The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Michigan state Senate asked for a sexual harassment investigation into a Republican state senator who told a female reporter that male high school students “could have a lot of fun” with her.
Mike Shirkey, the Republican majority leader of the state Senate, and Jim Ananich, the Democratic minority leader, requested that the Senate Business Office, which oversees human resources for both political parties, investigate the allegations against Republican state Sen. Peter Lucido, 59, “promptly and thoroughly.”
“Sexual harassment has no place in the Michigan Senate. We take these allegations very seriously and trust that you will take appropriate action to resolve this matter,” they wrote in a letter.
Michigan Advance reporter Allison Donahue, 22, said she had asked Lucido for an interview Tuesday, and he said he could talk after honoring 30 students from De La Salle, an all-boys Catholic high school and the lawmaker’s alma mater.
“As I turned to walk away, he asked, ‘You’ve heard of De La Salle, right?’” she wrote in a piece published Wednesday. “I told him I hadn’t. ‘It’s an all boys’ school,’ he told me.”
“You should hang around! You could have a lot of fun with these boys, or they could have a lot of fun with you,” Donahue said Lucido told her, adding that the teenage boys laughed at the remark.
Lucido apologized for the remark after initially saying he didn’t feel he owed Donahue one, but he added that Donahue had misinterpreted his remarks.
“I said, ‘We’re going on the floor to have some fun. You’re welcome to join us.’ This thing about what she interpreted, sexually or otherwise, it’s unfortunate. It really is. Truly unfortunate,” he said.
