STATE CAPITOLS CAN BE HOTBEDS FOR HARASSMENT “When it comes to sexual violence in general, we know that very often, people are using positions of power and authority to give license to their actions.” Laura Palumbo, the National Sexual Violence Resource C
Powerful institutions, sexual impropriety a dangerous mix
“As legislative clerk Jane Doe #12 explained, when she told Rep. Durham that his requests for drinks with her in 2013 were inappropriate because he was married and she was engaged, she said his response was, ‘Welcome to Capitol Hill.’ ”
The actions of powerful men in the workplace — whether it’s lawmakers in the Tennessee Legislature or Roger Ailes in the corner office at Fox News — keep sexual harassment issues in the national spotlight.
Powerful institutions and harassment at times go hand in hand. State capitols are sometimes hotbeds of sexual harassment. Most legislatures are largely male, part time and require members to travel away from home, creating a fraternity atmosphere.
Exhibit A is Tennessee, which is reeling from the case of state Rep. Jeremy Durham, who was found in a report by state Attorney General Herbert Slatery to have preyed on 22 women during his four years in office. The report, from which the quotation above is taken, said Durham, 32, had sex in his legislative office with a 20year-old female college student after drinking beer with her. The investigation, spurred by a
Tennessean report that showed he sent late-night text messages to three women, found rampant harassment and sexual conduct by Durham. Another Jane Doe quoted in the report said his nickname among some female staffers at the legislative offices was Pants Candy.
“The lobbyists’ perception that they could not complain about Rep. Durham’s inappropriate behavior is not without support,” the report from the attorney general states. “For example, a senior male lobbyist expressed his view during an interview that enduring a legislator’s sexual advances is merely part of a female lobbyist’s job.”
Tennessee is hardly alone. In 2007, a state senator in South Dakota was censured by the Legislature after he was accused of fondling a legislative intern. In 2015, a Vermont state senator was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting three women, including one who was his intern. (He says he never forced sex on anyone. Some charges have been dropped, and he faces trial on other counts this winter.) The same year, the Missouri speaker of the House resigned after exchanging sexually charged text messages with a 19year-old intern, and a state senator resigned amid sexual harassment allegations by at least two former interns.
“When it comes to sexual violence in general, we know that very often, people are using positions of power and authority to give license to their actions,” said Laura Palumbo, communication director at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
Nationally, women make up less than a quarter of all state lawmakers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That puts many female lobbyists, staffers and interns at the professional and political mercy of mainly male lawmakers.
“Women make good lobbyists because they get a man’s attention and hold it,” said Douglas Henry, a Nashville Democrat who served in the Tennessee Legislature from 1954 to 1956 and again from 1970 to 2014, a span longer than anyone else in state history.
In Tennessee, where 22 of 132 lawmakers are women and 85% are white, the political culture is steeped in the same history and booze that make the Nashville honkytonks that lie less than a mile from the state Capitol a popular tourist attraction for millions. At Legislative Plaza, historically, that culture includes limited policies and safeguards, leaving women with few options. Even under a new policy, women are skeptical.
Tennessee’s Capitol Hill culture dates back more than 200 years, when wives and children were sent away from Nashville during the annual legislative session, state Sen. Frank Niceley said. The longtime Republican lawmaker said that when he started serving at the Legislature in the 1980s, there was little ethical oversight. “The lobby- ists were handing out credit cards and staying out all night,” he said.
At the time, the political elite would meet at “the Kremlin,” the nickname for a few hotel rooms across the street from the Statehouse, said former longtime House speaker Jimmy Naifeh. The west Tennessee Democrat said the hotel hot spot across the street from the Capitol allowed for “freeflowing conversations” among lawmakers, lobbyists and others.
“The liquor lobbyists brought the liquor, and the beer lobbyists brought the beer. The grocery people brought the bologna and cheese,” said Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains.
Rep. Bill Dunn, a teetotaler Re- publican from Knoxville, said that if he were giving advice to new lawmakers, he would tell them to avoid drinking while they’re in Nashville. “If you look throughout the history of where legislators have gotten themselves in trouble, in almost every case, if not every single one, alcohol was involved. People don’t make good decisions when they’ve taken things that alter their perception of reality,” said Dunn, a lawmaker for 22 years.
The attorney general found Durham relied on alcohol as a way to ingratiate himself with many of his victims.
Durham was dogged by controversy before he was elected in 2012. During his first campaign, he called his arrest for burglary and vandalism while attending the University of Tennessee “college shenanigans.” As Durham’s political star quickly began to rise, more problems surfaced. In 2013, Durham was investigated for alleged prescription drug fraud, although the grand jury did not indict him. Then he admitted to writing a reference letter to a federal judge in 2014 — on official legislative letterhead — for a former youth pastor who was convicted on statutory rape and child pornography charges.
Still, Durham gained power as the Republican House whip until a
Tennessean investigation early this year detailed inappropriate, late-night text messages to women asking for pictures. The three women told The Tennessean they didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone about the harassment for fear it could ruin their careers.
After The Tennessean published its investigation, Durham resigned from his leadership position and left the House GOP caucus, but he refused to resign amid calls to do so from Gov. Bill Haslam, House Speaker Beth Harwell and state Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes.
Some lawmakers stood by him when Slatery labeled Durham a “continuing risk to unsuspecting women” in a report released in April by the attorney general midway through his investigation. That prompted the speaker to banish Durham’s office to a different building. Even after the report, some of Durham’s Republican colleagues called the investigation a witch hunt or unwarranted.
In June, after Slatery released information from a source who said Durham used campaign funds for his personal business, his staunchest allies finally spoke out against him. By the time the attorney general’s final report came out in July, detailing Durham’s repeated sexual misdeeds during the past four years, former supporters were silent.
Durham denied the sexual allegations in the report. He suspended his re-election campaign while refusing to give up his seat. By remaining a legislator until the end of his term in office, he’ll be eligible for an annual $4,100 lifetime pension and health benefits.
When lawmakers tried to muster a push to expel Durham, they could get only 27 of the 66 signatures needed to call a special session of the Legislature to oust him. They got more than twice as many signatures for a special session to discuss which bathrooms schoolchildren could use during a transgender debate. Durham did not win re-election and will leave office before the Legislature reconvenes in January.
Environments lacking in gender diversity and more tolerant of inappropriate behavior create an atmosphere where sexual harassment is more likely to happen, said Palumbo of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. As Fox News chairman, Ailes created a culture of harassment and intimidation, according to a lawsuit and reports from several women who worked for the network.
The Times reported that the investigation may include people who knew about the behavior and did nothing to stop it. The attorney general’s report on the Durham case detailed how numerous people knew about his inappropriate behavior but did not speak up or do enough to stop it.
Tennessee lawmakers have adopted a new sexual harassment policy. But a policy may not have the same pull among lawmakers as the beers and bright lights of Nashville. Whether it’s at a state capitol or Fox News headquarters, Palumbo said, it will take more than a policy to change a culture.