Legislature faces test in Trujillo case
Under new rules, House leaders will decide how to proceed
The Legislature adopted a new anti-harassment policy just a few months ago.
And now, that policy will get its first big public test.
An animal welfare advocate’s allegations of sexual harassment against state Rep. Carl Trujillo could provide an answer to the question of whether lawmakers will — and can — investigate their own colleagues.
At stake is the political career of a Democratic lawmaker, the outcome of his heated primary re-election campaign and the faith that has been placed in a new policy proponents argued would help bring more accountability to the Legislature.
Trujillo said Thursday that he will cooperate if the House of Representatives undertakes an investigation.
Unclear is whether lawmakers will launch one at all.
On Wednesday, Laura Bonar wrote in an open letter that Trujillo had sexually harassed her on multiple occasions, touched her inappropriately and offered a quid pro quo for sex several years ago as she was lobbying with Animal Protection Voters for bills he was sponsoring.
Trujillo, who represents northern Santa Fe County, not only has denied the allegations but has called Bonar a liar and contends her accusations are an electionseason attack.
Now, it is up to leaders in the state House of Representatives to decide whether to investigate.
House Speaker Brian Egolf will meet in the next few days with the majority and minority leaders along with outside lawyers to determine whether to investigate the claims. Under the new policy, they also could choose to either refer the matter to a group from the chamber’s ethics committee, which would work with outside lawyers to continue the probe. Or legislative leaders could decide to do nothing.
If the group from the ethics committee determines there is cause to bring formal charges, the case will become public and legislators may vote on a range of sanctions — from reprimand to a more formal censure to expulsion from the chamber.
The meeting will be private, and it remains unclear how much of a public accounting the group of legislative leaders will provide following their decision.
Approved by a panel of lawmakers days before this year’s legislative session began in January, the new policy expanded decade-old code that seemed to cover only legislative staff and not legislators themselves, much less lobbyists.
Prior to the new policy, the Legislature received only one complaint over the previous decade.
But at the beginning of the year, the #MeToo movement was beginning to bring new scrutiny to harassment in legislatures nationwide. And New Mexico, it seemed, would be no exception.
Proponents of the new policy argued that involving outside lawyers and other changes would bring more accountability to the Legislature.
Still, while the legislative leaders received five complaints of harassment or other misconduct during this year’s session, they apparently decided none of the complaints warranted formal charges. And in turn, none of the allegations were made public.
Nevertheless, Bonar suggested that the decision to adopt a new policy inspired her at least in part to speak out now.
“I am convinced that the time is right to speak my mind,” she wrote Wednesday.
The process may not satisfy anyone, however.
Bonar’s lawyer, Levi Monagle, said his client’s top priority is to tell her story publicly.
“I don’t think she’s opposed to it,” Monagle said of an investigation.
But it was not entirely clear whether the new policy could be applied to incidents that occurred before it was adopted, he said.
In any event, Monagle said, even the new process seems overly political.
“The Legislature isn’t interested in airing its dirty laundry,” he said.
Indeed, advocates have raised concerns that the process — despite its inclusion of outside lawyers — still relies too heavily on lawmakers to police themselves.
After posting a message on Facebook on Wednesday denying Bonar’s allegations, Trujillo posted another message with a point-by-point rebuttal. In it, he dealt with nitty-gritty details, such as refuting Bonar’s accusation that he killed a bill Animal Protection Voters favored after she rebuffed his advances (he says the money sought through the bill was appropriated elsewhere). But he also engaged in a sort of free association at times, referring to a photo of Bonar with former Gov. Bill Richardson and using it to suggest that this was all an indication that a political machine is set against him.
“She doesn’t want an apology or an investigation or even to protect other women from the alleged harassment,” Trujillo wrote Thursday. “She just wants me to resign and end my campaign.”