Brian Frosh’s Terrible Record on Combating Sexual Violence
By Mark Uncapher
Democratic New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was forced to resign earlier this year when his acts of violence against four of his romantic partners became public.[1] The women said that Schneiderman had repeatedly choked, hit or violently slapped them, all without their consent.
Since President Trump’s inauguration, Schneiderman has filed scores of lawsuits and administrative actions against the Administration.[2] Arkansas AG Leslie Rutledge, chairwoman of the Republican Attorneys General Association, called Schneiderman the “ringleader” of anti-Trump activist AGs fighting the president in the courts.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh has followed close behind Schneiderman with his own use of the Maryland Attorney General’s office resources to pursue his personal political agenda of non-stop opposition to the Trump Administration. In 2017 alone Frosh filed twenty separate legal actions aimed at thwarting national policy.
However, Brian Frosh’s similarities to the disgraced New York Attorney General do not end there. As a state senator and chair of the Maryland Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee, Frosh has been a recurring opponent of efforts to bring the perpetrators of sexual violence to justice.
In the State Senate, Brian Frosh:
- Voted against legislation establishing mandatory minimums for sexual abusers of children in 2006.[1]
- Voted against legislation strengthening penalties for sexual abusers of children in 2007.[2]
- Killed a bill that would increase mandatory minimums for those convicted of 2nd degree child rape in 2010.[3]
- Opposed a bill significantly increasing the amount of time a victim of sexual abuse has to file for damages.[4]
- Killed a bill making it a crime for therapists to sexually abuse their patients.[5]
- Opposed a bill strengthening “person of authority” laws to protect students from school employees[6]
When the Maryland General Assembly passed Jessica’s Law, Frosh was again in the opposition. Out of step with his fellow Democrats, only two senators joined Frosh to oppose his bill in the Senate, which passed unanimously in the House.
Jessica’s Law provides for a mandatory 25-year minimum sentence, with no possibility of parole for a first-degree conviction of an adult for the rape of a child under age 12. It is named for Jessica Lunsford, the nine-year old Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by paroled sex offender John Couey.
Marc Klaas of the KlaasKids Foundation, which aims to stop crimes against children, says he was disrespected by Frosh when he testified in Annapolis on Jessica's Law — and Frosh left before the bill was called. "He failed to show for the testimony on this bill," Klaas said. Commenting on Frosh’s Attorney General candidacy, Klass told the Sun: "I think he would be an absolutely terrible choice."[7] Klaas is the father of kidnapping and sex crimes murder victim Polly Klaas.
In contrast to Frosh, Republican Attorney General candidate Craig Wolf spent five years as Assistant States’ Attorney for Allegany County, where he specialized in the prosecution of child abuse, rape and domestic violence cases. As a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, he successfully prosecuted some of the first online child pornography cases and supervised a large-scale investigation into the international trafficking of women and children.
After the Schneiderman resignation, Wolf said: “For most of his career, Brian Frosh has been absent on issues regarding sexual assault. Even as chairman of the powerful Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, Frosh was on the wrong side of several bills put forward to protect victims of sexual assault and strengthen penalties for their attackers. While Eric Schneiderman could likely be prosecuted under the very laws he helped pass, Brian Frosh spent his time in the State Senate opposing – and even killing – bills that strengthened sexual assault laws in Maryland.”
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/nyregion/new-york-attorney-general-eric-schneiderman-abuse.html
[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-attorney-general-files-100-trump-lawsuits-2017-12
[1] http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?ys=2006s1/billfile/hb0002.htm
[2] http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?ys=2007RS/billfile/sb0413.htm
[3] https://houserepublicancaucus.com/2010/04/12/winners-and-losers-of-the-2010-general-assembly-session/
[4] httphttp://marylandreporter.com/2013/04/09/lynettes-law-supporters-disappointed-therapy-abuse-will-not-become-crime/s://www.archbalt.org/lifting-statute-of-limitations-unfair-catholic-leaders-say/
[5] http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/anne-arundel/bs-md-ar-sex-offense-law-20121101-story.html
[6] http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/anne-arundel/bs-md-ar-sex-offense-law-20121101-story.html
[7] http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-06-14/news/bs-md-attorney-general-race-20140613_1_braveboy-aisha-n-cardin/2