Tag: sexual misconduct

Wisconsin Lawmakers Seek to Make Sexual Harassment in Schools a Felony

The Center Square

Democratic state Reps. Tod Ohnstad and Tip McGuire are pushing legislation that would make it a felony for school staff or volunteers to create an intimidating or hostile environment by sexually harassing students.

In addition to seeking to close a gap in the state’s criminal statutes that currently do not extend to all variations of sexual misconduct that some students have faced in schools, the bill would expand protections that now exist for public school students to all those who attend private schools.

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Pennsylvania House Republicans, Union Want Zabel to Resign over Harassment Allegations

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania House Republicans and a union representing many social-service workers are calling on state Representative Mike Zabel (D-Drexel Hill) to resign over allegations he sexually harassed one of that union’s lobbyists. 

Andi Perez, the political director of the Pennsylvania and Delaware Division of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is accusing Zabel of inappropriately touching her and not immediately relenting after she backed away from him. 

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Schumer, Gillibrand Call on Cuomo to Resign

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called for Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign Friday over allegations of sexual misconduct and assault.

The Democratic senators released a statement Friday afternoon after the majority of the New York Democratic congressional delegation called for Cuomo’s resignation in coinciding statements Friday morning. One of Cuomo’s accusers, Lindsey Boylan, had announced earlier Friday that she would focus a political action committee against both Schumer and Gillibrand since they had not yet called for Cuomo to resign.

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FBI Senior Officials Accused of Sexual Misconduct in at Least 6 Instances, AP Investigation Reveals

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Several high-ranking male FBI officials were accused of sexual misconduct against employees, an Associated Press reported Wednesday.

At least six allegations of sexual misconduct, including assault, over the last five years have been levied against senior FBI officials, the AP investigation found. The officials at least appear to have dodged discipline, the AP reported.

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Kirsten Gillibrand’s Office Kept a Staff Member on Payroll After Being Accused of Sexual Misconduct

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by Molly Prince   A second top staffer in presidential hopeful and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s Senate office reportedly was accused of sexual misconduct. Marc Brumer, who served as Gillibrand’s communication director, was alleged to have made inappropriate comments toward a female scheduler, The Washington Examiner reported Monday. He ultimately resigned over the allegations in spring 2017. “As I said at the time, I am sorry that words used during a heated debate offended a colleague,” Brumer said of the incident. “By then, I had already been planning my departure and preparing to seek another opportunity. I resigned and ensured a smooth transition.” However, Gillibrand’s office continued to provide Brumer with a paycheck “for about three months” after the allegations were made, a former aide told The Examiner. During that time period, Brumer was not doing any work. The revelation comes a week after Politico published a report that another female staffer in Gillibrand’s office resigned citing mishandling of her sexual misconduct allegations against Abbas Malik, one of the New York senator’s top aides. “I trusted and leaned on this statement that you made: ‘You need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it…

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OIG Report Finds FHFA Director Mel Watt of North Carolina Guilty of Sexual Misconduct

A.P. Dillon

A report released by an Inspector General’s Office (OIG) has concluded that the Federal Housing and Finance Agency’s Director Luther Melvin “Mel” Watt is guilty of the sexual misconduct complaint filed against him. “We found that the FHF A Director violated Section 702 when he attempted to coerce or induce the PMO Manager to engage in a personal relationship with him by suggesting or implying he would use his official authority to assist her in attaining an executive position with FHFA,” the report says. “We find that there are no circumstances under which it would be appropriate for the head of FHFA to induce a subordinate female employee to meet with him alone, in his apartment, for a conversation in which he professes his attraction for that employee and holds out opportunities for the employee to serve in specific executive positions over which he exercises total control.” Mel Watt, a life-long Democrat, was appointed as Director of the Federal and Finance Agency (FHFA) in 2015 by former President Barack Obama. Prior to his appointment, Watt was a Congressman for North Carolina’s 12th district for 11 terms and spent two years as a senator in the state’s legislature. Watt has denied…

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Democrats Reject GOP Proposal to Deny Raises to Federal Workers Disciplined for Sexual Misconduct

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by Jason Hopkins   House Democrats defeated a Republican-led provision to deny raises to federal employees who have been disciplined for sexual misconduct. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to give civilian federal employees a 2.6 percent pay raise this year. However, Democrats successfully blocked a GOP provision that would have withheld raises for employees penalized for sexual misconduct. “During calendar year 2019, no increase in pay as authorized under this Act may be provided to any Federal employee who has been disciplined for sexual misconduct under chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, or any other provision of law,” read the text of the provision. The proposal, despite receiving support from 189 Republicans and 17 Democrats, was ultimately defeated by a vote of 216-206. “As Washington Democrats continue their ill-advised push for unilateral pay raises for federal employees, regardless of their performance, Republicans continue to ask Democrats to amend their legislation,” Erin Perrine, a spokeswoman for House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, said in a statement provided to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Currently this bill treats victims the same as their harassers. That makes no sense.” Among the Democratic lawmakers who voted against the proposal…

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California Democratic Chair Resigns After Sexual Misconduct Allegations

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by Hanna Bogorowski   California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman announced his resignation Thursday after allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate work place behavior. A Los Angeles Times report surfaced Wednesday that said 10 California Democratic Party (CDP) staffers and political activists had accused him of making lewd, sexual comments to them in the workplace or that Bauman had touched them without their permission. Bauman, 59, said in response to this report that he’d be seeking treatment for health issues and alcohol abuse. “I have made the realization that in order for those to whom I may have caused pain and who need to heal, for my own health, and in the best interest of the Party that I love and to which I have dedicated myself for more than 25 years, it is in everyone’s best interest for me to resign my position as chair of the California Democratic Party,” Bauman said in a statement, according to the LA Times. The sexual misconduct allegations came after Bauman, the Democratic Party’s first openly gay chairman, was accused of unspecified misconduct and had taken a leave of absence. One female staffer recalled obscene comments Bauman made to her at a dinner in 2007, while a gay male…

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