b*****d
发帖数: 61690 | 1 Kevin de León, Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s November opponent, accused her last
week of “gross misconduct” for waiting months to flag a sexual assault
allegation against Brett Kavanaugh — seizing on the Supreme Court firestorm
to jump-start his long-shot campaign.
Now de León is facing a backlash for his own handling of sexual harassment
on his watch in the California legislature, which has been rocked by
allegations of pervasive sexual misconduct.
But de León, the former state Senate President Pro Tem, has seen his
criticism reflected back at him from detractors who charge he was too slow
to address sexual harassment allegations in Sacramento. Multiple lawmakers
in the Democratic-controlled legislature have lost their seats in recent
months after being accused of misconduct, including a former state senator
with whom de León once shared an apartment (the former state senator, Tony
Mendoza, has denied any wrongdoing).
“He has experienced his own issues with handling sexual harassment claims
in the Senate, and for that reason, I find it curious why he is the
designated spokesperson on how Senator Feinstein has done her job,” Shawnda
Westly, a longtime strategist for the California Democratic Party, said in
an email to POLITICO.
De León has faced blistering criticism from a Republican Assemblywoman,
Melissa Melendez, who has noted that her bills to protect legislative
whistleblowers from retaliation repeatedly ran aground in the Senate when de
León was leader or controlled the committee that halted the bills. It
finally cleared the Senate last year, fortified by language that
specifically mentioned sexual harassment.
“My problem with Kevin de León’s assertion that he is this great champion
for women’s rights…is that he is the very reason this bill took 5 years
to get passed,” Melendez said in an interview. |
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