RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An ex-North Carolina Democratic Party employee sued the party and its chairman Thursday, accusing them of breaking a settlement agreement by making false statements related to sexual harassment allegations the staffer made.
Adriadn Ortega filed his complaint in a Wake County court, charging that the party and Chairman David Parker committed libel and slander at an April news conference when he addressed the fallout over the harassment case at party headquarters. Parker’s comments also broke the agreement’s confidentiality requirement, Ortega argues.
Records show Ortega accused then-party Executive Director Jay Parmley of sexual harassment and of being fired in retaliation. Parmley resigned April 15 but denied any harassment occurred. Ortega filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming he was fired last November after speaking up.
The party and Ortega reached a confidential settlement that involved a monetary payment. The agreement required the two sides not to make any disparaging remarks about the other, but Parker failed to do that at his news conference, according to the lawsuit.
Democratic elected officials, including Gov. Beverly Perdue and Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, called on Parker to resign from the chairmanship in the days leading up to the April 19 news conference. Parker told reporters he would not seek re-election at a May meeting of the party’s executive committee, but he ultimately stayed on the job when committee members refused to accept his resignation.
Parker and the party “knowingly chose to defame Ortega in an attempt to deflect public scrutiny away from (the) defendants’ own failings and inappropriate conduct by falsely attacking Ortega,” the lawsuit reads. Ortega is seeking monetary damages, an apology and a judge’s ruling to assure his settlement will be paid.
A phone call and emails to an attorney and a spokesman for the state Democratic Party weren’t immediately returned. Parker didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.
The harassment allegations surfaced during a year when the party is preparing for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in September and President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in a key battleground state. Democrats also have been roughed up politically since Republicans took over both chambers of the Legislature last year for the first time since 1870.
Thursday’s “developments confirm that North Carolina will continue to be a mess for the Democratic Party and President Obama through the Democratic National Convention and up until Election Day,” Republican National Committee spokesman Matt Connelly said in a statement.
Ortega, 26, who began working for the party in 2010, was best known for recording speaking events by Republicans to assist with opposition research.
Parker, a Statesville attorney, spent the April 19 news conference that serves as the basis for the lawsuit defending his handling of the allegations. Parker said his own investigation of some of Ortega’s allegations appeared to show they were false or that Parmley’s actions were misinterpreted.
But the lawsuit alleges Parker made several false statements, including that Ortega had a “satisfactory working relationship” at the party, and distorted his harassment allegations against Parmley.
Kieran Shanahan, a prominent Republican attorney in Raleigh, is defending Ortega in the case. The lawsuit was filed two days before the state Democratic Party convention is held.
