Sanders apologizes again to female staffers
WASHINGTON » For the second time this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has apologized to female staff members from his 2016 presidential campaign who have said they were sexually harassed by co-workers — including one who was expected to play a role in a potential 2020 bid.
On Thursday morning, after Politico reported that Sanders’ former Iowa campaignmanager Robert Becker had been named in a $30,000 federal discrimination settlement with two former employees, Sanders told reporters that he thanked the women “from the bottom of my heart for speaking out” and formally apologized to them.
“When we talk about ending sexism, and ending all forms of discrimination, those beliefs cannot just be words,” Sanders said. “They must be based in day-to- day reality and the work that we do. And that was clearly not the case in the 2016 campaign. The allegations that I have heard speak to unacceptable behavior thatmust not be tolerated in any campaign or in any workplace.”
Sanders said that his 2018 Senate re-election campaign inVermonthadoperatedunder “someof the strongest sexual harassment policies in the country” and that he had not been aware of the $30,000 settlement.
“Our standards, our procedures, our safeguards, were clearly inadequate,” Sanders said. “Clearly, in this country, we need a cultural revolution to change workplace attitudes and behavior.”