#MeToo state lawmaker cleared of groping claim
SACRAMENTO — Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia often used vulgar language in the office, asked her staff to run personal errands and disparaged other elected officials, an Assembly-commissioned investigation concluded Thursday — but it did not find that the Southern California Democrat groped or harassed a staffer in 2014.
The groping allegation was the most serious lodged against Garcia, who was a leader of the Capitol’s #MeToo movement against sexual harassment before going on unpaid leave in February after becoming the target of a complaint herself.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount (Los Angeles County), said Thursday that Garcia will be stripped of her committee assignments and required to take sensitivity and sexual harassment training as a result of an outside investigator’s findings. She is running for re-election.
“Despite the decision that the most egregious allegations could not be substantiated, it is clear that Assemblymember Garcia has engaged in a pattern of behavior that must be addressed,” he said in a statement.
The harassment allegation against Garcia, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), was lodged by Daniel Fierro, who said she cornered him after an Assembly softball game four years ago and grabbed his buttocks and crotch.
Fierro did not report the incident until January, as Garcia was becoming one of the most vocal advocates of exposing sexual harassment in the state Capitol. Fierro said he felt Garcia was being hypocritical.
The complaints were investigated by Vida Thomas, a Sacramento employment attorney retained by the Assembly.
The Assembly said its policy is to not release findings until after each party involved has been given 10 days to appeal the investigation. Garcia released her statement Thursday ahead of the appeals process. Fierro shared a letter he received about the findings with The Chronicle.
Fierro disputed the investigator’s conclusion and said he is considering an appeal. He said he had provided two witnesses
who could corroborate what he said, but that only one had been contacted for the probe.
“I have serious concerns about the investigation,” Fierro said. “This process isn’t transparent and isn’t designed to give any clarity or really any due process.”
An attorney for four former staffers of Garcia also cast doubt on the process, saying in an email to The Chronicle that the Assembly investigation was far from independent.
The attorney, Dan Gilleon, sent a letter in February to the Assembly on behalf of Garcia’s former staffer David John Kernick and three other ex-employees, none of whom was named. They described a toxic and sexually charged workplace under the assemblywoman.
The complaint said Garcia often talked in “uncomfortable detail” about her sex life, including describing sexual activities with other lawmakers in their Assembly offices. The former employees said Garcia told them that having sex with other lawmakers was a good way to get information from them. They said Garcia had pressured them to drink alcohol with her and to run personal errands for her.
Gilleon provided The Chronicle with the letter that the Assembly sent to him Thursday substantiating three of the claims against Garcia: that she used vulgar language in the office, asked her staff to run errands and disparaged other elected officials.
Garcia apologized for those, saying her “use of language was less than professional.”
“I want to assure everyone that I have learned from this experience and will do everything in my power to make amends for my past,” Garcia said in a statement. “I look forward to returning to work and getting back to the business of representing my constituents.”