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Taxpayers Paid $84,000 to End Sex Harassment Claim Against Texas Lawmaker - The New York Times

posted onDecember 2, 2017
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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — Representative Blake Farenthold, Republican of Texas, used $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment claim, one of six settlements for workplace issues ranging from veteran status discrimination to age bias that were paid out by a secretive congressional office since 2013. The six settlements for malfeasance in House offices totaled $359,450. Details of the settlements emerged Friday after Congress’s Office of Compliance answered demands for information from the Committee on House Administration, part of an extensive review of sexual harassment and discrimination in congressional offices. The sexual harassment and indiscretion scandals that had already ensnared Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, and Representative Joe Barton, Republican of Texas, pulled in two more lawmakers, Mr. Farenthold and Representative Ruben Kihuen, Democrat of Nevada. A former finance director of Mr. Kihuen’s congressional campaign told Buzzfeed News that the up-and-coming young Democrat repeatedly propositioned her for sex and touched her inappropriately until she abruptly quit the campaign. “In light of these upsetting allegations, Congressman Kihuen should resign,” Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, said in a statement early Saturday. Mr. Farenthold’s was the only sexual harassment case settled by the office since 2013, according to Office of Compliance data. In 2014... Link to the full article to read more

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