How Pa.'s victim advocate found herself in the crosshairs of the GOP-led Senate
The signs at first were subtle.
In the spring of 2019, legislation that she was championing had come to a screeching halt in the Republican-controlled Senate. Advocates for the bill, known as Marsy’s Law, were baffled by the chamber’s inaction on a measure that otherwise had wide and enthusiastic support among rank-and-file GOP legislators.
By summer, the legislature had quietly eliminated funding for her office — Pennsylvania’s Office of Victim Advocate — which was later rescued by the Wolf administration when it was absorbed into a different state agency.
And though few have taken notice or spoken publicly about it, Victim Advocate Jennifer Storm’s nomination for another six years at the helm of the state office that advocates for survivors of crime, domestic violence, and physical and sexual abuse has lingered in limbo in the Senate for the last 10 months.
Now, Storm is again in the cross hairs of the Senate, where Republicans who control the chamber just this month suddenly pushed a proposal that, if approved, would effectively make her ineligible to remain on the job. And, though perhaps for different reasons, not every Democrat was opposed to the measure.
Republican leaders say the bill is not personal, but an attempt to better position the advocate to fall back on legal knowledge to provide guidance to victims. But interviews with more than a half-dozen legislators, legislative aides, advocates, and others paint a more complex picture.
Storm, they say, has angered Joe Scarnati, the top Republican in the Senate, with her advocacy and pointed outspokenness in high-profile cases involving victims of sexual abuse, including women who came forward during the #MeToo movement to level allegations against onetime legislators and legislative employees.
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/spl/pa-jennifer-storm-victim-advocate-senate-joe-scarnati-20200928.html