The good-government group Common Cause on Friday said the Joint Commission on Public Ethics is misapplying the state’s lobbying law to apply to a rape survivor who advocated for the passage of the Child Victims Act.

Kat Sullivan, a survivor of rape from her time as a student the Emma Willard School in Troy, is being investigated by JCOPE after she called for the passage of the measure with a billboard and airplane banner. JCOPE maintains she spent more than $5,000 to trigger the state’s law that requires disclosure.

Sullivan says she paid for the advertisements with money from a settlement with the school, but that she did not act as a lobbyist. This week, Sullivan filed a lawsuit against JCOPE, alleging her First Amendment rights have been violated.

Common Cause Executive Director Susan Lerner pointed to the state’s lobbying law itself, which she said should not apply to Sullivan.

“JCOPE appears to be willfully misinterpreting the lobbying law, which as written, clearly should not apply to Ms. Sullivan or any private individual who takes it upon herself to petition her government,” Lerner said.

“This is an abuse of power that smacks of retaliation, and violates our fundamental democratic rights. A person who is not retained to advocate on behalf of another entity is not a lobbyist, by definition under the New York Lobbying Act. It’s clear that Ms. Sullivan’s passion, not a paycheck, is what’s driving her advocacy. It’s an embarrassment that JCOPE can’t tell the difference and continues to harass her rather than pursuing actual public corruption.”