Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) placed her chief of staff on administrative leave Tuesday during an investigation of allegations of inappropriate touching and comments made against the top aide, Dwayne Duron Marshall.
Someone(s) is/are lying.
She added that while “there have been occasions when employees have brought workplace concerns to my attention and those concerns were promptly addressed,” “none of the concerns brought to my attention involved allegations of sexual harassment — behavior that I will not tolerate.”
If those former staffers actually used the terms “inappropriate touching and comments” or something similar, when bringing their complaints directly to Rep. Lawrence, then they did speak to her about “sexual. harassment.”
I’m very sorry that this lying hypocrite is a Democrat.
“management-style issues”? Yeah, you.
“I want to be very clear, very firm, that I had no knowledge of any allegations of sexual harassment in my office, and when I say none, I mean none.”
Yes. I think that statement “translates” to - this is the first time she’s motivated to do something about it.
That firm, unequivocal statement is not going to serve her well I’m afraid.
When I first saw this, I thought it read, “Dem. Rep. Suspends Top Aide During Investigation of Touching Comments,” and I wondered how that could be. I mean, that sounded like the sort of thing a Republican would do.
Hmmm … I don’t know. Suspending someone (from the ceiling?), touching them and making comments … sounds less like politics and more like a fetish, to me.
When curmudgeon wrote that I heard “touching comments” as breaking out the Hallmark-card-style remarks and getting everyone all over emotional.
LOL. A little of everything in that headline. 
I’ll cut her a certain amount of slack (based solely on what’s in this article). Don’t forget that she, like so many of us, have grown up and lived in a frequently sexually harassing environment, from catcalls on the street to a little too much touchie-feelie at work, to much worse. We know from the reactions to complaints about the “worse” that lesser behaviors will be laughed out of court, so to speak. If she’d suspended/fired him for neck-rubs etc. a few years ago she probably would have a lawsuit or something on her hands – and it might be upheld. The world has kind of turned on its edge recently, in this regard, and such behavior is at last being taken more seriously. This is good. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet.
I can’t argue with that, rev. While I would love to shoot for zero tolerance, we have to keep in mind context and time frame. Continued harassment, obviously, is pretty clearly a big-fat NO, but I agree there are some situations that may have happened in a time when there were social changes taking place – and that has to be taken into account. So, while it doesn’t sound promising, we need more facts here. When were the first complaints, what exactly were they? What was done? Were reports logged, etc.? How many women came forth? It sounds like they are former employees – under what circumstances did they leave the office? Again, if their leaving was in any way tied to these accusations, were reports logged? What information do they provide, etc. There are many unanswered questions. Yes, I think I’ll wait for further evidence before finding her negligent or worse.
Democrats really need to stay ahead of this issue. I tend to not like zero-tolerance policies, but action needs to be swift in these instances and if accusations turn out to be false, swift in the opposite direction as well. Too many men in power abuse that power and they have no place in the Democratic party as leaders and the people that allow them the space to abuse others need to act decisively before it become public. This is going to get a lot worse in the near future and it will impact D and R, not to mention every industry in/out of politics and entertainment, Democrats need to lead even more so than they have been.