An open letter from lawmakers, staffers and consultants rocked the California state Capitol in 2017.
California “postures itself as a leader in justice and equality,” they wrote, but the 140 signers all say they “endured, or witnessed or worked with women who have experienced some form of dehumanizing behavior by men with power in our workplaces.”
It was the Capitol’s “#MeToo” moment, which came on the heels of a variety of high-profile Hollywood sexual-harassment scandals. The Legislature responded by creating a Workplace Conduct Unit to independently investigate all harassment, discrimination and retaliation allegations.
Lawmakers also created new reporting procedures.
Yet five years later, a coalition of former legislative staffers has raised questions about the effectiveness of the Capitol’s response. Like so many programs initiated in the state Legislature, this one may have been more about superficialities than substance. At a Sacramento press conference, the group complained that the new unit is slow to react and lacks transparency.
“Survivors and the public deserve an open forum for people to share with the public and the Legislature the pain and trauma caused by the WCU, so we can all move forward toward a more equitable future together,” said Stop Sexual Harassment in Politics co-founder Ruth Ferguson, according to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times. The group called for various legislative reforms.
Ferguson had published a lengthy column in the San Francisco Chronicle in April, in which she says that she filed a complaint regarding behavior in her Assembly office – but heard nothing from investigators for more than a year. After the unit opened an investigation, Ferguson alleged that she was the victim of retaliation and that the Workplace Conduct Unit also started investigating her conduct.
The WCU has vowed to take such feedback seriously. Of course, such allegations always are hard to sort through.
Nevertheless, Ferguson’s main proposal of holding hearings following the session’s close in August is a sensible way to make sure a Legislature that is quick to tackle sexual-harassment measures in the private sector also is getting its own house in order.
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