California: As legislator quits post, Assembly opens hearings
SACRAMENTO — The Assembly will turn the spotlight on itself Tuesday as the house convenes its first public hearing to examine complaints that the Legislature has fostered a culture of pervasive sexual harassment and abuse.
The hearing comes a day after Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-San Fernando Valley, who served as majority whip until last week, announced he would resign immediately following several recent allegations of sexual misconduct. Lawmakers are expected to review the Assembly’s existing harassment policies then hear from women who have shared their stories of harassment in the news media.
The women who will speak at the hearing include Pamela Lopez, a partner at a lobbying firm, who said a lawmaker, whom she has not named, forced himself into a bathroom with her last year and masturbated in front of her.
Jennifer Kwart, the district director for Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, is also listed as a speaker. Kwart is among three women who have publicly accused state Sen. Tony Mendoza, DArtesia (Los Angeles County), of sexual misconduct.
The hearing comes as both the Assembly and state Senate try to address a wave of allegations of sexual misconduct
against lawmakers and men who work in and around the Capitol. A Senate committee voted Monday to strip Mendoza of his chairmanship on the Insurance, Banking and Financial Institutions Committee until an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations is completed.
Adama Iwu, a government relations executive for Visa who has helped organize the Sacramento campaign We Said Enough to expose sexual misconduct in politics, said it is clear that women feel more comfortable turning to a news reporter than they do going to the state Senate or Assembly with their complaint.
“It’s important to talk about how we can rebuild that trust, which we think involves a confidential hotline and a truly independent investigation,” Iwu said.
Samantha Corbin, a lobbyist who will testify on behalf of the We Said Enough campaign, said she will emphasize what women have called for — a confidential hotline to report misconduct and confidential crisis counseling for those who do. Whistle-blower protections and other reforms will probably need to wait until the Legislature returns in January, she said, but setting up a hotline and counseling could happen now.
“Those would go a long way toward building trust and building an appropriate climate in order to have these conversations,” Corbin said.
The Assembly hearings will conclude with public comment, with some Capitol sources saying there is heightened anxiety about the prospects that new allegations will surface.
“We want to know where our system breaks down, and how we can improve it to protect everyone who works in and around the Capitol,” Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, DGlendale (Los Angeles County), who will chair the hearing Tuesday, said in a statement.
Additional Assembly hearings, possibly including one in which women can testify confidentially, are planned for January.
The hearing comes after Bocanegra resigned Monday. Bocanegra had initially announced last week that he would step down in September in order to avoid a costly special election to replace him. Bocanegra said he is confident that an ongoing investigation will clear his name.
“But clearly, the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ has been temporarily lost in a hurricane of political opportunism among the self-righteous in my case — to the detriment of both the accuser and the accused,” he said in a statement on Facebook.
Bocanegra apologized for a 2009 incident in which he was quietly disciplined for groping a female staffer when he was also a legislative staffer. Then, last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that six additional women have accused Bocanegra of sexual misconduct, including one woman who said he forcibly kissed her when he was a legislative staffer in 2010 and another woman who said he groped her in 2012 when he was running for the Assembly. Bocanegra has not addressed each new allegation, saying in his statement that he doesn’t want to fight “he said, she said” allegations in the press or “undermine the credibility of any accusers so that each of us would have access to a fair due process.”
“Furthermore, it is my hope that in taking this action we can help clear the path so that women and men who have been truly victims of sexual assault and workplace harassment can step forward and get justice for any crimes committed against them,” Bocanegra said. “While I am not guilty of any such crimes, I am admittedly not perfect.”