Advocates pan secrecy plan for sex harassment incidents

Lawyer says it looks like ‘covering their tails’

MADISON - The top Republicans and Democrats in the Wisconsin Legislature agree: protecting victims of sexual harassment and other discrimination in the Capitol means keeping all reports about it secret.

But not all attorneys for victims and advocates see it the same way. In interviews this week, many of them questioned whether a blanket of confidentiality was the best policy when a senator, Assembly member or staff member is found to have harassed a colleague.

Attorney Colin Good, who represents clients in sexual harassment cases, said he that opposed releasing a victim’s identity without her consent but that in many cases names and other information can be blacked out.

“I don’t buy it. It seems to me that they’re trying to cover their tails,” Good said of lawmakers. “I think the public interest at this point outweighs the privacy concerns so long as the privacy concerns are addressed through redaction.”

The statehouse debate comes amid a national wave of revelations about sexual misconduct and harassment by powerful figures in politics and the media.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said Wednesday they supported keeping investigations in their house private in all cases. The day before, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) said the same thing.

Fitzgerald said in a statement that he and Shilling were working to update the Senate’s sexual harassment policies and training.

“I am confident that the updated policies, combined with the introduction of mandatory training, will be a major step in the right direction,” he said. “In the interim ... we feel that the most appropriate course of action is to keep employees’ conversations with human resources confidential.”

Earlier this month, Senate Chief Clerk Jeff Renk denied an open records request by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for the results of personnel investigations in the Senate, saying that it could have a “chilling impact” on witnesses coming forward in the future.

Employment attorney Amy Scarr said she wasn’t so sure that releasing investigations would lead to fewer

complaints, particularly if identifying information about the victims is carefully redacted.

“Women are finding courage when they see other women come forward,” said Scarr, who represents victims of harassment. “You aren’t going to get that if you (withhold) complaints.”

Chase Tarrier, the public policy coordinator for End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, said he had concerns that keeping cases of harassment secret could allow abuses to continue. But Tarrier said those concerns are outweighed by the wishes of the victims.

Because legislative offices have only a few employees, it might be possible to guess a victim’s name even when it’s blacked out, Tarrier said.

Sandra Sperino, a law professor at the University of Cincinnati who studies discrimination cases, agreed but also pointed to the right of the public and taxpayers to know what their elected officials are doing.

“This is a pretty complicated issue that we’re going to have to grapple with now,” Sperino said.

In a statement, Shilling, the leader of Senate Democrats, said that any victims who decide on their own to come forward and speak publicly about abuse would “continue to have my full support.”

“The decision to publicly share deeply personal and often difficult experiences should remain with the victims of sexual assault and harassment,” Shilling said.

Aides to Fitzgerald and Shilling have not said whether complainants in the Senate are given the opportunity to read and share the findings of investigations into their complaints.

The Journal Sentinel has also sought the results of a still-unreleased internal investigation into the conduct of former Assembly Majority Leader Bill Kramer, a Republican who in 2014 was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree sexual assault.

In Congress, members of both parties have called for changing the confidential manner in which misconduct claims are handled and to unmask lawmakers such as Democratic U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan who have had taxpayer settlements paid out.