Virginia representative Democrat Bobby Scott was accused of sexual harassment by a former Black Caucus Foundation fellow.
During a press conference, Macherie ‘Reese’ Everson, claims that Scott inappropriately touched her body without permission two different times. She also says that the lawmaker invited her to an event with him in California and promised to help her advance her career if she allowed him to make sexual advances towards her. The sexual harassment occurred during 2013, according to Everson.
Everson refused Scott’s advances, and reported the sexual harassment to the office of Democratic Representative Maxine Waters of California. The staff did not take her claims seriously, says Everson. The former aide also filed a complaint in 2015 with the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights. However, Everson said that she withdrew the complaint earlier this year after it “went into mediation.”
Everson claims that, as a result of her refusal to engage in sexual relations with Scott, she was retaliated against. She says that she was kept from moving forward in her career for attempting to get away from and reporting the inappropriate sexual conduct. Everson was subsequently fired, and claims that the dismissal is directly related to her refusal to allow Scott to engage in sexual acts with her. The former fellow also says that she was blacklisted from getting any further work on Capitol Hill.
The allegations first came publicly up during a broadcast of the Fox News show The Ingraham Angle in November of this year. Everson did not initially identify the lawmaker who harassed her. After the Fox interview, Everson had scheduled a news conference to reveal the harassment allegations publicly. However, she canceled the conference at the last minute.
Everson admits that she called off the original news conference because she “couldn’t find the courage” to come forward. Later, she came out and admitted that Bobby Scott was the one who engaged in this egregious behavior.
Jack Burkman, who is Everson’s attorney, says that Scott should resign. He also says that the House should conduct an Ethics Committee investigation into the 70-year old Democratic lawmakers professional behavior. Scott denied the allegations saying that he has never had any other sexual misconduct charges during the more than two decades that he served in the United States Congress. The Virginia Democrat went on to say that he has never harassed anyone at any other time during life. He points out that he has never before been accused of sexual misconduct during his forty years of public service. Scott believes that the false allegations will be dismissed after the facts are all reviewed.
Scott goes on to say that he believes that Everson was persuaded to make these allegations by her Republican lawyer who has raised outlandish conspiracy theories in the past. According to Scott, Burkman has investigated various conspiracy theories regarding the 2016 murder of Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer. Burkman insists that Everson’s motivation for making these allegations is not political.
Scott, who has been a member of Congress since 1993, is the latest political figure to be accused of sexual misconduct.
More and more women are coming forward with stories of abuse and mistreatment by powerful men. Other politicians who have been accused of sexual misconduct include Democratic representative John Conyers of Michigan. A half-dozen women claim that Conyers sexually harassed them. Another politician said to engage in sexual misconduct is Democratic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, who was pressured to step down as a result along with Conyers.
So far, more than eight women have come forward to allege that Franken has groped, forcibly kissed or made unwelcome sexual advances towards them. Franken has apologized for his actions and has publicly stated that he plans to resign from Senate. However, many of his colleagues are now pressing him to reconsider.
Another Democratic lawmaker, Nevada Representative Ruben Kihuen, was accused of making repeated unwanted sexual advances towards a former aide during the 2016 Congressional Campaign. The aide, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the Democratic representative touched her thighs without consent. The accuser also claims that Kihuen propositioned her for sex on multiple occasions in spite of her repeated rejections of his advances. Top Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, have found the allegations to believable and say that Kihuen should resign.
~ Liberty Planet
