Harassment easy to ignore if you’re in power
It’s heartening that so many legislators have a brave new commitment to ending harassment in state government. They say they want to stamp out bad behavior, whether it’s sexual in nature or just plain old bullying.
I saw no such interest from most lawmakers several months ago, when one of their own members took it upon himself to abuse a working professional in the name of patriotism.
Rep. Bob Wooley, R-Roswell, walked off the floor of the House of Representatives while it was in session, went up two flights of stairs, stormed into the press gallery and berated a reporter from the Albuquerque Journal. Several people who witnessed Wooley’s tirade thought it might escalate to violence.
What set off Wooley? Had he been the subject of a slanderous story or snide headline? It was nothing so mundane. Wooley said the reporter he blistered had not stood for the Pledge of Allegiance that morning. Wooley apparently would gaze up at the glassed-in press box to monitor reporters while his colleagues saluted the flag.
This was the second time he had castigated a reporter in a working press box for supposedly not standing at attention for the Pledge of Allegiance. I interviewed Wooley about why he considered it his place to lecture someone at the Capitol on flag etiquette.
He is a Vietnam War veteran, he said, and he has the absolute right to confront those he considers disrespectful to the Stars and Stripes. Angry, he ended the interview.
I wrote a column about Wooley that day, saying he salutes the flag while trampling people.
After that, House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, privately told Wooley he should not accost people in the press box or try to enforce his beliefs about patriotism. Wooley said it wouldn’t happen again.
He apologized to the reporter he castigated.
Of course, Wooley also had apologized the previous time he bolted from the House floor to lambaste a different reporter for supposedly disrespecting the flag.
Legislators never publicly mentioned what Wooley had done. It was an embarrassing episode for him, so the rest of the lawmakers left it alone.
This is a double standard, based on recent developments.
State Rep. Sarah Maestas Barnes this week wrote a 2½-page public letter complaining about what she described as threatening behavior against her in October 2016.
Maestas Barnes, R-Albuquerque, had just presented a crime bill during a special legislative session.
She said Democratic Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas “charged over to me, then verbally attacked me using profane and threatening language and violently slammed his fist down on my desk.”
Maestas Barnes did not name Moe Maestas in her letter, writing that “I am not interested in settling scores.” Interested or not, she linked to video of the episode that clearly identifies Moe Maestas as the person she’s complaining about.
In the video, Moe Maestas quickly walks toward Maestas Barnes on the floor of the House of Representatives.
He appears to lean on her table with one palm, not slam down his fist.
Then he speaks to her for several seconds.
His account about what was said differs from hers.
“There was zero profanity. There were no threats,” Moe Maestas said in an interview.
He said Maestas Barnes, who represents a swing district, was “in campaign mode” for an election that was five weeks away.
Moe Maestas said he told her he took offense to her rhetoric about her bill being a choice between supporting criminal justice reform or child abusers.
This year, Maestas Barnes presented the same crime bill in a House committee.
Democrats killed her proposal. She then gave a television interview that drew a harangue from Moe Maestas. She said he “excoriated and demeaned me for having talked to this television station.”
Later, Moe Maestas apologized to the committee members for his outburst.
His criticism of Maestas Barnes “was not my proudest moment,” he said in our interview.
Maestas Barnes and Moe Maestas sat next to each other on a House committee. She asked that he be moved. Her request to Democrats didn’t go as she wanted.
“When I arrived at the next committee meeting,” she wrote in her letter of complaint, “I was shocked that I had been moved instead of the offending representative.”
Maestas Barnes, like many a self-absorbed legislator, believed the eyes of the state were on her because she received a different seat assignment.
“It unfairly put a spotlight on me, especially as my original seat was empty and I was now sitting toward the end of the dais,” she wrote. “I was extremely saddened and overwhelmed.”
Other legislators have seen or experienced sexual harassment.
Guests at the Capitol have seen an irate legislator rushing a reporter in menacing style. Where someone sits is unimportant in larger discussions about civil discourse and lawful behavior.
But now the wheels of bureaucracy are turning at the Capitol. Legislators might update their rules on professional conduct.
Still to be determined is whether they want bullies punished any time there’s an offense, or only when they see themselves as the victim.