Second ex-assistant accuses Kirby of sexual harassment

A second former assistant of Rep. Dan Kirby is accusing him of sexual harassment.

“It made me feel terrible,” Carol Johnson, 37, of Norman, told The Oklahoman on Wednesday. “You feel very ashamed . ... It makes you doubt your worth.”

Johnson said Kirby, R-Tulsa, repeatedly asked her for nude photos of herself and made constant unwelcome remarks about her body and attire. She said, at his request, she once accompanied him and another man in 2013 to an Oklahoma City strip club.

Johnson spoke Wednesday afternoon for more than an hour to the special House committee that is investigating Kirby and Rep. Will Fourkiller, D-Stilwell.

“We gave our side of the story,” her attorney, Justin Meek, said afterward of the closed-door session. “We were treated well. They handled it professionally and we look forward to the conclusions of the committee.” Johnson spoke to The Oklahoman on Wednesday at the attorney’s office before going before the special committee. She showed a reporter text messages asking for “pics” that she said were sent by Kirby.

She was Kirby’s assistant during the 2012, 2013 and 2016 legislative sessions.

She said he sexually harassed her the first time and again last year. She said she reported

him to the House human resources office in September and turned over some of his text messages.

“Everybody has a breaking point,” she said. “And once you reach that breaking point ... you never go back to before that place. You want to fix it to where nobody else has to go through that. And I just reached my breaking point.”

Kirby, 58, denies harassing Johnson. He told The Oklahoman on Wednesday that they instead were in a consensual personal relationship that developed when she was first his assistant in 2012.

He said they were both single.

“Apparently, those kind of things happen. There was no indication from her ... that I or we were doing anything wrong at the time,” Kirby said. “We stayed friends. ... I considered Carol one of my best friends.”

He said he was caught off guard and shocked when she reported him last year.

About the nude photos, he said she voluntarily sent them to him, beginning five years ago.

“These weren’t like ‘Hustler’-type pictures,” he said.

“There’s a difference ... They started out unsolicited with little sayings like, ‘These are to make your day. These are to make you smile.’”

Asked if he ever requested nude photos from Johnson, he said, “There was probably instances, occasions, where I did ask, because it was kind of a pattern. ... It was a mutual, consensual thing, even the pictures . ... Never was that a condition of being hired, staying hired or being fired, ever . ... She never ever told me that she didn’t want to.”

About being in a relationship with an assistant, he said, “It’s not something that was illegal but it probably wasn’t something that was smart either. I understand that.”

Johnson denies that she and Kirby were ever in a personal relationship. She said she did send him nude photos to keep a job she needed to provide for her children.

“Regretfully, I did comply sometimes,” she said. “If I did not comply with his requests, he was very difficult to work for. So, sometimes, it was in order to keep the peace, sometimes, because I felt my position was threatened.”

The special committee is expected to finish its investigation before the House begins the next legislative session in February. The committee could recommend the House expel a member or take other disciplinary action.

The special committee was formed in response to public outrage over a settlement paid to another former Kirby assistant, Hollie Anne Bishop. Much of the outrage centered on the use of public funds to pay the $44,500 settlement.

Bishop, 28, filed a wrongful termination claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

She complained the House fired her in November 2015 in retaliation for reporting Kirby had sexually harassed her.

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” Kirby said Jan. 3 of Bishop’s accusations.

Bishop has not appeared before the committee.

Kirby resigned Dec. 23 after The Oklahoman reported on the settlement to Bishop. He rescinded his resignation Dec. 28. He said he plans to appear before the special committee next week.

Johnson this month hired the same attorney Bishop used for the wrongful termination claim. Johnson has not taken any legal steps, though, against either the House or Kirby. She said she is coming forward in hopes that Kirby will be removed from office, not to make money.

She said she went to work for Kirby again in 2016 only after she told him not to repeat his behavior. “I made it clear to him that this was going to be a professional working environment,” she said. “We had several conversations regarding this — that the past is in the past, this is a good job that I needed for my family.”

She said she was put on paid leave after making her complaint last September and then reassigned to another legislator.

She said she then left her employment at the Capitol late last year for family reasons.

The special committee is investigating an accusation Fourkiller upset a high school page in April 2015.

Fourkiller denies doing anything improper.