Former Coggs aide received settlement
Taxpayers paid $75,000 to resolve allegations
MADISON – Taxpayers shelled out $75,000 to resolve a sexual harassment and racial discrimination claim made by an aide to then-state senator and now City of Milwaukee Treasurer Spencer Coggs, settlement documents show.
The allegations by Jana Williams made news in 2012 in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other outlets but Monday’s report was the first time that the 2015 settlement amount was made public. The Wisconsin State Journal first reported on the settlement.
Also Monday, Senate Chief Clerk Jeff Renk and Assembly Chief Clerk Patrick Fuller revealed that besides the Williams case there have been three other undisclosed complaints of sexual harassment in the Legislature in the past decade — one more in the Senate and two more in the Assembly.
Coming amid a national wave of revelations about sexual harassment in the media and politics, the disclosures renewed questions about the Legislature’s policy not to release any details of these complaints and the investigations into them. An attorney for the Journal Sentinel asked legislative officials Monday to reconsider that decision and their denial of an open records request from the newspaper for the findings of these investigations.
An administrative law judge in 2015 found there was probable cause to believe a former aide to Coggs was discriminated against because of her race and sex, according to documents obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“Coggs both tolerated and contributed to the creation of a hostile work environment in his office that consisted of both verbal and physical gestures di-
rected at Williams because of her sex, race and color,” administrative law judge Kathleen Braun wrote.
A longtime state lawmaker, Coggs left the state Senate the year after he was elected city treasurer in 2012. Coggs did not return messages but in a statement he said he was innocent and did not participate in settlement talks.
“In over 35 years in public office, at no time have I engaged in or condoned behavior which could be viewed as harassment or discrimination with respect to the complainant or anyone else who has worked for me,” his statement said.
Williams, the former Coggs aide who now goes by the name Jana Harris, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The administrative judge found Coggs would tell Williams, whose skin was lighter than his, that she was “not black enough.”
At one point, Coggs asked Williams if she was “showing more cleavage lately” and told her she should cover up because her breasts were a distraction. At times he would make hand gestures to insinuate Williams would be having sex with her fiance, the judge found. Coggs also told her how to wear her hair because he thought it looked too severe when it was pinned up.
Male workers in Coggs office would use binoculars to watch women on the square that surrounds the Capitol. They would pretend that they were birdwatching and make references to seeing “double-breasted warblers,” the judge found.
When she took the same day off as a white co-worker, Coggs joked that Williams might have “a taste for white meat.” Another time, Coggs told Williams that her fiancé looked gay.
Williams alerted human resources officials to the issues happening in Coggs’ office, but the problems persisted.
Williams alerted human resources officials to the issues happening in Coggs’ office, but the problems persisted.
She filed her complaint in 2011, shortly after she lost her job amid a downsizing of staff by Coggs and other Democrats after they lost the Senate majority in the 2010 elections.
At the time, Williams also alleged workers in Coggs’ office engaged in campaign work, helped his wife’s business and did odd jobs for Coggs. State elections officials dismissed a complaint involving allegations of campaigning on state time.
The state did not admit wrongdoing as part of the discrimination settlement.
Williams filed her complaint with the state Equal Rights Division, which releases its findings. The Legislature, however, does not release internal complaints or findings about discrimination because top leaders of both parties say they want to protect victims.
Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse said last week that the decision whether to make allegations public “should remain with the victims of sexual assault and harassment.”
But those who make the complaints never get the internal investigation findings, either. That’s according to a statement from Amanda Jorgenson, the Legislature’s human resources director that was shared by Shilling’s office.
Amy Scarr, an attorney who represents harassment victims, said last week that confidentiality serves to protect abusers and the institutions that fail to hold them accountable.
“I’m always fighting against those provisions,” Scarr said of the confidentiality agreements that sometimes accompany private-sector settlements. “That’s part of the problem.”