York’s Catholic dioceses.

They insist the courts would be flooded with a surge of baseless cases. Base fearmongering. Six states that have opened up windows, most longer than New York’s, have seen no such flood, no such bankruptcies. The courts are wellequipped to bounce meritless allegations.

And if this is truly Flanagan & Co.’s concern, there’s a third way: pass the compromise bill proposed by Sen. Jeff Klein, their splitter-faction-Democrat coalition partner. That would create a commission to vet civil claims before they get access to the courts.

And yet, Klein’s bill hasn’t a single GOP cosponsor. About par for a conference that’s bottled up all reform measures in committee since it regained the de facto majority in 2009.

Monday — two days before the session ends — Senate Republicans are set to “review” various statute-of-limitation reform measures.

They know full well what their options are. The review is bound to be nothing but a strategy session to figure out how to circle the wagons again, failing sex abuse victims again. Disgusting. Again.