Article: Call Them Out: If you see domestic violence, don't stay silent

By The Post-Standard Editorial Board
March 04, 2010, 5:02AM
Stefanie Campolo/The Post-Standard
VERA HOUSE’S White Ribbon Campaign to end domestic violence is April 9 to 18.


Gov. David Paterson’s apparent intervention in the alleged domestic attack of a woman by one of his closest aides has rightfully outraged advocates working to end the insidious scourge of domestic violence.
“He has spoken publicly for all these years very much about victim safety,” said Randi Bregman, executive director of Vera House, a Syracuse agency that works to end domestic violence. “It saddens me that when it was someone close to him it was hard to apply those principles.”
The Paterson incident comes on the heels of the expulsion of state Sen. Hiram Monserrate from his position after he was convicted of misdemeanor assault against his girlfriend. In the Monserrate case, at least, the justice system worked. But both incidents illustrate the role intimidation can play in domestic violence cases.
They both involved men in positions of power and authority, increasing the implicit threat of harm. And in both cases, allies of the men reportedly contacted the victim. Whatever the nature of such contact, it is inappropriate and very likely intimidating in a domestic violence case.
In more typical cases, intimidation translates into worries about children, shelter and money. For many women, the vulnerability that only women can understand is intimidation enough to keep them silent about a violent relationship.
People connected to the perpetrator often allow the violence to continue by keeping silent, Bregman said.
In the Paterson case, it appears the governor himself became a silent collaborator with his trusted aide, David W. Johnson. Paterson should have suspended Johnson when the report first came to light rather than do so in response to media reports; and he should have allowed the justice system to work, unimpeded by his intervention or that of his aides.
Domestic violence cuts across socioeconomic lines, affecting urban, suburban and rural areas equally. In Onondaga County, nearly 700 women and children obtain shelter due to domestic violence annually, according to Vera House. Police receive more than 1,500 calls to domestic disputes every month, and 25 percent of homicide victims are women killed by a current or former male partner.
Paterson showed he understood the problem during a visit to Syracuse two years ago to launch a statewide campaign against domestic violence.
“This is an issue that will stay alive as long as society allows it,” he said at the time.
While he may not be able to save his political career, Paterson could salvage something positive out of this mess. As Bregman suggests, he could make it a teachable moment by publicly acknowledging that his intervention was a mistake, and explaining why.
As she put it, “If you have power and you’re not part of the solution, you’re definitely a part of the problem.”