Congressional complaint office refuses to release data on sexual harassment settlements
WASHINGTON — The office that receives complaints from Congressional staffers on sexual harassment has refused to release information on settlements in the Senate, keeping secret the amount of taxpayer money spent to quiet such claims. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., asked the Office of Compliance on Dec. 6 to release the number of sexual harassment claims filed against a senator or his or her staff between 2007 and 2017. He also asked for the dollar amounts of the settlements and said he would make the information public.
In a response Monday provided to NBC News by Kaine's office, the OOC said it was unable to release the information, citing a number of reasons that included confidentiality requirements.
Susan Grundmann, executive director of the OOC, said in a letter that the Congressional Accountability Act, the statute that created the Office of Compliance, prohibits her from releasing the data."Earlier this month the OOC provided the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration with a statistical breakdown of settlement amounts involving Senate employing offices from 1997-2017. That information represents the full extent of what we can provide with regard to settlements under the CAA involving the Senate," Grundmann wrote. "Any additional disclosure would involve an invasive search of strictly confidential records, which would be contrary to existing law."
Grundmann also wrote that the data would be incomplete and, therefore, unreliable because she said specifics aren’t documented on why a case advances through the settlement process.She also said her office doesn’t have records of all the accounts where settlements are paid beyond the U.S. Treasury. “If some other accounts used to make a payment, we would not necessarily know about the settlement,” Grundmann wrote. She directed Kaine to the Secretary of the Senate, which she says has “more detailed and accurate” information.
Kaine, who told Grundmann in his original request that he’d make the information public, wasn’t satisfied with Grundmann’s response. In a statement, Kaine said that by not releasing the names of the accused or the accusers, no privacy rights would be violated.
“If Congress truly wants to fix a broken system, we need to understand the scope of the problem. I’m disappointed the OOC didn’t release any information to help us do that,” Kaine said in a statement. “I’m going to keep pushing for public release of this data and working on reforms that help prevent harassment and assault.”
The OOC’s response seems to be inconsistent. The office released five years of data in settlements with House offices to the House Administration Committee and is expected to release the first 15 years as well.
The only public information surrounding Senate settlements is a $220,000 payment in 2014 between the bicameral Helsinki Commission and an employee. Even rough the accused was a congressman, Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., the case was finally resolved with the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment office.
The House data revealed that one $84,000 settlement was reached since 2013. While the OOC didn’t release the name of the accused, NBC News confirmed that the settlement was invloving Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas. Farenthold announced last week he would not seek re-election.
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So, looks like they built themselves a nice little safety net when they put this office together.....how nice of them. They have to take care of themselves and keep themselves in power somehow.....and not be answerable to the public. Sounds like time to de-fund that office so they don't have an ability to make settlements with our tax dollars that are hidden from us.
BTW, nice how they can't release data, but sometimes can release data, but then not, again......
and in the end, they will be forced to release the info.
Why can't they release the names of the accused and how much was paid out on their behalf? I don't think the accused have any expectation of privacy especially when they do bad shit on our dime
Agreed, though it looks like they wrote the law to protect themselves, if there was ever a ticking bomb, like the latest series of accusations.......doesn't seem fair that those of us that get to pay for this are not allowed to know the who, what, where, why, when.
It's time to re-write the law.
Hell Yes!
We Agree!!!
well, it is the time of year when people start believing in miracles.
See? We can agree on some things.
and CCM
It is going to snow on Sunday.......damn!
Lol gotta disagree with ya. As someone who has a lot of experience with snow I can unequivocally state that it sucks (so does that cold that accompanies it).
I grew up in Western PA and I hate snow. I now live in Arkansas and I dream of green Christmases.
You might be able to tell, I'm a big fan of winter. I left for the better part of 21 years in the Air Force, living in the south where the seasons were Hot & Humid, not quite as hot & Humid, and green shit blowing off pine trees season.
I'll take winter, thank you. We had snow, then it started melting last night and has accelerated today (42 with 35 know winds), killing it all. We need some good snow so I can do this some more:
The only reason I used to like snow was skiing. If I lived in a place where I could ski, I wouldn't mind a few flakes now and then. But since there are no ski resorts in Arkansas, I'm moving to Florida as soon as I can
It's been years since I skied, but I'm not very good and I trip getting off the lift
Looks like you're enjoying yourself (I'll assume you've got a thermos of spiced rum hidden in there somewhere). For me I've tried snowmobiling and all it did was make the cold colder. We were in a warm spell for the last week here (daily highs of +2 or 3) but it's -15 today (windchill of -25) so except for walking to and from my car I ain't going outside at all.