toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - Ohio House members navigated photographs of children and chants of "Shame on you" yesterday shortly before a majority of them voted against opening a one-time, one-year window for the filing of lawsuits for child molestation that occurred as long as 35 years ago.

Amid finger-pointing and allegations of deal-making, the Ohio Senate soon finished the job, voting 18-13 to accept the House changes and forward the bill to Gov. Bob Taft, who plans to sign it. The Senate had unanimously and emotionally approved the bill with the window attached a year ago.

The bill now contains an untried civil registry. Victims of past abuse could seek a court order to place an accused sex offender's name on the public list, regardless of whether the person has been convicted or charged with a crime. Those placed on the list would be treated much like sex offenders who are required to register their whereabouts.

"The defeat came in a 12-hour period," said Barbara Blaine, a Toledo native and president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests. "This half-baked, last-minute scheme is unconstitutional. It won't stand up in court. This registry is a shallow, empty promise that will provide no measure of protection for children or justice for victims."

The House voted 57-38 to reject a Democratic attempt to reinsert the litigation window into the bill that a committee had deleted the day before.

"Few among us can testify with any degree of accuracy what we were doing 35 years ago," said Rep. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati). "I know I couldn't. There is no precedent in Ohio law that I know of for the legislature to revive actions that have previously been barred because of a lapsed statute of limitations.

"It's a dangerous road down which we go when we begin to revise previously expired statutes of limitations," he said.

The House then voted 77-18 to send the final bill back to the Senate.

The bill applies to all child sex-abuse cases, but the bulk of attention has been on the Catholic Church, which has been sued, has settled cases out of court, and has apologized from the pulpit following revelations of abuse at the hands of priests, some of it decades ago.

The measure makes it a crime for priests, rabbis, ministers, and other clergy and church employees to fail to report suspected abuse by fellow clerics. It extends the time limit for victims of abuse to file lawsuits in future cases from two years to 12 years after the child turns 18.

The bill would also stop the clock on the statute of limitations in cases where a potential defendant has engaged in fraud or hid crucial information.

"I'm ashamed to be a Roman Catholic in the Toledo Diocese because my church failed me and will soon fail victims," said Rep. Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island) shortly before the House voted against restoring the retroactive window.

The Catholic Conference of Ohio has maintained that the retroactive window would be unconstitutional. Bishops held rare meetings with legislative leaders and one bishop offered unprecedented testimony before a legislative committee.

"The fact that we are opposed to a retroactive lifting of the statute of limitations going back 35 years, that may make us look bad," said Catholic Conference attorney Dan Ritter. "But I think that policy is very bad legislative policy. For the church to be made to look bad because of its position on that, I just don't think that is fair."

Supporters of the so-called "look-back" window had hoped the Senate would hold its ground and force the fight into a joint House-Senate conference committee. But Sen. Jeff Jacobson (R., Vandalia) said the House would never have named its half of the committee to allow that process to continue.

That prompted Sen. Marc Dann, a suburban Youngstown Democrat, to characterize House Speaker Jon Husted (R., Kettering) as a bully and likened him to those who intimidate child sexual-abuse victims into silence.

"The people making those comments were never involved in the discussions over here. It's insulting," said Scott Borkemenke, Mr. Husted's chief of staff.

One House Republican joined Democrats - including northwest Ohio Reps. Redfern, Jeanine Perry (D., Toledo), Edna Brown (D., Toledo), and Peter Ujvagi (D., Toledo) - in supporting restoration of the retroactive window. Derrick Seaver (R., Minster) voted to restore the look-back provision. After the amendment failed, he voted for the final bill, along with Ms. Brown.

Reps. Stephen Buehrer (R., Delta), Mike Gilb (R., Findlay), Jim Hoops (R., Napoleon), Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green), Jeff Wagner (R., Sycamore), John Willamowski (R., Lima), and Steve Reinhard (R., Bucyrus) opposed the amendment.

Rep. Mark Wagoner (R., Ottawa Hills) did not vote, citing his law firm's representation of the Toledo Diocese as a potential conflict of interest.

In the Senate, Sens. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green), Lynn Wachtmann (R., Napoleon), and Larry Mumper (R., Marion) voted to accept the House changes without the look-back provision, while Sens. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) and Jim Jordan (R., Urbana) wanted to restore the provision and to force a conference committee.

Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.

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