Texas congressman, woman deny claims of sexual misconduct
Joint statement explains history of Green, ex-aide
WASHINGTON – More than a decade ago, Congressman Al Green had a “romantic encounter” with a former aide in Houston, which later led to an allegation of sexual assault and talk of lawsuits and employee discrimination.
As quickly as the incident popped up, it quieted down in a 2008 agreement between the two.
Resolved or not, the episode was back in the news Monday as Green put out a statement explaining that he and the woman, Lucinda Daniels, are “consenting friends” and “regret (their) former claims” — and that there was no payment ever made in the case.
“In the present climate, we wish to jointly quiet any curious minds about our former and present relationship with one another,” Green and Daniels said in a joint
statement, which Green signed in trademark green ink. “We are friends, and have long been friends. At an unfortunate time in our lives, when both of our feelings were hurt, we hastily made allegations against one another that have been absolutely resolved.”
‘Clearing the air’
The statement came amid heightened sensitivities about sexual harassment and misbehavior in Congress, following highprofile accusations of harassment against business and media celebrities.
Hours before Green’s office sent out the statement unbidden, Minnesota Democrat Al Franken publicly apologized outside his Senate office for past harassment allegations involving two different women.
It also came days after U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., agreed to step down as the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee over allegations of sexual harassment, and less than a week after U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, a Dallas-area Republican, apologized for a nude photo he admitted sending to a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair two years ago.
Another Texas congressman, Blake Farenthold, faced sexual harassment allegations in 2014 brought by a fired former staffer. The Corpus Christi Republican denied any wrongdoing, and the case was settled out of court.
The full House is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution requiring all members and their staffs to complete a program of training in workplace rights and responsibilities.
An aide said Green, 70, simply wanted to clear the air in light of recent attacks on conservative social media and news sites — principally the One America News Network — in the month since he introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
One America posted a three-minute report Oct. 19 covering Green’s long-forgotten case, titled “Democrat Rep. Al Green’s secret sexual assault allegation.” One viewer comment suggested Green should be “lynched and left hanging in the woods as ‘strange fruit,’ ” an echo of the death threats Green received over his impeachment move.
Like Conyers, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Green is African-American.
Joint public statement
The aide said the decade-old allegations were not secret and did not involve Green’s congressional office nor the taxpayerfunded Office of House Employment Counsel.
Green publicly withdrew a lawsuit in December 2008 that he had filed three-months earlier asking a federal judge to find that he never discriminated against Daniels, the former director of his Houston office.
Ben Hall, an attorney representing Green, asked that the case be dismissed because Daniels had signed a written agreement dropping all claims against the congressman without payment or promise of money. Green and Daniels also released a public statement at the time saying they had “resolved their respective disputes” and “wish each other well.”
Green’s lawsuit had alleged that Daniels was threatening to sue him for workplace discrimination if he didn’t pay her.
But Daniels never filed the suit. In late October of that year, days before Green faced an election in southwest Houston’s Ninth District, her attorney, Chip Lewis, called but then canceled a news conference to talk about the congressman.
A spokesman for Green, who was first elected in 2004, acknowledged at the time that Green and Daniels had a “romantic encounter” at her home in May 2007. But Green denied any claims of sexual assault.
Neither Green nor Daniels was giving interviews Monday. In their joint statement, they said that “as friends, we have both agreed that we see no need to make further statements regarding this absolutely resolved matter.”