Half of US states act as #MeToo sexual misconduct claims mount

About half of all state legislative chambers have followed through with at least some sort of change to their sexual harassment policies, most often by boosting their own training, according to a 50-state analysis by The Associated Press.

By: AP | Updated: August 27, 2018 2:23:53 pm

Half of states act as #MeToo sexual misconduct claims mount

File photo Florida Sen. Lauren Book (D-Plantation), center, speaks with Rep. Jared Even Moskowitz (D-Coral Springs), left, and Rep. Kristin Diane Jacobs (D-Coconut Creek) on the House floor in Tallahassee, Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser, File)

As the (hash)MeToo movement against sexual misconduct began snaring politicians, state legislatures across the country vowed to re-examine their policies to prevent harassment and beef up investigations into complaints of sexual wrongdoing.

About half of all state legislative chambers have followed through with at least some sort of change to their sexual harassment policies, most often by boosting their own training, according to a 50-state analysis by The Associated Press. But the others have done nothing this year, even as sexual misconduct allegations against lawmakers have been mounting.

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The mixed response highlights both the political pressure to act and the institutional resistance to do so that exists in many state legislatures, where women now serve in record numbers yet remain outnumbered 3-to-1 by men.

“In the wake of Harvey Weinstein and the (hash)MeToo movement that swept across different industries, we had to act,” said Democratic Assemblywoman Nily Rozic of New York, which mandated more robust sexual harassment policies for government agencies and private employers.

But “I think we have a long ways to go in addressing sexual harassment in legislatures across the country,” she said.

Since the start of 2017, at least 30 state lawmakers have resigned or been kicked out of office following allegations of sexual misconduct, according to an AP tally. The most recent was Maine Rep. Dillon Bates, a Democrat who quit this past week while denying claims of inappropriate relationships with students.

An additional 26 lawmakers have faced repercussions such as the loss of party or committee leadership positions since last year, including Maryland Del. Curt Anderson, a Democrat who was removed from his leadership posts Friday after an investigation into sexual misconduct. Numerous others have had allegations brought against them.

Most of those cases came to light since October, when media reports about sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul now facing sexual assault charges in New York, led to a national movement of people going public with claims that they also had been sexually harassed or abused, sometimes years ago.

Rhode Island Rep. Teresa Tanzi was among the first to come forward , asserting that a high-ranking legislator whom she did not identify had told her that sexual favors would help her bills go further. The disclosure prompted the House to offer sexual harassment training and to place Tanzi, a Democrat, in charge of a task force to recommend changes to state law.

But the experience ultimately left Tanzi frustrated. With this year’s session nearing its end, the panel’s work was put into a package of bills that would have barred confidentiality agreements in civil rights violations, extended employee protections to interns and volunteers, and required employers to conduct sexual harassment training. None of the bills passed.

“It really to me felt as though it were just a dog-and-pony show,” Tanzi said.

When the AP surveyed state legislatures in early January, about three-quarters of the House and Senate chambers nationwide indicated they were considering or had recently made changes to their sexual harassment policies. As of August, the AP’s follow-up survey found that about half of the 99 state legislative chambers actually had made changes. More than two dozen that previously indicated they were reviewing policies have yet to make any substantive changes, though some are still considering it.

The AP’s analysis also found :

_ The most common response among lawmakers has been to boost their own training about sexual harassment. About half the legislative chambers have done so, typically by making it mandatory or providing it more frequently. But legislative chambers in one-fifth of the states still do not require lawmakers to participate in sexual harassment training.

_ Legislative chambers in about a half-dozen states have taken action to increase the public disclosure of sexual harassment complaints against lawmakers and to ban the use of public money in sexual harassment settlements.

_ Legislatures in about one-fifth of the states added provisions since the (hash)MeToo movement allowing for the external investigation of complaints, which some experts say is an important way of avoiding conflicts of interest and encouraging the targets of harassment to come forward. Even so, fewer than half the legislative chambers nationwide now allow for the external review of complaints.

_ Only a few legislatures passed measures that apply beyond state government. Lawmakers sought to strengthen sexual harassment protections for private-sector employees in Arizona, California, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington.

“If all you ever do is concentrate on the statehouse … maybe you’re protecting a few hundred people,” said Democratic Rep. Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, who sponsored the Vermont law applying to all employers. “But what about the rest of your workforce? What about all of the restaurants where the waitress doesn’t want to have to go into the back storeroom because she knows that the prep cook is looking for an opportunity to proposition her?”

California has been among the states with the most complaints against lawmakers and the greatest debate over sexual harassment policies.

After about 150 women signed a public letter last October calling out “pervasive” harassment at the Capitol, lawmakers adopted new whistleblower protections for legislative employees who report harassment and began publicly disclosing substantiated complaints against lawmakers and high-level staff members.

A new investigative process, which is expected to be in place in early 2019, will create a special office to handle sexual misconduct complaints. Its fact-finding then will be turned over to a group of outside experts to determine whether complaints can be substantiated and to recommend discipline.

Adama Iwu, a lobbyist behind the letter that sparked the Legislature’s soul-searching, called the plan “bold” because it largely takes the process of evaluating complaints out of legislators’ hands. The Legislature’s leadership, though, will still have the ultimate say on discipline.

Until the new process is in place, people who brought complaints in the wake of (hash)MeToo are still going through an old process that has prompted concerns.

Earlier this summer, for example, legislative leaders reopened an investigation into Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia after her accuser claimed an initial review that failed to substantiate a groping complaint was unfair and incomplete.

California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon called the new policies the year’s “biggest accomplishment,” but acknowledged “there has been a pall over the Capitol.”

“It’s one thing to change policies and procedures. That’s good and that’s a start,” he said recently at the Sacramento Press Club. “But ultimately nothing changes until the culture changes. That cultural change takes a while.”

In some cases, the very politicians who were supposed to be addressing sexual harassment have been accused of misconduct.

Garcia had been the head of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus and a leading figure in the state’s anti-sexual harassment movement before she was accused of it herself.

Illinois Rep. Nick Sauer had been a member of the House Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Task Force until an ex-girlfriend claimed he had posted nude photos of her on a fake Instagram account set up under her name. Sauer, a Republican, resigned from office earlier this month.

Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez, the ranking Republican on the Illinois task force, called the situation “shocking and disappointing” but also an indication that allegations are being taken seriously.

“You’re thinking, `Well gosh, we’re trying to do all this good work for reform and new things keep popping up each month,”’ Jimenez said. But “because the awareness is raised, people feel more comfortable coming forward. Hopefully then the next step will be that it starts to decline.”

They are among a least 76 lawmakers from 34 states who have been publicly accused or rebuked since January 2017 for sexual misconduct that occurred in recent years, according to the AP’s tally. That amounts to a little over 1 percent of the 7,383 state lawmakers nationwide.

Sexual misconduct was one of the most talked about topics when Florida’s annual legislative session began in January. A Republican lawmaker had just resigned after a Senate investigation found he likely committed sexual misconduct, and a Democratic senator had stepped down after acknowledging an affair with a lobbyist.

Despite bold proclamations, nothing passed to address sexual harassment.

The Florida legislative session was thrown into a chaotic final two weeks as lawmakers scrambled to pass a school safety bill in response to a shooting that killed 17 people at a Parkland high school. Democratic state Sen. Lauren Book, whose constituents were affected by the shooting, said that’s only partly to blame for the demise of sexual harassment legislation.

She also cited “political games” and an “old boy” culture at the Capitol.

“Until we start changing minds and until we continue to push the narrative, we’re not going to get anywhere,” Book said.