This Week in Statehouse Action: So I Guess This Is Where We Are Now edition – By Carolyn Fiddler (dailykos.com) / Nov 30 2017
A Democrat running for attorney general in Michigan has launched her campaign with an ad assuring voters that she’s someone who can be trusted “not to show you their penis in a professional setting.” Because that’s where we are right now
The candidate, attorney Dana Nessel, pledges to “not sexually harass [her] staff” and “won’t tolerate it in your workplace, either.” She “won’t walk around in a half-open bathrobe.” She’ll “continue to take all sex crimes seriously,” noting her past work on the issue as a prosecutor. And she pledges not to use taxpayer dollars to “silence victims,” which seems like something someone shouldn’t actually have to say out loud but is actually a real mark of fiscal responsibility at this point.
In fact, none of these pledges seem like things a candidate for public office should ever have to say out loud. Except recent revelations about sexual harassment in the halls of government make these legitimate parts of any candidate’s platform—at any level of the ballot.
While the growing number of high-profile sexual harassment revelations clogs national headlines, accounts of sexual misconduct in statehouses inevitably receive less attention.
But giving down-ballot politics attention is kind of my jam, so I dropped a roundup last week. (It is, unfortunately but predictably, already slightly out of date.)
Because clicking and reading and then going back to that other thing you were reading is a pain, here’s the short version, with the latest developments:
In Colorado, two Democrats and two Republicans have faced accusations of sexual harassment from staffers, interns, and a fellow lawmaker, and the Democratic speaker of the state House has repeatedly called on one of those Democrats to resign.
In Oregon, a Republican state senator has been accused of sexually harassing a fellow senator via multiple instances of inappropriate physical contact and subjecting as many as 15 other women to “unwanted touching.”
A powerful Republican lawmaker in Arizona has been suspended from his position as chair of the budget committee but so far has faced no calls from within his own party to resign over multiple allegations, some from sitting legislators, of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching.
Two Democrats in California have been named in media reports of sexual harassment. One has been stripped of his leadership positions by his Democratic colleagues. The other, who was secretly disciplined for a groping incident that occurred when he was a top legislative staffer, before his election to the state Assembly, has resigned.
In Kentucky, Republican Speaker of the House Jeff Hoover stepped down from his post (but refused to resign his seat) after news broke of a confidential settlement of a sexual harassment claim he’d reached with a staffer.
Republicans in Florida have launched an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by GOP state Sen. (and gubernatorial candidate) Jack Latvala.
In Ohio, Republican Rep. Wes Goodman recently resigned amid accounts of “inappropriate behavior” that took place in his official House office (the House Speaker later said this behavior was a consensual—ahem—“interaction” between the married lawmaker and “a person not employed by the legislature”). Since Goodman’s resignation, however, dozens of accounts of his sexual misconduct have surfaced, many of them targeting young men.
Goodman’s resignation follows GOP Sen. Cliff Hite’s exit from the legislature last month after admitting to “hugs” and “inappropriate conversation” with a state employee. A recent report revealed that this “conversation” was actually repeated sexual propositions and some stalking behavior.
And it’s certainly not just lawmakers—it’s their aides, too. The Senate Democrats’ chief of staff also recently was asked to resign over allegations of “inappropriate conduct.”
Earlier this month, 30 women lawmakers and staffers signed an open letter asserting that the Ohio legislature is taking insufficient action to combat sexual harassment in light of recent revelations.
In Minnesota, multiple women have come forth with accounts of harassment by a Republican state representative and a Democratic state senator. Both lawmakers, Republican Rep. Tony Cornish and Democratic Sen. Dan Schoen, have announced that they will resign; their replacements will be selected in special elections early next year.
Cornish’s seat is solidly Republican, but Schoen’s seat is one Democrats will have to work hard to keep: His 54th District went for Trump 46-45 in 2016, but Barack Obama carried it 53-45 four years earlier.
A Democratic woman has already stepped forward to run to replace Schoen. Karla Bigham is a local county board member and a former member of the state House.
Because, funny video aside, Dana Nessel has a point: Electing more women would almost certainly diminish the instances of sexual harassment in the halls of power. And not just because women don’t have penises to expose. (But I guess that doesn’t hurt.)
Harassment isn’t the exclusive domain of men, by any means, but men with power perpetrate the vast majority of harassment in politics. If powerful men were surrounded by greater numbers of powerful women colleagues, these men would likely feel less emboldened to expose their genitalia without an invitation exercise their power in such a destructive way.
Yes, the real impact of greater numbers of women lawmakers on incidences of sexual harassment in statehouses remains to be seen.
But it’s a good start.
Despite the above list of misdeeds, “statehouse action” actually is not a euphemism for sexual misconduct, so let’s have a look-see at what else is happening around the country, hm?
Hooray! It’s not-sexual-harassment news! The action just won’t stop in Virginia. With an even 50-50 split—and maybe even the majority—in the House of Delegates on the line, Democrats have filed for recounts in two House races where the both Democrat lost by tiny margins (well within the 1 percent threshold).
In HD-94, Democrat Shelly Simonds trails the incumbent Republican by 10 votes.
Democrat Donte Tanner trails by 106 votes in HD-40.
A third contest (HD-28) may also become subject to a recount, but because at least 147 voters received ballots for the wrong House district, a pending federal lawsuit is all the action there for the time being.
More not-sexual-harassment news! In New Hampshire, Republicans are already working hard this holiday season to give themselves a gift: disenfranchisement of a certain segment of the electorate that tends to not vote for them.
This week, a measure that would dramatically tighten the eligibility requirements for the state’s voters passed out of a state Senate committee on a party-line vote.
Under current law, New Hampshirites have to be “domiciled” in the state in order to vote there, meaning that you physically live somewhere in the state “more than any other place.”
Instead, Republicans want to require voters to meet the legal standard of “residency,” which is far more burdensome: Voters would have to produce utility bills or rental agreements, and anyone declaring residency would have to obtain a New Hampshire driver’s license and register their cars in the state.
You know who’s least likely to be able to meet these burdens, even though they tend to live in New Hampshire for a good four years or so? College students.
You know who doesn’t tend to vote for Republicans? College students.
Fun fact! This latest proposal is also very similar to a law that the New Hampshire Supreme Court struck down in 2012.
Also not-sexual-harassment news, but oy … Colorado has a brand new Republican in its state House, and wow, is she a prize.
Fun fact! In Colorado, legislative vacancies are filled by an appointee of the same party as the vacating member, not by special election.
Rep. Judy Reyher was appointed on Monday night and almost immediately found herself defending her Facebook posts questioning whether Barack Obama was born in the United States and criticizing Muslims and African Americans.
But in speaking to the Denver Post, Reyher didn’t exactly redeem herself.
In claiming that “nothing that [she has] posted is anywhere near racist,” Reyher said that “the black community and the Democrats are the most racist group of people that exist.”
Helpfully, she added that black people “hate white people with a passion” and maintains that “it’s never been proven [Obama] was born in the United States.” But she claims that her animosity towards Obama has nothing to do with race, insisting that she “hated the black half of Obama as much as … the white half.”
Regarding Muslims, Reyher also wonders, “if they have everything we stand for, what the hell are they doing here other than to destroy us as a country?”
Colorado Republicans are stuck with this gem in their House Minority Caucus for another year, when her seat will be on the ballot with the rest of the chamber.
Sexy data! And finally, did you miss our data interludes? I sure did. But I’ve got a hot and fresh set of numbers for you straight from the Keystone State, where the statehouse picture isn’t super rosy for Democrats, but, then, it wasn’t so great in Virginia either—until it was and Democrats flipped at least 15 House seats on a GOP-gerrymandered map.
Daily Kos Elections’ project to calculate the 2016 presidential results for every state legislative seat in the nation arrives in Pennsylvania, the 46th state we’ve released data for. Check out our master list of states here; all our data from 2016 and past cycles lives here.
Until next week, please enjoy this holiday classic to get you into the spirit of the season.
