Sanders campaign staffer who ignored harassment complaints resigns as new Dem's chief of staff: repo

[riversedge]

Source: The Hill



Sanders campaign staffer who ignored harassment complaints resigns as new Dem's chief of staff: report



By Tal Axelrod - 01/04/19 07:27 PM EST



Bill Velazquez, chief of staff to freshman Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia (D-Ill.), resigned after one day on the job after an explosive New York Times report said he mishandled sexual misconduct claims while he worked on Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli, Garcia’s communications director, said the resignation was accepted Friday.

“They both agreed that the recent media stories that involved Bill had become a distraction from the work the Congressman needs to do for the people of Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, and from the work Bill was brought in to do,” she said in a statement to The Chicago Sun-Times...............

The Times report also noted that nearly a dozen female staffers on the campaign claim to have been harassed and their superiors handled their claims improperly. ........................

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/423978-sanders-campaign-staffer-who-ignored-harassment-complaints-resigns-as-new-dems

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Some background:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/423592-aides-say-they-experienced-sexism-from-officials-in-2016-sanders-campaign

[lapucelle]

1. NPR is reporting that Lucy Flores also knew about the allegations contemporaneously.

Lucy Flores, a former Nevada assemblywoman and a surrogate for the Sanders campaign during the 2016 presidential primary, said she was contemporaneously aware of these same allegations of "misogyny" during the campaign.

"There was essentially a cover-up" when issues were raised, she told NPR.

Flores added that sexism isn't an issue isolated to the Sanders campaign, saying it commonly occurs in campaigns.

"Frankly, I do think it's a little unfair ... that the attention and all of the conversation is including Bernie's name, because this isn't just something that's limited to Bernie's campaign," Flores said.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/03/681815362/bernie-sanders-responds-to-allegations-of-sexism-and-harassment-on-2016-campaign

[PatrickforO]

4. But if Bernie covered it up then he was very wrong.

So good it came out now. Because if the issue of how to treat staff professionally is front and center, it might help people across the board.

[Me.]

6. She's Right, It's Not Just His Campaign

But so what? His campaign ignored it, pretended it hadn't happened, essentially punished and retaliated against the women. So why shouldn't it be reported? He lucked out last time around, no more.

[Cha]

7. The attention is deserved since

24 of his staff members wrote the Letter and want a sit down with him and Jeff Weaver.. and these women say it was known about..

And, Lucy Flores is saying it was a cover up!

The response from survivors has been one of deep pain.

“That half-hearted apology he throws in is the 1st any of us female staff have heard out of him in the 2 years since we brought this to his attention in early 2017,” tweeted Masha Mendieta, who repeatedly has alleged that Sanders knew about the problem.

“I’m not quite sure how to put into words how furious I am right now,” tweeted Zoey Jordan Salsbury, the former American University Students for Bernie president who spoke to HuffPost about her experiences in November 2017.

“I didn’t feel like I was not treated appropriately,” Salsbury told me Thursday in an email. “I wasn’t. There is no subjectiveness to this.”

“His apology sounded like a classic non-apology that so many women know all too well,” she added. “And it only came after he mentioned how many states he had won. ... I wish I had gotten a true apology a year ago, when I came forward. Instead I got a call from a lawyer who blamed me for being harassed.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-bernie-sanders-campaign-sexual-harassment-2016-2020_us_5c2e50cce4b08aaf7a975068?fbclid=IwAR37gfnsQ112A8zUb4v9EjYuXUdNyECDX1x_uXCDGWyD3mM2IV1

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11621545

[Tiggeroshii]

2. Good.

[PatrickforO]

3. Well, it looks like there was something to it, then. Good for Garcia for dealing with

it. Culture comes from the top down, and as soon as it becomes unacceptable at the top, it will stop happening in the middle.

Speaking of culture, I'm thinking all these new, young House members are going to make some serious changes around the way staff get treated, too.

[guruoo]

5. This will hopefully translate into tightened HR management within all Democratic campaigns nt

[KCDebbie]

8. It's hard for me to be objective about this - I'm totally against sexual harassment and intimidation

in any situation, but I'm extremely distrustful of Sen Sanders since the 2016 and I'm sure this flavors my opinion that the book needs to be thrown at Sanders over this matter...