From the Los Angeles Times:
“Why don’t you shut your mouth and open your legs because that’s what you do best.”
That’s what Amy Brown said a male lobbyist on the other side of an issue said to her in front of a large group of people at the entrance to the state Senate chamber about a decade ago.
Brown’s shocking experience is one of 20 stories our team shared Sunday. Chris Megerian, Jack Dolan, Melanie Mason and Dakota Smith teamed up to craft a powerful piece in the women’s own words. And, for so many women, the stories may seem familiar.
Over the last few weeks, women in California politics have been speaking out about sexual harassment and unwanted touching in Sacramento after keeping their conversations discreet for years.
As part of this unfolding conversation, Mason broke the news Friday that an assemblyman was disciplined for groping a staffer when he was a chief of staff. The 2009 investigation found "it is more likely than not that Raul Bocanegra engaged in behavior that night which does not meet the Assembly’s expectations for professionalism."
Mason also reports that even though both houses of the Legislature have said they will examine their procedures to field complaints of misbehavior in light of the sexual harassment allegations, the state Senate does not make it easy for women to come forward.
George Skelton also looks at the issue of harassment. He writes that the Capitol has always been a “sexual playground,” complete with bullies and bad actors. What’s different now is that women are speaking out.
(Don’t miss Skelton’s 1979 piece from the archives: Politics, Marriage Hard to Mix, Legislators Find)
We’ll be continuing to follow this story here. If you work in government and politics and have a story to share, we’d like to hear from you.
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