The allegations of sexual harassment against Rep. John Arnold (D-Sturgis) are serious. If they are true, he should resign immediately.
And if the further allegations against the House leadership — of ignoring or downplaying the original complaints — are also true, then maybe we need new House leadership as well.
This isn’t some one-off incident that could be misconstrued. You don’t grab someone’s panties from behind, or slap someone’s behind, or try to hug people against their will, and then say you didn’t mean it.
And if you are in a position of leadership, and someone tells you this has happened to them, you don’t say “Oh, he’s harmless.” You deal with it.
And kudos to Tom Riner for stepping up on the House floor and addressing this. Whatever you may think of Riner’s positions on certain issues — and I’ve certainly disagreed with him about some things — he took a stand and pushed the issue even further into the light. Good for him.
Let’s be clear: if this happened in the corporate world, someone would be fired. And a bunch more people would be in trouble for not dealing with it.
It’s time for everyone who had a chance to deal with this to either show how they did, in fact, address it, or admit that they didn’t. And, it’s time for the good old boys in Frankfort to realize that a climate of sexual innuendo and intimidation cannot be tolerated, period.
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