March 21, 2024 10:41 AM UTC

Wait, What? Republicans Balk At Holding Sex Predators Accountable

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• by: Colorado Pols

As CBS4 Denver’s sometimes-unreliable political narrator Shaun Boyd nonetheless gets right his time, Democrats in the Colorado General Assembly appear to have flipped the script on Republicans, who have been cranking up the outrage machine for weeks over the Democratic majority supposedly “protecting” child sex predators–resulting in death threats against lawmakers that Republicans have not only failed to condemn, but even encouraged:

There is surprising pushback against a constitutional amendment that would allow child sex assault survivors to bring civil claims no matter how long ago their abuse happened.

Republicans in the Colorado Senate are threatening to prevent the measure from making the ballot.

They’re worried it would lead to lawsuits against churches, schools and other institutions that they say would have no way of defending themselves because the cases happened so long ago.

Under the amendment, survivors could sue both their abusers and those who covered up the abuse…

It’s the second time that Democrats have attempted to help victims of sexual assault for whom the statute of limitations to criminally prosecute has expired, this time going to the ballot to ask voters to make the requisite constitutional change that resulted in the Colorado Supreme Court invalidating the first attempt. An estimated 90% of sex abuse cases are perpetrated by people the victims know like relatives, clergy, or school employees, so it’s understood that the potential liability we’re talking about to institutions like the Catholic Church is very significant. Here in Colorado, as readers know, the Catholic Church has found itself in the uncomfortable position of political activism on issues like abortion and marriage equality while trying to stave off accountability after some of the Church’s most beloved local leaders turned out to be pedophiles.

And so the willingness of Republicans to indiscriminately punish child sex offenders to the limit of the law dries up when large institutions stand to lose lots of money.

While many Republicans helped pass the law [three years ago], they are now refusing to refer the constitutional amendment to the ballot unless institutions are exempted. [Pols emphasis]

Although Democrats enjoy a supermajority in the Colorado House, they are one seat short of that in the Senate, and that means at least one Republican vote for a referred constitutional measure will be necessary. As of now, not a single Senate Republican has shown willingness to break ranks unless institutions like the Catholic Church get an institutional exemption. Given the way this bill could undermine the chorus of acrimony Republicans have been struggling to sustain since January against Democrats on the issue of child sex abuse, it’s a significant blunder that exposes major underlying hypocrisy in this year’s GOP “pro-pedo” moral panic.

Let Republicans explain how it doesn’t. While they’re explaining, they’ll be the ones losing.