A woman who was a victim in a sexual abuse scandal at an elite girls school in 1997 faces legal action over alleged unauthorized lobbying activities in connection with new molestation laws. Kat Sullivan, a pediatric nurse today, claims she was sexually assaulted over 20 years ago while attending Emma Willard School in upstate New York. Last year, she engaged in a number of activities aimed at convincing lawmakers to pass new legislation that would expand the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases. Although public pressure succeeded in getting the state assembly to pass the Child Victims Act, the New York State Ethics Commission says Sullivan’s activities crossed the line from advocacy to lobbying – which legally requires that a person officially registers as a lobbyist.

Advocacy vs. Lobbying

Any citizen or resident of the Empire State can legally advocate for new legislation. However, when that person winds up spending more than $5,000 on such advocacy efforts to influence lawmakers, s/he is considered to be a lobbyist under New York statutes and is required to register as such.

This is were Ms. Sullivan allegedly ran afoul of state regulations. Last year, she spent $14,000 on three billboards in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, which were financed by a legal settlement she received from the school where she says she was forcibly raped as a 16-year-old student.

The Sexual Abuse Scandal at an Elite Private School

As originally reported in the New York Times in July 2016, Sullivan says she was bound and gagged before being sodomized by a history teacher at the Emma Willard School back in 1998. When she reported the incident, however, she says she was told that she was not fit to attend the school and could either withdraw voluntarily or be expelled.

She was put on a bus to New Orleans the following day and the sexual abuse scandal was swept under the rug.

She finally reported the alleged rape to law enforcement in Troy, where the Emma Willard School is located. Since there is no statute of limitations on criminal rape in New York, the perpetrator could still have faced charges, although he has since relocated twice to Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Shortly after Sullivan’s story appeared in the Times, a shocking report was published – a lurid account of sexual abuse scandal and exploitation at the Emma Willard School,  going back over 65 years.

Double Standard?

According to Crux, Sullivan, who faces a fine of up to $75,000 for unauthorized lobbying, points out that the Roman Catholic Church, an institution at the center of many a sexual assault scandal, was very public in its opposition to the new Child Victims Act. One of the Church’s high-profile spokesman, Cardinal Timothy Nolan, is not even a registered lobbyist. The Church did, however, hire paid lobbyists – which Sullivan points out ordinary citizens cannot afford to do. Sullivan says there is no difference between her activities and those of paid lobbyists.

Currently, Sullivan has hired legal counsel and intends to fight the Ethics Commission attempts to impose their penalty.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.