Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon has come under fire for recommending a bill that would mandate all professionals to report cases of sexual abuse. Last April Nassau lawmakers passed a law requiring the clergy to report such cases but did not extend it to cover teachers, abortion providers, school coaches et al.
Judy Jacobs, Presiding Officer of the Nassau legislature, recently said Dillon’s interest in mandating that abortion providers be required to report cases of sexual abuse “crossed the line between his personal beliefs and upholding the law.” In response, Catholic League president William Donohue wrote to Nassau lawmakers saying that Jacobs’ remark “comes dangerously close to suggesting that Dillon’s Catholicism is getting in the way of his professional duties.” Yesterday, Jacobs criticized Dillon again, saying his antiabortion position accounts for his interest in this bill. She then said, “If he hasn’t crossed the line, he’s come dangerously close.”
Last night News 12 covered this story noting Dillon’s interest in expanding the bill to cover abortion providers. It was even more blunt than Jacobs: a reporter found it necessary to inject that Dillon is “a staunch supporter of the Catholic Church.”
Catholic League president William Donohue addressed this issue today:
“News 12 ought to stop with the Catholic baiting immediately. Judy Jacobs is getting a little too cute for us as well: she ought to stick to the issue at hand without making oblique references to Dillon’s religion.
“It is unfathomable that any media outlet on Long Island, or any public office holder, would ever play this game with a Jewish D.A. News 12 and Jacobs cannot reasonably argue that what they are doing is providing a descriptive: what they are doing is using Dillon’s Catholicism as a red flag implying he is violating the principle of separation of church and state. This is Catholic baiting, pure and simple.”
