State House leaders to strip Miccarelli of duties after abuse allegations
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania House Republican leaders on Thursday said Rep. Nick Miccarelli, who faces accusations of physically or sexually abusing two women, will be stripped of his committee assignments and his desk on the House floor will be moved so that he is farther from one of his accusers.
GOP leaders announced the actions in a memo circulated Thursday morning to all House members. They said an internal investigation had found that Mr. Miccarelli, a Delaware County Republican, had once again violated the chamber’s policy prohibiting retaliation against anyone who reports alleged sexual harassment.
Mr. Miccarelli, it said, publicly shared the name of one his accusers on his Facebook page, despite her request to keep her
name confidential, and kept that posting up for months. House lawyers who conducted the internal inquiry also said he shared suggestive emails and photographs of the accuser “without a valid purpose.”
Thursday’s memo was the first move by House GOP leaders to punish Mr. Miccarelli since calling for his resignation in March, after The Inquirer and The Caucus detailed the allegations in late February. Mr. Miccarelli has strongly denied the accusations and declined to step down, announcing instead that he is forgoing a reelection run but will remain in office until his term ends later this year.
Mr. Miccarelli’s spokesman Frank Keel has called the women “jilted lovers” and said they are hellbent on destroying him by lying about his behavior.
In a statement Thursday, Mr. Keel said Mr. Miccarelli shared texts with and “images” of one of his accusers with two members of the media to provide what he called “essential context” on his relationship with her. Mr. Keel said Mr. Miccarelli provided them with the understanding that they would not be disseminated.
“Nick has the right to rebut false accusations made against him, as does every American citizen,” Mr. Keel said. “The evidence was provided solely to defend Nick; not to harass, embarrass, annoy or intimidate the anonymous complainant.”
The two women — one a Republican state lawmaker, the other a GOP political consultant — filed a confidential complaint with the House in February. The lawmaker, Rep. Tarah Toohil of Luzerne County, alleged Mr. Miccarelli kicked and pinched her and at one point threatened to kill them both with a gun when the two dated in 2012. The consultant, who has asked that her name not be publicly revealed, accused Mr. Miccarelli of sexually assaulting her after the two ended a relationship in 2014.
An internal investigation by the House found the women credible.
The political consultant put it this way: “This man raped me and then defamed me publicly in the professional community I make my living in. Anything short of his expulsion or immediate resignation from the legislature is not justice.”
Ms. Toohil declined to comment.
Shortly after filing the complaint with the House in February, Ms. Toohil was granted a three-year restraining order against Mr. Miccarelli, setting up an unprecedented situation: She was assigned a bodyguard, who accompanies her to closed-door meetings in which she and Mr. Miccarelli are both present, as well as to the House floor, where they sit about 35 feet apart.
House leadership has allowed the two to continue serving together on a House committee.
Earlier this month, a frontpage story in The New York Times described Mr. Miccarelli as “apparently being shielded by his party leadership,” while House GOP leaders have done nothing to force his resignation.
They have said there is no precedent in Pennsylvania to expel a lawmaker who has not been convicted of a crime. They noted they have turned over the results of their internal inquiry to Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo’s office.
“This is in the hands of law enforcement,” said House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin, adding that the House’s latest findings on retaliation against the political consultant were also turned over to Mr. Chardo.
Referring to his investigation, Mr. Chardo said, “It is not complete yet. We will indicate when it is complete.”
The findings, according to a copy obtained by The Caucus and The Inquirer, reference the state crimes code section commonly called the “revenge porn” law. Passed in 2014, the law makes it a crime to disseminate sexually explicit images if the intent is to harass or alarm a former or current sexual partner.
Other states have ousted lawmakers in harassment cases. In Colorado, for instance, a Democratic legislator was expelled earlier this year after five women filed complaints accusing him of sexual harassment, according to The Denver Post. Two accused Minnesota lawmakers, one from each party, resigned late last year.
In all, 16 state lawmakers in a dozen states have resigned or been expelled after women came forward in the seven months since the #MeToo movement began, according to a tally by Stateline, a news initiative of Pew Charitable Trusts.