The final story, my name has been cleared!

My name has been cleared as last!

As you are probably aware, on May 2, 2018 (two weeks before early voting) a lobbyist, Laura Bonar accused me of sexual harassment from 2014.  On May 2, 2018, I released a statement that I did not ever sexually harass Laura Bonar nor any other person and the allegations are completely false.

A hearing was set by the legislature to deliberate on the case as required by policy.  The process started on May 2, 2018 and just ended yesterday December 3rd, 2018 without a hearing ever taking place because Ms. Bonar refused to participate in the process after she launched these serious allegations.

The Legislative Ethics Committee filed an order late yesterday dismissing all the frivolous claims made against me by Laura Bonar. I continue to maintain my innocence and have fully cooperated with the entire process. I am extremely confident that the same result would have been reached if Ms. Bonar’s false allegations had been tested under oath, at a full hearing.

In the final days of this process, Ms. Bonar stated in a letter to counsel, she does not wish to continue with the hearing process because she does not wish to “perjure” herself. From the beginning, Ms. Bonar stated that her only “goal” was to interfere with a public election by getting me removed from my seat, all while refusing to follow the requirements of the Anti-Harassment policies and the law. She refused to put her complaint under oath as required by policy; she refused to give reasonable particularity of her allegations as required by policy; refused to appear for a deposition three times; and refused to provide evidence three times even after the Judge reassured her

As mentioned, I fully cooperated by submitting all evidence required and then some, was deposed under oath, submitted two statements under oath, and voluntarily submitted to a polygraph (lie detector) test. The fact is: I never directly worked or ever socialized with Ms. Bonar.

While I respect the policies that I helped to put in place to protect people from sexual harassment at the Roundhouse, it is also equally important to ensure that such policies have safeguards to prevent spurious allegations to be made from pure political motive, as was the case here.  The #metoo movement is a much-needed movement for those who have experienced sexual harassment, but false allegations, like the those that Ms. Bonar leveled against me, do nothing but harm the progress of #metoo.

While this has had a devastating impact on me, my family, and misled the people of my legislative district, I have learned from this terrible ordeal and I have the highest hope that the gains of the #metoo movement are not undone by these sorts of political tactics. I remain an ally of victims everywhere and will continue to work to make sure that the process empowers women to come forward and confront their accusers with the confidence that the process works in the interests of justice.

To defend myself from these frivolous claims was expensive, spending almost $106,000.00 on attorney fees.  As you may know, we are unpaid as Legislators, I chose to run to work for our community.  If you would consider contributing to help me offset some of these costs, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sadly, I believe the Legislature spent between $200,000.00 and $300,000.00 (taxpayer money) on attorney Thomas Hansko on this political shenanigan.  Money that could of been spent on education or other public services.