Trujillo inquiry to continue
Despite representative’s failed re-election bid, ethics panel pursuing sexual harassment probe
A legislative committee will continue to investigate sexual harassment allegations against state Rep. Carl Trujillo, despite his loss Tuesday in the Democratic primary election.
Raúl Burciaga, director of the Legislative Council Service, said an investigation continues against Trujillo by a panel of four lawmakers and outside counsel.
Trujillo maintains the sexual misconduct accusations by lobbyist Laura Bonar are untrue. She claimed just weeks before the primary election that Trujillo propositioned her for sex and touched her inappropriately in 2013 and 2014.
“I welcome the investigation, and of course I’m cooperating,” Trujillo said Thursday in a brief telephone interview.
The investigation poses the first big test of the Legislature’s new anti-harassment policy, which was adopted on the eve of a 30-day legislative session this year amid the growing #MeToo movement.
Bonar initially called on Trujillo
to resign and end his re-election bid but later requested a formal inquiry, which Trujillo immediately said he would welcome.
Bonar’s attorney, Levi Monagle, said his client intends to pursue the investigation to completion.
“It is vitally important that victims of abuse or harassment in the Legislature (and beyond) know they have access to fair and trauma-informed avenues of redress, and the handling of this investigation will be a litmus test for the credibility of the Legislature’s anti-harassment policy,” Monagle said in an email. “Maybe it will prove to be adequate, and maybe it will not.”
A subcommittee of the Interim Legislative Ethics Committee is investigating the allegations. Monagle said the subcommittee’s independent counsel has scheduled a series of witness interviews, some of which are taking place this week.
“Unfortunately, that is all that I know at this juncture,” Monagle wrote. “I wish the process was a bit more transparent, but I understand and respect the need for some degree of confidentiality, particularly if the investigators are speaking with the two or three other victims who anonymously accused Mr. Trujillo of harassment.”
Trujillo, a three-term incumbent from Nambé, lost his re-election bid against newcomer Andrea Romero, a government contractor and ostrich farmer who said she believed Bonar was telling the truth. After Bonar went public with the accusations, state Rep. Deborah Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, said two other women had confided in her that they, too, had experienced sexual harassment by Trujillo.
In response, Trujillo denied any wrongdoing and said he was disappointed that fellow House members would join what he called a “witch hunt,” drawing comparisons to President Donald Trump.
When asked for comment about the results of Tuesday’s race for House District 46, Bonar said through her attorney that her reaction was “a solemn one.”
“Despite her gratitude that the voters of District 46 saw fit to remove Mr. Trujillo from office for his abuses of his power, as she hoped they would, she has not emerged from this process unscathed,” Monagle wrote.
“She knew that she would suffer for challenging a powerful man in a public forum, and she accepted that cost willingly and (in my opinion) courageously,” he said. “But we should all be troubled that our society takes its pound of flesh from victims, and particularly female victims, without batting an eyelash. It is a reflexive, toxic reaction, and it needs to be confronted and deconstructed wherever it manifests.”