both parties have paid d'amato $ 25,000/month for years and years for a no show job and lesser amounts to silver's boys meara and lieberman
talk to the kat and you will......
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Rape Survivor Could Face Fine Over N.Y. Billboards
Kat Sullivan didn’t pay the $200 fee to register as a lobbyist, a state watchdog panel says
Kat Sullivan is a rape survivor who says she spent $14,000 on billboards, some of which urged passage of a New York law to give victims of child sex abuse more legal options.
But the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a state watchdog, said that was illegal lobbying because she didn’t pay the $200 fee to register as a lobbyist. The commission sent her letters during the past year, including one in July that warned she could be fined up to $25,000.
Rather than comply, Ms. Sullivan spent $19,500 on billboards mocking JCOPE, saying she was being improperly targeted. On Tuesday morning she hired actors and a film crew to stage a protest outside the commission’s otherwise staid meeting.
“I’m allowed to participate in the legislative process as a survivor,” Ms. Sullivan, a pediatric nurse who was raped in 1988 when she was a New York high-school student and later moved to Florida, said in an interview.
New York law uses a $5,000 spending threshold to distinguish between citizen lobbyists—such as a group of parents who visit the Capitol to push for more school funding—and professionals who must register. It defines grass-roots lobbying as a communication that takes a position on legislation or other pending government action, and urges people to contact decision makers about it.
Some of Ms. Sullivan’s billboards showed pictures of state senators and referenced the Child Victims Act, which increases the criminal and civil statutes of limitations for sex crimes committed against minors and provided a one-year window for victims to file suits prevented under the old statute of limitations. It was signed into law in February.
Ms. Sullivan also hired a plane to circle the state Capitol with a banner saying #NYPASSCVA. Only some of her billboards mentioned the pending bill, and Ms. Sullivan contends her spending on anything that could be considered grass-roots lobbying is under the $5,000 threshold. JCOPE says she has exceeded it.
According to email correspondence between a JCOPE lawyer and Ms. Sullivan’s attorney, David Grandeau, her matter was up for discussion by commissioners on Tuesday. It wasn’t mentioned during a public session.
Before the meeting, two women dressed like characters in the book-turned-cable TV show “Handmaid’s Tale” held signs mocking the commission and read a story written by Ms. Sullivan questioning why JCOPE wasn’t focusing on other matters of alleged corruption.
Mr. Grandeau called for JCOPE Chairman Michael Rozen to recuse himself because he previously had done legal work on victims’ compensation funds. Mr. Rozen deferred comment to JCOPE spokesman Walter McClure, who declined to comment on Ms. Sullivan’s case or divulge what was discussed during JCOPE’s two-hour private session.
“The law requires disclosure to the public about who is lobbying their lawmakers and how much is being spent on those lobbying efforts,” Mr. McClure said. “We have procedures for handling potential unregistered lobbying and treat all people and entities allegedly involved in that unregistered lobbying the same way.”
If the commission moves forward with its probe, Ms. Sullivan would have the right to a confidential hearing and she would seek one, Mr. Grandeau said.
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