Orders
Oz calls on GOP pols to pass N.Y. child vics law
ALBANY — Advocates for a bill to make it easier for child sex abuse victims to seek justice as adults got help Monday from television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz.
On his show, Oz spoke to actor Corey Feldman, who says he was abused as a child, before launching into a plea for New York to pass the Child Victims Act, which has stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Oz urged his viewers to call state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, whose picture he posted, “to go after him” and push him for a vote on the bill.
“I have emailed him and I have called him and I’ve gotten no response so far, that’s why I need you to help me,” he said. “Let’s get one state, a big state, a state that’s sort of a bellwether, shapes the rest of the country in some way, to get this done. Call them to get it started.”
Oz’s call came as advocates who have been pushing for more than a decade for New York to extend the time in which child sex abuse victims can bring civil and criminal cases against their attackers have launched a new campaign designed to pressure state Senate Republicans to finally act.
The campaign includes a new coalition, New Yorkers Against Predators, made up of advocates and led by Child USA, designed “to create accountability for the (legislative) members who have not supported the Child Victims Act,” said Child USA CEO and long-time activist Marci Hamilton.
The campaign will include digital ads and press conferences — the first of which begins Wednesday in White Plains — targeting different Senate Republicans.
The ads, created by SKDKnickerbocker, a politically-connected consulting firm hired by Child USA, shows a shady character in the shadows with a message targeting specific senators and asking people to call their offices to demand passage of the legislation.
The bill has passed the Assembly multiple times, including last year for the first time since 2008. But it has stalled in the Senate, where Republican leadership has refused to allow it to the floor for a vote.
“The idea is to create personal accountability for not backing the CVA,” Hamilton said. “We've always assumed that just talking about the needs of children would really make it happen as it has in some of the other states, but it just hasn’t been enough in New York.”
The bill passed by the Assembly and supported by Gov. Cuomo earlier this year would allow abuse victims to bring civil cases until their 50th birthday and seek felony criminal charges until their 28th birthday. Currently, they have until their 23rd birthday to bring such cases.