Sex harassment suits against California Democratic Party spur credibility crisis
LOS ANGELES — The California Democratic Party has staked its brand and platform on principles of diversity, equality and inclusion in the era of Trump and the #MeToo movement.
But now the party is grappling with a credibility crisis after it was hit with multiple lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and workplace retaliation by its former leader. And with a crucial election year approaching, some within the party worry that the legal troubles could hurt efforts to raise money and inspire volunteers.
While Democrats nationwide have focused on issues of sexual misconduct and workplace bias, the state party now faces allegations that its leaders failed to address problems within their own ranks.
The concerns have sparked a push for new reforms and to better understand what went wrong.
“It’s an existential decision that we are making that we are going to live our values, that we are going to insist that our new leadership have accountability,” said Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and chair of the state party’s Women’s Caucus. “I wouldn’t even call it a choice, because I don’t think we have a choice.”
“I think a lot of activists have lost faith,” added Bill Wong, who directs political strategy for the Democratic caucus of the state Assembly. “There’s a lot of frustration out there. I think where everybody’s at is trying to figure out how to earn back the trust of our base and the staff and rebuild the party.”
Democrats had barely finished their victory lap after historic midterm wins when state party Chairman Eric Bauman resigned in November following multiple allegations of misconduct. Three lawsuits have since been filed by current and former employees and an activist that claim the party turned a blind eye to allegations against Bauman, including that he discriminated against a high-ranking black female employee and sexually harassed or assaulted others.
An attorney for Bauman said he denies the claims in the lawsuits and “will not be trying his case in the media,” and the state party declined to comment on pending litigation. But Pelosi and others say it threatens to undermine the organization’s progressive mission.
In the first of the lawsuits, filed in January, three current and former employees alleged that Bauman’s misconduct was “well-known and apparently tolerated” by top party officials. The second suit claims the party “looked the other way” due to Bauman’s success in winning campaigns. And the third alleges the party fired two employees in retaliation for helping a colleague file a harassment complaint against Bauman.
The recent events have prompted a discussion within the party about what some call its toxic culture as the organization gears up to welcome more than a dozen presidential candidates and elect a new chair at its convention in San Francisco at the end of the month.
Some senior officers in the party have been criticized by rank-and-file members who say they didn’t do enough to prevent misconduct.
Alexandra “Alex” Gallardo Rooker, who stepped in as interim chair after Bauman resigned, was accused in one suit of putting “her own political agenda” ahead of “the safety and well-being of CDP employees.” Rooker declined to comment through a party spokesman.
One woman who filed a harassment claim against Bauman alleged in a lawsuit that Daraka Larimore-Hall, the party’s other vice chair, was not “willing or able to support” her when she complained. She later dropped her claims, she said, in order to speak out against LarimoreHall’s alleged retaliation against her for being mentioned in the suit. One of several candidates running to fill the rest of Bauman’s term, Larimore-Hall has said his recollections of their interactions differ from what the woman alleged.
“There are a number of really important questions about who knew about (Bauman’s alleged behavior) and what they knew and when they knew that have to be addressed in order to restore trust and faith,” said Michele Dauber, a professor of law at Stanford University and a delegate to the state party.
Dauber, who led the successful effort to recall a San Francisco Bay Area judge who handed down what some considered a light sentence in the sexual assault case of former Stanford student Brock Turner, called the lawsuits a “significant crisis” that could be “potentially bankrupting.”
Pelosi will present a set of proposals at the convention, including mandatory bias and harassment training for all party delegates and consultants, appointing a staff ombudsman to track complaints and investigations, and guidelines for power-sharing based on the results of the election for chair.