A Senate oversight committee has begun probing allegations of a decade-long practice of sexual harassment at the U.S. Forest Service, focusing on alleged misdeeds by the former chief of the agency.
In a letter to Forest Service interim head Vicki Christiansen, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s top Democrat and Republican requested information related to reports of “widespread sexual harassment” and charges leveled by 34 women.
What’s more, the letter from Chairman Sen. Ron Johnson and ranking member Sen. Claire McCaskill indicates they are looking into allegations that former chief Tony Tooke “offered a position to a woman with whom he was allegedly having an extramarital affair.”
Tooke resigned earlier this month as the allegations became known. In an email to employees announcing his resignation, he applauded the women whistleblowers and suggested the media reporting on his actions has been inaccurate.
The committee said in its letter — provided to Secrets — that there has been a “public record” of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at the Forest Service since 2008.
The senators said the committee needs information about the scandal “in examining the Forest Service’s apparent culture of sexual harassment and misconduct…” It has not opened an official investigation.
The move comes as Congress is opening the door wide to government-wide reports of harassment, including in the House and Senate.
