Clamping down on harassers

By JUDD WILSON

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — In light of the #MeToo movement, the Idaho Legislature has taken steps to address harassment within its own ranks.

Rep. Paul Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene, was one of a handful of legislators from across Idaho to serve on the “Respectful Workplace Task Force Committee” during this year’s legislative session. Speaker of the House Scott Bedke and Senate Pro Tem Brent Hill had asked the group to come up with a policy by the end of the session.

Rep. Caroline Nilsson-Troy, R-Moscow, and Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise, co-chaired the committee. The committee included four male and four female legislators, plus seven female and two male staff members, lobbyists, and journalists.

The state legislature is a unique workplace, Amador said.

“We all move to Boise and live in this microcosm where for three to four months you’re working with people from a wide variety of positions, including legislators, high school pages, lobbyists, and journalists, for 12-14 hours per day in close quarters,” he said. “Obviously we’re social beings so we interact. With that comes good and bad.”

Amador said that since the legislators don’t have direct supervisors present to manage them, legislative leadership asked for the committee to “put some safeguards in place to make sure that everyone who works in the capitol feels like it’s a respectful and a safe place to come.”

By the end of the session, the committee created a draft policy that it recommended to the legislative council, which consists of 14 legislative leaders. It awaits their final approval, Amador said.

According to the draft policy, “the Idaho Legislature, through this policy and by its actions, will strive to prevent, eliminate, and impede the recurrence of harassing behavior, while addressing with equal scrutiny and severity those complaints that are found to be intentionally or recklessly dishonest or malicious.”

The committee’s draft policy includes protected classes as recognized by state and federal law, but extends more generally to deal with harassment overall, Amador said.

“There’s a certain level of dealmaking, power situations, and people can get their emotions flared, and people are passionate about what they’re working on. So it isn’t just sexual harassment. We wanted to remind ourselves there’s lots of different forms of harassment. The approach was to form a policy that would apply to every situation,” he explained.

Along with protecting people from abuse, Amador said the committee was concerned with protecting people from false accusations.

“An accusation can go a long ways in hurting someone’s public reputation so it’s a concern and a thought that we definitely considered,” he said. “How do we determine validity in an accusation as quickly as possible? That was part of the thinking.”

To investigate complaints, the committee considered bringing in outside third parties, or human resource officials from the Department of Administration. However, it decided on the Attorney General’s Office because its staff are trained and experienced in investigations, Amador said.

“If there’s validity we want to move quickly to protect whomever is in a bad situation,” he said. “If there isn’t we want to clear that matter up as quickly as possible.”

Complaints will be exempted from the Idaho Public Records Law unless the accused consents to release the records, the Legislature initiates disciplinary action, or a court orders their release.

The draft policy applies to any time or location in which the legislative members, employees, or lobbyists are acting in an official capacity.

Complaints are to be directed to any of seven leaders at the state capitol, and files will be kept separately from the complainant’s main file, according to the draft. Complaints will then go to the assistant chief deputy of the Idaho Attorney General’s Office within one day. A trained investigator will be assigned to the complaint, investigate it thoroughly within 10 days, and report findings to the Pro Tem of the Senate, the Speaker of the House and the Director of Legislative Services.

Possible punishments include “a written apology, direction to stop the offensive conduct, counseling or training and oral or written warning, or termination,” and in the case of criminal conduct, a referral to law enforcement. All legislators and staff members will have to undergo mandatory annual training.

Amador mentioned recent instances in Idaho state politics “where there were some concerns about what is appropriate behavior.”

An 18-year-old high school senior working as a page in the state capitol accused two legislators and one lobbyist of sexually harassing her during the 2017 legislative session. According to a Jan. 23 report by the Idaho Statesman, one legislator asked her how she used Snapchat, while another would joke with her in a non-sexual manner. The lobbyist told her that he and others had noticed her because she was tall.

According to the Idaho Statesman article, legislative leadership reprimanded the three men and all issued public apologies.

With respect to overall considerations, the draft policy recommended by this year’s committee states, “Adults must take particular care to avoid behaviors that could cause harm or be misinterpreted. Pages and interns are instructed to recognize, resist and report inappropriate conduct.”

The page who accused the three men in 2017 was legally an adult at the time and did not accuse the men of anything sexual or physical, according to the Idaho Statesman article.