BuzzFeed has outed another politician as a serial sexual harasser. Right now, the alleged harasser, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is the longest serving person in the House of Representatives. The piece seems sound and sources well-vetted.
Documents from the complaint obtained by BuzzFeed News include four signed affidavits, three of which are notarized, from former staff members who allege that Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, repeatedly made sexual advances to female staff that included requests for sexual favors, contacting and transporting other women with whom they believed Conyers was having affairs, caressing their hands sexually, and rubbing their legs and backs in public. Four people involved with the case verified the documents are authentic.
Conyers not only sexually harassed but fired at least one woman women who rebuffed his advances and then kept them quiet via private settlements. This is unfortunately not surprising. It’s politics after all, and it’s dirty and this also happens in other industries, however nauseating that may be. The Washington Post recently reported that Congress’s Office of Compliance paid $17 million for 264 settlements with federal employees over 20 years for various violations, including sexual harassment. What’s most surprising and what could immediately launch this into the public eye where it should remain until resolved, more than allegations against Al Franken or Roy Moore, is who paid for these settlements and how.
BuzzFeed reports:
In this case, one of Conyers’ former employees was offered a settlement, in exchange for her silence, that would be paid out of Conyers’ taxpayer-funded office budget. His office would “rehire” the woman as a “temporary employee” despite her being directed not to come into the office or do any actual work, according to the document. The complainant would receive a total payment of $27,111.75 over the three months, after which point she would be removed from the payroll, according to the document.
Not only is that a lengthy, convoluted process for a woman who has been abused, but to say it’s a misuse of taxpayer dollars is an understatement. Basically, Conyers and his staff are covering up sexual abuse allegations and paying for silence with fancy bookkeeping tricks that look like a salary payout.
If the last six weeks are any example, sexual harassment and allegations aren’t resolving anytime soon — but surely Congress can stop its own offices from covering up sexual allegations with money that’s supposed to be paying for them to actually work on behalf of their constituents? There are ways to stop men from harassing other women. From this story, cutting the source of the dollars that were used to silence these women could be one quick, sure way toward that goal.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
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