Seven years into his tenure, FBI Director Christopher Wray faces an uncertain future as President-elect Donald Trump has already chosen a successor, and Congress grapples with his record presiding over a series of scandals that tarnished the reputation of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency and lowered its public trust.
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An Arizona state lawmaker and school official was reportedly accused of sexual harassment by a superintendent earlier this month, which prompted an alleged effort to oust him, culminating in the launch of a third party investigation on Wednesday.
Arizona State Representative Elda Luna-Nájera (D-District 22), who also serves as the governing board president of the Tolleson Union High School District, was accused of sexual harassment by superintendent Jeremy Calles in a legal complaint reported by 12 News on August 9.
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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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As readers may be aware, in the spring of 2022 my colleagues and I at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty represented three eighth-grade boys who were accused by the Kiel Area School District of “sexual harassment” under Title IX for “mispronouning.”
As we pointed out, “mispronouning” does not violate Title IX and is not “sexual harassment” under any reasonable definition of that term, and punishing students for their speech violates the First Amendment. The district had also violated Title IX’s clear procedural requirements. We urged the district to drop its misguided investigation, and it ultimately did.
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Pennsylvania state House Republicans on Monday excoriated their Democratic counterparts for failing to reconvene and failing to start investigating sexual-harassment allegations against a Democratic House member.
Republicans have blasted Speaker Mark Rozzi (D-Temple) for dragging out the process of finalizing operating rules and bringing the House of Representatives back into session. The speaker, whose party holds a majority of seats, initially said he would only agree to allow legislation to be considered once the House voted on a measure allowing adults victims of sexual abuse to sue their alleged predators despite the statute of limitations. The House passed such legislation last week.
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Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is speaking out with colleagues after the U.S. Senate recently passed Speak Out Act (SCA) last week.
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A majority of New York lawmakers were ready to remove Gov. Andrew Cuomo from office over misconduct allegations, a removal that was only averted by his resignation. But despite the near-universal condemnation of his actions as governor, Cuomo still stands to earn a substantial pension from taxpayers for his time in office.
News reports this week indicate that Cuomo has filed for his pension as the date when he has promised to resign, Aug, 24, draws near.
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday he will resign from office in 14 days, bowing to pressure following a bombshell attorney general report accusing him of violating federal and state laws involving sexual harassment of subordinates.
Earlier Tuesday, an attorney for the governor held a press conference in an attempt to discredit elements of the New York Attorney General’s report, which was released last week. Rita Glavin, who is representing the governor, said “This is about the veracity and credibility of a report that is being used to impeach and take down an elected official.”
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Ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo aide Lindsey Boylan plans to sue the Democratic governor for allegedly retaliating against her for publicly accusing him of sexual harassment.
Boylan said last year in a series of tweets that she had been sexual harassed by the governor for years, allegations that led to other woman coming forward with similar stories and a state probe into the matter.
“Our plan is to sue the governor and his and his coconspirators,” Boylan’s attorney, Jill Basinger, said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” show.
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A federal court dismissed a lawsuit filed by former State Representative Donald Shooter claiming that his expulsion from the legislature due to sexual harassment allegations was conspired. Circuit Court Judge Daniel Collins issued the ruling last Thursday in the case, Donald Shooter v. State of Arizona, et al.
Shooter alleged that former speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and current state senator, J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler), and Governor Doug Ducey’s former chief of staff, Kirk Adams, orchestrated his expulsion from the legislature. He claimed that he was targeted while serving as the Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman after he attempted to investigate further the possibility that the state was engaging in no-bid contracts for technology purchases. Due to this, Shooter asserted that he was deprived of equal opportunity and due process. Collins dismissed the case for a failure to state a claim: the judge found no plausible inference of sex discrimination, and opined that no due process claim could be present because Mesnard and Adams were entitled to qualified immunity.
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The Arizona Supreme Court issued an opinion Wednesday dismissing part of a defamation lawsuit by expelled Arizona legislator Don Shooter against Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler) on Wednesday, while allowing the remaining part of the case to proceed.
Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) complained in 2017 when she was in the state House that Shooter, a Republican from Litchfield Park, sexually harassed her, resulting in the legislature removing him in 2018. He sued then-House speaker Mesnard, who introduced a bill to remove Shooter, over a press release and 82-page investigative report Mesnard issued about the expulsion. Shooter accused him of defamation and materially altering the investigative report.
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After a rollercoaster weekend of reversals, recriminations and apologies, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s legal troubles are deepening as New York’s top law enforcement officer prepares to secure subpoena powers to investigate allegations of sexual harassment.
Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, announced Sunday night she will deputize an outside law firm to investigate the allegations by two former Cuomo aides after the governor’s effort to fashion his own investigation led by a former federal judge backfired.
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If we lived in a fair and just world, most of the current media would simply go away and try something else.
The problem is not that reporters are human and therefore sometimes err. The rub is not even that they are poorly educated or rarely write well.
We also expect officials to leak one-sided stories and then the media to print them without edits. These are all things baked into the media cake and the public understands, even if it does not quite accept them.
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The California Democratic Party will reportedly pay more than $1 million to settle three lawsuits from former staffers alleging sexual misconduct and racial discrimination against the party’s former chair, Eric Bauman.
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The New York Times faced backlash after its opinion section tweeted “offensive” comments Saturday while promoting a piece about allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
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State Rep. Rick Staples (D-TN-15) resigned from a leadership position in the House following allegations of sexual harassment, multiple media outlets have reported. Staples, of Knox County, on Thursday resigned as assistant House minority leader but will continue to represent Knoxville, WATE said. “I have already publicly apologized for any distress I unintentionally caused. I have decided to step down from my leadership position of Assistant House Minority Leader so I can end the unwarranted suffering on my family, continue to serve my constituents unimpeded and end any distractions this may bring to the Tennessee House,” Staples said in a released statement. “I look forward to following the recommendations of the Ethics Committee and pledge to remain the best servant to my constituency of District 15. I’ll have no further comment going forward on this matter.” Tennessee legislative sources say a woman filed a sexual harassment complaint against Rep. Staples with the House Ethics Committee. Staples is also a member of that committee. House Republican Caucus Chair Cameron Sexton implied last week that Democratic leaders did not immediately take action on the complaint against Staples, and added that could be a violation, WKRN reported. House Democrat Caucus Chair Mike Stewart denied…
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by Tim Pearce Microsoft leadership is conducting a review of numerous employee sexual harassment claims the company’s HR department did not address, according to a string of employee emails reviewed by Quartz. After one woman employee emailed several of her colleagues looking for advice on how to move up at Microsoft, an email chain began that resulted in more than 90 pages worth of messages detailing harassment and discrimination cases allegedly ignored by HR. “This thread has pulled the scab off a festering wound. The collective anger and frustration is palpable. A wide audience is now listening. And you know what? I’m good with that,” one Microsoft employee said on the email thread. One woman in the thread detailed an event in which a Microsoft employee asked her to sit on someone’s lap during a meeting with other Microsoft employees present. At the time, the woman was serving as a senior level Microsoft employee, known as a “Microsoft partner.” “As a Microsoft Partner, [I] was asked to sit on someone’s lap twice in one meeting in front of HR and other executives,” she wrote on the chain of emails, according to Quartz. “I can assure you that nothing was…
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Ahmed Muse was arrested in Jefferson County last Sunday morning after an incident involving a teenage passenger the night before. The sheriff’s office moved quickly and as of Monday night the 29-year-old Muse was still behind bars facing charges that included second degree kidnapping, false imprisonment, and harassment. On Tuesday, he was assigned a public defender and bond was set at $50,000. According to several news accounts and an interview by Fox affiliate KDVR-TV with the teenager identified as Brianna Allen and her mother Shamara Ludwig, Muse broke Uber’s rules on ride sharing, but that was just the beginning. As stated in the company’s uberPOOL policy, several riders can share a ride, but no matter in what order the passengers entered the vehicle, the one whose destination is closest must be dropped off first. Allen lives only 10 miles from the part-time job she was leaving around 10 p.m. Saturday. The ride that should have taken 15 minutes took an hour and a half as she describes how Muse first drove another passenger to their destination before returning to Allen’s neighborhood where the driver allegedly locked the doors and began forceably kissing Allen. She claims he kissed her on the…
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In the second U.S. Senate debate, Democrat Phil Bredesen continued to mislead voters on the facts, the Tennessee Republican Party said in a new video Friday. The video is available to watch here. U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) put former Governor Phil Bredesen on the defensive Wednesday night at the second debate between the two candidates, The Tennessee Star reported. Blackburn started out strong at the debate held in Knoxville at the University of Tennessee’s Howard Baker Center, and Bredesen never recovered. Bredesen claims there was just one “individual” where the investigation notes were shredded. But there were at least three high profile cases in which a member of his administration was named, the Tennessee Republican Party said in a statement. According to the Tennessee GOP, citing reports from The Tennessean, those people were: Mack Cooper, top lobbyist (Brad Schrade, “Investigator Shreds Notes in Bredesen Aide’s Demotion,” The Tennessean, 5/12/05) Quenton White, State Correction Commissioner (Brad Schrade and Christian Bottorff, “Prison Chief Quits Amid Scrutiny,” The Tennessean, 7/14/05) Dave Hensley, fundraiser and state employee (Brad Schrade, “Wife Kept Deputy Governor In Touch; He Remained A Channel For Promotion Requests,” The Tennessean, 2/26/06) Bredesen claims that the individual (presumably Cooper) was “gone the…
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by Kevin Daley An unnamed woman has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempting to force himself onto her during an non-consensual encounter at a party, one day after Democratic lawmakers released a cryptic statement referring to possible misconduct in the judge’s past. The allegation, which appeared Friday morning in The New Yorker, relates an incident that occurred in the early 1980s when Kavanaugh was a high school student at Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland. All involved in the alleged encounter were minors at the time. According to the report, the woman alleges that Kavanaugh and a male classmate accosted her at a party. She claims Kavanaugh held her down and attempted to force himself onto her while his confidant turned up music which was playing in the room to drown out her protestations. The New Yorker reported that the alleged victim managed to free herself. It is not clear if a sexual liaison took place. “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,” Kavanaugh told said in a statement released by the White House. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.” The other male involved in the alleged incident separately denied the charge. Sen. Dianne…
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Metro Nashville Schools’ director is ducking questions on alleged widespread sexual harassment — and coverups — in his district, news outlets are reporting. NewsChannel 5 reported last week that school director Dr. Shawn Joseph tried to run from their reporter who wanted an interview on the topic and his role in the investigations. The TV station has tried to interview him since June 5. He tried to dodge the station’s reporter at a news conference to ask about Dr. Sam Braden, the executive principal of John F. Kennedy Middle School in Antioch. Among other things, Braden allegedly hired a school employee from an adult bookstore he allegedly frequented, NewsChannel 5 said. He was placed on administrative leave two days after the station aired its story on him. Spinning the damage Joseph sent a memo to school board members, saying he was “concerned that the reporter … will report on information that was ‘alleged’” and he wanted to lobby the Tennessee General Assembly to keep human resources files secret, the station said. NewsChannel 5 also reported the school board met in closed executive session to discuss Braden. Braden’s lawyer, Michie Gibson, released a statement saying, “Dr. Braden denies all allegations made…
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by Jeffery Rendall I think most people (even liberals) would agree – someone like Bill Clinton shouldn’t be talking about how to treat women and the “Me too” movement. After all, guys such as philandering ‘ol Bubba Bill are more or less responsible for starting the phenomenon having moved on practically every female of childbearing age during his years in elected office. Bill’s well-documented prurient history isn’t preventing him from snapping back at critics questioning his character these days, however. Jim Geraghty wrote in National Review, “Bill Clinton assures us that he was the hero during the impeachment and scandal relating to his affair with Monica Lewinsky: ‘Former President Bill Clinton spoke out about the MeToo movement and the Monica Lewinsky scandal as NBC’s Craig Melvin sat down with him and author James Patterson, saying, ‘If the facts were the same, I wouldn’t’ act differently today than he did at the time. ‘A lot of the facts have been conveniently omitted,’ he says. ‘I defended the Constitution.’ “Rarely do you see such a symphony of hypocrisy and not-so-suppressed rage. “’I think partly they’re frustrated that they’ve got all of these serious allegations against the current occupant of the Oval Office,…
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Former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr was summarily dismissed from his position at a Managing Director at the investment firm Morgan Stanley amid an internal investigation by its Human Resource department, the Huffington Post reports. In an email to the progressive news and opinion giant, a Morgan Stanley spokesperson wrote, “He has been terminated for conduct inconsistent with our values and in violation of our policies.” At issue is an allegation by a woman Morgan Stanley says is not an employee, but interfaces with Ford in a professional capacity. She alleges he forcibly grabbed her and subsequently harassed her for a date. For his part, Ford denies the claim, saying in a statement via Twitter, “I support and have tremendous respect for the brave women now speaking out in this important national dialogue. False claims like this though undermine the real silence breakers.” The Huffington Post has interviewed the woman at the center of the allegation, and have agreed to keep her identity private: In two interviews with HuffPost, the woman alleged that Ford engaged in harassment, intimidation, and forcibly grabbed her one evening in Manhattan, leading her to seek aid from a building security guard. The incident took place several…
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Several female Democratic senators, as well as a growing number of their male colleagues, called on Wednesday for Sen. Al Franken, a member of their own party, to resign from public office. They include Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Kamala Harris of California, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Patty Murray of Washington. They say Mr. Franken, Minnesota Democrat, should leave Congress now that a series of women have accused him of sexual misconduct.
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Following recent sexual harassment and assault allegations against , something unorthodox happened with an upcoming movie starring the performer. An announcement came out about “All the Money in the World,” directed by Ridley Scott, noting that Spacey would be replaced entirely in the movie through reshoots, which would insert actor Christopher Plummer in the role. …
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Sen. Al Franken said he’s open to making the findings of his ethics committee investigation public on Monday, addressing reporters on Capitol Hill for the first time since facing a number of sexual harassment allegations. “I have not worked with the ethics committee before, so I don’t know how that works, but I am certainly open…
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An administrator with Metro Nashville Public Schools has been put on paid administrative pending an investigation into charges of sexual harassment. Moreno Carrasco, executive officer for priority schools, received a letter from employee relations last week citing “accusations of harassment committed by you towards female staff members at MNPS.” The letter noted that “this period of administrative leave is not a form of disciplinary action, it is just for the purpose of investigation.” Carrasco was tapped by Superintendent Shawn Joseph in summer 2016 to lead efforts to turn around the district’s lowest-performing schools. Joseph had recently been named superintendent and knew Carrasco from when they both worked in Maryland. Carrasco held positions in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland as a central office administrator and school principal. In 2007, he won the Met Life High School Principal of the Year award for Maryland, given by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. In a Metro Nashville Public Schools newsletter at the time Carrasco was hired, Joseph called Carrasco “one of the strongest school leaders I have worked with.” “He can be a coach, a strategist and a mentor, which is exactly what our highest priority schools need,” Joseph said. “He learned…
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Saying Hollywood needs a change in its power structure at this point in time is like saying plants need water to grow. A series of revelations about alleged sexual abusers such as Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey have opened the floodgates to many other stories and allegations from people who have worked, or still currently work,…
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Kentucky Republican House Speaker Jeff Hoover has stepped down from his leadership role after settling a sexual harassment complaint, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader. Hoover, who will keep his seat representing the 83rd House District, said Sunday that he “engaged in inappropriate text messages” with a legislative staffer in his office. But he said there were no sexual relations and that his conduct was not “unwelcome or unwanted.” Hoover is married and has three daughters. His family has forgiven him, he said. Three other Republican lawmakers have also been accused of sexual harassment. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin on Saturday had called for the immediate resignation of everyone involved in the unfolding scandal, according to the Associated Press. He said the scandal involves “multiple events and multiple people.” After Bevin’s press conference, Hoover initially vowed to continue in his House leadership role. But then he decided that doing so would be a distraction. “It’s no longer about Jeff Hoover. It’s about more than that,” he said. “On every battle, I know that’s how you in the media will portray it. Me against someone else… It’s not fair to the people of this state. It’s not fair to my caucus members. It’s not conducive to…
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