Kenneth Lovett: Long-time fighter for Child Victims Act will return to Albany for its passage

Jan. 28--ALBANY -- With the Child Victims Act set for long-awaited state legislative passage on Monday, the woman who for years stood alone taking on the Church --and even fellow lawmakers--will be on hand to watch it happen.

"We're going up to Albany," former Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) told the Daily News of her return to the Capitol with her husband and daughter to watch an event she thought might never happen.

"Yes!" she said excitedly when asked if she was proud to see passage of the bill to make it easier for victims of child sex abuse going back decades to seek their day in court as adults--even those who are frozen out because the statute of limitations has expired on their cases.

"She's very emotional about this whole thing," her husband, retired state Supreme Court Judge Charles Markey, said. "Things welled up in her when she heard it was going."

Driven by the sex abuse of a relative by someone in the Church and other victims she subsequently met, Markey fiercely championed the Child VictimsAct for more than a decade before she lost a Democratic primary in 2016 after 18 years in office.

It was not an easy road.

A devout Catholic, Markey was attacked by members of the Church.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, once called for her to resign and slammed her as a "notorious anti-Catholic bigot."

She publicly fought with Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.

Markey acknowledged Saturday that she had faced roadblocks from some of her fellow Assembly Democrats.

Each year, she soldiered on, picking up more co-sponsors. Still, there was no vote.

Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) took over the bill after Markey left office.

Rosenthal carried on the fight and got it passed in the Assembly in 2017 and 2018. But the Senate Republican majority, bowing to opposition from the Church, Orthodox Jewish community, the Boy Scouts of America, and insurance companies, refused to take up the measure.

Everything changed when the Democrats won control of the Senate in November and prioritized passage of the Child Victims Act, which is backed by Gov. Cuomo.

While Rosenthal and Senate bill sponsor Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) will shepherd the bill through on Monday, many survivors and long-time advocates have not forgotten Markey's fight and are excited to see her return for a much-deserved curtain call.

"She fought alone and took a lot of heat," said Steve Jimenez, 65, a survivor and co-founder of New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators.

In a bit of irony, Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan, who as Republican majority leader up until January blocked the Child Victims Act from even coming to the floor for years, will return to the Capitol Monday for the first time since leaving alcohol rehab as the legislation comes to the floor for the long-awaited vote.

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Erie County Republican Chairman Nicholas Langworthy has quietly been traveling the state to meet with fellow county leaders to talk about him replacing state GOP Chairman Ed Cox.

Langworthy this past week met with a number of downstate county Republican chairs, sources said.

Langworthy, who wouldn't comment, is planning to challenge the longtime Republican leader when his term is up in July, the sources said.

Allies of Cox, who has said he will seek another term, are said to be making calls to county chairs on his behalf.

Suffolk County GOP Chairman John Jay LaValle is also talking to chairs about leading the state party..

"If there's going to be a change, there's a good chance I would be interested," he said.

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With New York having strengthened and expanded abortion rights and set to pass the Child Victims Act over Church objections, the state Catholic Conference headed by Timothy Cardinal Dolan is now prioritizing blocking a bill to legalize physician assisted suicide.

But advocates for the measure say bring it on.

"The Catholic Church has been on the wrong side of so many important public policies for years," said Corinne Carey, the New York campaign director for Compassion & Choices.

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A former aide to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is joining the beleaguered MTA.

Maxwell Young will become the MTA's chief external affairs officer, a newly created position that will have oversight of policy, communications, and government affairs.

Young will report to acting agency Chairman Fernando Ferrer. Young said "getting transit right is so critical."

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