Lawyer calls new complaint ‘political’
TORONTO — The timing of a news article detailing sexual-harassment allegations against Sen. Don Meredith should raise questions given its publication just as a senate committee wraps up an investigation into the embattled politician, his lawyer said Monday.
In an interview, Bill Trudell attacked the Huffington Post report as politically motivated.
“The timing of this story is suspect given it is clear that the Senate committee is about to report,” Trudell told The Canadian Press. “The article is clearly political, featuring another politician’s comments about the Senate itself.”
Meredith could find out within days what punishment the Senate ethics committee will be recommending for his sexual relationship with a teenage girl.
The committee was aiming to finalize its recommendations by Tuesday, and then table them in the upper chamber.
In its weekend article, the online news outlet re- ported that a former female aide alleged the senator repeatedly groped her behind closed doors. The woman, whose name was not revealed, was also cited as saying Meredith threatened to wreck her employment prospects if she complained to anyone about him.
Trudell said the senator would not be responding to the reported sexualharassment allegations.
“He co-operated long ago with the Senate investigation into these allegations,” Trudell said.
The article also cited an unnamed former staffer as saying that working with the senator was just a “horrible professional experience,” and New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen as saying the Senate wants to remain “untouchable” by protecting one of its own. Trudell ripped the article as disrespectful of Senate processes.
“I am concerned that it is an attempt to influence the Senate committee,” Trudell said of the story. “I remain confident that it won’t. Attempts to undermine the proper processes of our institutions will ultimately fail.”
Andree Lau, managing editor with Huffington Post Canada, had no immediate reaction to Trudell’s comments.