#MeToo sees victories — and chaos
“What concerned me the most were the number of women who talked about the fear of retaliation and feeling that they had seen real retaliation in action in the Legislature.”
Three months after the #MeToo movement first shook California’s Capitol, with female lobbyists and staffers calling out a culture that they say condones sexual harassment, lawmakers meet Wednesday under intense pressure to overhaul how the Legislature handles such complaints and protects those who report abuses of power.
Lawmakers from the Senate and the Assembly will sit down together this week for the first in a series of joint meetings on harassment — and that marks a significant milestone, said Adama Iwu, a lobbyist who in October helped launch the We Said Enough campaign against sexual harassment with an open letter signed by nearly 150 women in politics. The two houses are fiercely independent and have different procedures for investigating complaints of harassment and discrimination — which, activists say, is confusing and inadequate.
“We’re having a joint hearing,” Iwu said. “I think that’s a huge victory.”
Buoyed by a national backlash against sexual harassment and abuse, the #MeToo movement in Sacramento has brought into sharp relief the power dynamics in the male-dominated political arena, including a fear of retaliation and a widespread mistrust of the official channels for investigating reports. Two Democratic lawmakers, San Fernando Valley Assemblymen Raul Bocanegra and Matt Dababneh, resigned late last year following public allegations of sexual misconduct, which they denied.
But even as the Legislature takes stock of its failings and moves to change its ways — such as setting up a confidential support line and preparing to release
previously secret records of substantiated complaints against legislators and “high-level legislative employees” — few expect the way forward to be easy.
“I think we will have to hold their feet to the fire every step of the way,” Iwu said about the Legislature.
Los Angeles-area Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, a Democrat heading a new joint committee on sexual harassment prevention and response, also led an Assembly hearing in October that featured moving testimony from women who recounted mistreatment they experienced while working in the Capitol and a feeling of powerlessness that followed.
“What concerned me the most were the number of women who talked about the fear of retaliation and feeling that they had seen real retaliation in action in the Legislature,” Friedman said. “That by far was the most troubling thing for me, that when people spoke up they were disappeared from the building.”
Friedman and other lawmakers have introduced legislation in response to such concerns, including a bill that would triple the length of time a worker in the private or public sector has to file a harassment claim under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, extending the window from one to three years. Meanwhile, We Said Enough organizers are launching an app based on anti-bullying technology to anonymously report harassment, and some California Democratic Party delegates have begun circulating questionnaires to legislative and congressional candidates asking pointed questions about their history with sexual misconduct before they receive the local party’s endorsement.
As it considers changing its own procedures — and possibly adopts a single process for both houses — the Legislature will wrestle with matters relating to confidentiality, fairness, accountability and how to better protect accusers and witnesses from retaliation, Friedman said. But even as it seeks guidance from the private sector, the Capitol will have to contend with its own nuances: “Unlike a private company,” she said, “members of the Legislature can’t be fired.”
One example of the chaos now playing out centers around Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia. Under pressure from his colleagues, Sen. Tony Mendoza took a paid leave of absence this month while the Senate investigates allegations that he acted inappropriately with three young women who worked in his offices dating back to 2008. One woman said she was just 19 when he brought her to his hotel suite, offered her a drink and asked about her taste in men.
But Mendoza, who has denied wrongdoing, has continued to recruit interns and has challenged the Senate process through letters in which he criticizes the lack of information he has received about the scope of the investigation, who is handling it and what to expect.
And Monday, while still on leave, Mendoza stoked tensions by posting photos of himself touring the Port of Long Beach with high school students through the Senate-sponsored Young Senators program. The move drew sharp criticism from some of his colleagues — Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, his former weekday roommate and candidate for U.S. Senate, said in a statement that it showed Mendoza had “no decency” or respect for the institution — as well as from Iwu, who in a tweet described the senator’s photos as “unbelievable.”
“I actually think that the Tony Mendoza photos are a really good snapshot of where we are,” Iwu said. “We have elected officials who have started to admit that there is a problem, but we still have no real way to deal with it. We have no real process.”
Sen. Connie Leyva, a Democrat who serves on the Senate Rules Committee — which handles human resources matters — responded to an inquiry about Mendoza’s photos with a statement saying, “Senator Tony Mendoza is currently on a leave of absence from the State Senate and I wish he would adhere to that.”
A spokesman for Mendoza, Robert Alaniz, said the senator was given no instruction from the Senate when he took his leave. And, he noted, his scheduled absence ends on Friday.
“He plans to return shortly thereafter to work on behalf of his constituents,” Alaniz said in a statement, “and he has reiterated once again his desire to get on with the investigation expeditiously where he plans to fully cooperate so that he can clear his name and end any speculation regarding the years old allegations.”