Lawmakers now have to pay in sex cases
WASHINGTON — Less than a year after Corpus Christi Republican Blake Farenthold left Congress with the bill for an $84,000 settlement for sexual harassment, the House and Senate have agreed to make lawmakers pay their own misconduct judgments.
The legislation, which the House and Senate each passed unanimously on Thursday, caps a year of acrimonious debate over how to handle sexual harassment claims on Capitol Hill.
Under the terms of a bipartisan deal reached this week, members of the House and Senate would assume financial liability for settlements and judgments stemming from sexual harassment complaints. Historically, taxpayers have picked up the tab.
The issue came to a head last April when Farenthold, a fourterm congressman, resigned amid an Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of improper conduct by at least three former staffers. That followed revelations that Congress had already covered an $84,000 settlement reached in a 2014 harassment suit brought by Lauren Greene, his former communications director.
The payment came to light last December only after House administrators, under pressure in the early months of the #MeToo era, agreed to release summary data on payouts involving Capitol Hill offices.
Farenthold became one of a half-dozen members of Congress to step down in the past year amid allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment.
Texan reneged
While denying any personal wrongdoing in the case, Farenthold initially vowed to repay taxpayers. He later reneged, however, on the “advice of counsel.”
He also refused a request by Gov. Greg Abbott to help defray the estimated $200,000 in expenses for the special election prompted by his early departure. Victoria Republican Mike Cloud was elected to replace him.
Farenthold later took a job lobbying for the Calhoun Port Authority, a move that sparked further controversy because of his involvement as a member of Congress in steering a contract to Randy Boyd, the port’s chairman.
Campaign finance reports also showed that Farenthold, who had a net worth in the millions, spent more than $100,000 from his campaign account on legal bills before and after the ethics investigation.
The legislation passed Thursday, now headed for President Donald Trump’s signature, extends to members who leave office but is not retroactive, meaning it will not require Farenthold to make good on his promised reimbursement.
But it is expected to lay down a marker for the next session of Congress that begins in January.
“Everybody will understand their personal liability and their personal responsibility, and that will be a good thing,” said Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a joint statement calling the change “a strong step towards creating a new standard in Congress.”
Besides holding lawmakers financially accountable, the legislation streamlines the dispute resolution process to protect Hill staffers. It would eliminate a mandatory 30-day counseling period, 30-day mediation period and another 30-day “cooling off ” period a staffer would have to wait through before making an official complaint.
Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, one of the Senate negotiators and a potential 2020 presidential candidate, called the present system of handling cases “byzantine.”
“The time has come to stop protecting politicians and to start supporting victims,” Klobuchar said. “All men and women deserve a workplace free from harassment.”
Victims can act quickly
The new rules would allow a victim to immediately pursue an administrative hearing or file a civil action.
The rules also would set up a new electronic system for reporting wrongdoing and make public the names of any lawmakers found personally liable for harassment or retaliation.
Other types of claims, however, are not covered to the same extent as sexual harassment and retaliation. Lawmakers could still potentially escape personal liability for settlements or judgments stemming from discrimination cases, including gender discrimination.
Greene’s suit against Farenthold accused him of gender discrimination, though she also alleged that he created a hostile work environment and improperly fired her after she complained. She claimed a Farenthold aide told her the lawmaker said he had “sexual fantasies” and “wet dreams” about her.
The lawsuit led to a private outof-court settlement in late 2015. Its terms remained confidential until last December, when it was first reported that it involved a taxpayer-funded payment of $84,000.
At the same time, at least two other former Farenthold staffers also went public with complaints about his congressional office. One, Elizabeth Peace, told the Ethics Committee she was pressured to do campaign work. Another aide, Michael Rekola, alleged that the congressman was verbally abusive and sexually demeaning.
Farenthold initially agreed not to run for reelection, but then resigned in the face of the ethics investigation.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, he acknowledged that his office “accommodated destructive gossip, off-hand comments, off-color jokes and behavior, in general, that was less than professional.”