The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Esty’s staff felt let down by boss.
Reference letter for alleged abuser filled with praise
WASHINGTON — Even though she had fired her former chief of staff for threatening and striking a female staff member, Rep. Elizabeth Esty lavished praise on Tony Baker as someone who “works hard and cares deeply” and “sees politics as a force for good.”
That language, in a draft recommendation letter signed Aug. 10, 2016, after Esty reached a non-disclosure agreement with Baker, is just one item on her list of regrets about how she handled Baker’s exit.
Staff members in her D.C. office were so dismayed by how she dealt with Baker’s departure that a rebellion was shaping up, according to a source. They even contemplated drafting their own letter to her expressing how upset and angry they were.
Present and former staffers said the level of tumult reached a crescendo late last week when Esty went public with her account of the delay in easing out Baker after he had been implicated for abusing and harassing a scheduler in Esty’s office, Anna Kain.
Esty’s letter recommending Baker, plus her positive phone recommendation to Sandy Hook Promise for an Ohio job he ultimately took with the Newtown-based organization, were at the heart of Esty’s decision Monday not to seek reelection this year to a fourth term in Congress.
Esty wrote that Baker’s “commitment” to effective politics “is reflected in his devotion to his work and setting high performance standards.” Her letter was provided to Hearst Connecticut Media by Esty’s office. It was part of a non-disclosure agreement signed the same day, Aug. 10, 2016.
The agreement stipulated Esty, D-Conn., would not “voluntarily disseminate or publish … disparaging, defamatory or negative remarks or comments adverse to interests” of Baker.
Esty agreed to “remove any negative information regarding (Baker’s) job performance or behavior from (her office’s) personnel records,” effectively deleting any record of the true reasons for Baker’s dismissal.
Esty has since said the recommendations were a major mistake.
Office disappointment
Many of the 10 or so staffers in Esty’s Washington office were said to be galled over the effusive praise Esty offered Baker, especially since they knew it was undeserved.
One former staffer said the recommendation was particularly disillusioning since many believed Esty was a kindred spirit, pushing forward in Congress on many of the issues they cared about including gun control, women’s empowerment and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.
Although an on-and-off relationship between Baker and Kain had been going on since the winter of 2014, Esty said last that week she only learned of it the day after a May 5, 2016, alcohol-fueled reunion of current and former staff. Accounts of the reunion indicated that Baker became intoxicated at the gathering at a Capitol Hill bar, texted or called Kain about 50 times, and that he threatened to find her and kill her.
An affidavit Kain used to obtain a court protection order stated Baker had screamed at her in the office and, at one point, punched her in the back. Through a spokesman, Baker denied punching Kain.
Esty last week took blame for for a threemonth delay between the May incident and Baker’s August 2016 departure. After the May 5, 2016 reunion, staffers were disappointed that Esty did not immediately suspend him and dig to the bottom of the abusive situation.
Esty said she immediately confronted Baker when she learned about what happened at the reunion, and that she forced him to seek alcohol and anger management counseling. She did not meet with Kain until six days after the incident, and last week she said she neither heard the voice mails left on Kain’s phone nor read the threatening texts Baker sent.
On advice of her outside Washington lawyer, Joe Sandler, Esty commissioned investigations in her D.C. and Connecticut field offices.
The D.C. investigation was directed by Julie Sweet, the chief of staff who preceded Baker. Esty said it was Sweet who alerted her to Baker’s behavior at the May 2016 gathering.
It was Sweet’s report, which Esty said she received on July 20, 2016, that led her to immediately fire Baker, although he remained on the on the payroll until Aug. 12. In the interim, Baker accompanied Esty to that year’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to participate in the nomination of Hillary Clinton for president.
Past and present staffers said Sweet’s investigation was too slow, and one complained in interviews with staff members, she seemed eager to find a way to absolve Baker.
‘Limited’ endorsement
Esty said last week she was deeply concerned about Kain, but ultimately her recommendation of Baker was dictated by the non-disclosure agreement. She said she did not contact Sandy Hook Promise on Baker’s behalf, and had told Baker she would not recommend him for a job anywhere in the Washington area.
When Baker returned to his native Ohio and applied to be the Ohio director for Sandy Hook Promise, Esty fielded a phone call from the organization and offered what she described as “limited” words of praise.
Sandy Hook Promise, which grew out of aftermath of the Dec. 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, is devoted to training sessions for teachers, schools, students and community groups on how to spot and get help for troubled individuals who might turn violent.
Esty was said to have contacted one of the cofounders, Mark Barden, before the story on Baker broke in the Hearst Connecticut Media newspapers. Representatives of Sandy Hook Promise declined on Tuesday to discuss Baker, who was dismissed last week.
Esty said her decision to break the non-disclosure agreement and go public might open her up to a lawsuit by Baker. But that seemed unlikely, as Baker expressed remorse for his actions in a statement Monday after Esty said she would not seek re-election.
In the statement, Baker said, “I do not expect forgiveness from anyone, whether they are survivors like Anna or victims like Elizabeth and others.”
He added: “I can only hope that my actions moving forward and over a lifetime of recovery can prove that I am a better man than I was during the time that I worked on Capitol Hill.”
Esty’s chief of staff and acting spokesman, Timothy Daly, said Esty was in Connecticut and unavailable for interviews.
“We have put out and stated everything we’re going to say on this,” Daly said. “We have nothing to add.”