Posted on 11/26/2017 5:12:09 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are facing mounting pressure to end Capitol Hill’s culture of secrecy over sexual harassment as they return from a holiday break, with members of both parties calling for Congress to overhaul its handling of misconduct claims and to unmask lawmakers who have paid settlements using taxpayer money.
On Sunday, the roiling debate over sexual harassment cost one lawmaker who has paid such a settlement — Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan — his post as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, at least temporarily. Mr. Conyers, the longest-serving member of the House, announced that he was stepping aside as the House Ethics Committee investigates allegations that he sexually harassed aides.
And on the other side of the Capitol, Senator Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat who has been accused of groping several women, told a home state newspaper that he would return to work on Monday feeling “embarrassed and ashamed.”
The announcements by Mr. Conyers and Mr. Franken came as both Democrats and Republicans took to the Sunday morning television talk shows to call for greater transparency in how harassment claims are dealt with. Under a 1995 law, complaints are handled confidentially. Lawyers for the House and the Senate have required that settlements be kept confidential as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Maybe they have to maintain secrecy due to the age of their victims???
Gingrich was brought down over the egregious sin of using a taxpayer-funded copier for personal business.
I bet it is over 80% democRATs. Any takers?
Out them. Out them now.
unmask lawmakers who have paid settlements using taxpayer money
The victims can keep their secrecy. The politicians have no right to secrecy if they are using tax dollars to pay.
Gingrich should be Trump’s chief of staff.
I’m willing to.toss a few rinos under the bus,if it means getting rid of lots of demo rats....
Agreed but you and I both know attornies and contracts ... and then there is also written law ... I’m almost ready to hang about two thirds of them and threaten the rest of them with hanging if they refuse to tell the truth.
Are there any HIPPA limitations?
Really puts the Dems in a pickle doesn’t it? Trying to torpedo Moore while insisting on “due process” for Conyers and Franken. 2017 is a great time to be alive!
Depends on interpretation of the law congress wrote governing this situation ... probably SC stuff.
There is something very troubling about this whole sordid mess.
The Republicans War on Women has been well documented in no less than The New York Times and Washington Post and has gone on for decades.
The only thing that kept Republicans from destroying women completely were the strong feminist Democrat men in both the House and the Senate.
Now many of these very same Democrats have found themselves inadvertently swept up in old and probably unfounded sexual accusations.
The most troubling part is who will be left to protect innocent women from the very Republicans who have declared war on them?
Probably HIPAA wouldn’t be a consideration in this; HIPAA is pretty much health specific. If there was violence, or rape kits, etc., healthcare would be an issue. But that would apply to the victims and not the harassers. We only care about unmasking the perps.
Real sarcasm is written so it can’t be differentiated from truth.
Don't despair. Tony Weiner will be out of jail very soon now.
Or maybe they're trying to maintain secrecy because of the NUMBER of victims.
Let's face a simple reality here: The fact that the Democrats today rallied around Conyers and Franken, being very careful to walk a thin line in doing so, that tells me that there's a whole bunch more of accusations of sexual harassment/assault to come on BOTH sides of the aisle.
I personally think that's a good thing. Every single one of these corrupt SOB's that used their power to harass/assault women needs to be weeded out, exposed, named and held accountable.
Period.
Where’s the pressure to end overspending?
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