Sexual misconduct continues to plague Congress

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Sexual misconduct in the workplace is still a problem in Congress, nearly a decade after the #MeToo movement forced eight lawmakers to resign in 2017.

This current 119th Congress is resembling that earlier period in terms of unsavory office scandals receiving heightened public attention. Two House members already resigned their seats in April: Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas). Two other members are under sexual misconduct investigations by the House Ethics Committee: Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.).

The Ethics Committee has revealed that, since 2017, there have been 20 investigations into alleged workplace sexual misconduct, only 15 of which have been publicly identified.

While such misconduct affects only a small percentage of the workforce nationally, it becomes a matter of increased public attention when it spotlights prominent people in high positions, whatever their sector of employment. Congress is no exception, because it reflects both the best and worst human behavioral traits. It is an all-too-human body representing constituents of varying moral values. Americans tend to place their elected representatives on pedestals of republican virtue, expecting them to act in the best interests of the nation. But, in some instances, they learn how easily that elevated podium is shattered under the weight of human frailty and vice.

Scandals in Congress seem to recur in cycles, either because of slippage in members’ moral behavior, lax internal ethical enforcement, or media focus on the sensational issues. Today’s scandal-centric coverage is bookended by the Jeffrey Epstein disclosures and Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s fall from grace — neither of which has directly implicated any sitting members of Congress.

Congress is, nevertheless, in the public eye. The intense scrutiny certainly affects the upcoming midterm elections and the potential for a flip in party control of both chambers. Add to that the negative personalization of politics at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and conditions become ripe for exploiting any hint of scandal for partisan gain.

None of this is intended to exculpate any misconduct by members. Those realities cannot be whitewashed. Whenever such scandals come to the fore in a political body like Congress, you can be assured that calls for reforming the system to prevent their recurrence will not be far behind.

The congressional scandals of the 1980s and early 1990s, involving both sexual and financial misdeeds, led to the turnover of House political power in 1995 to Republicans under Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and the Republican reform agenda known as “The Contract with America.”

The top reform item was the “Congressonal Accountability Act,” based on the premise that members of Congress should live under the same laws as the rest of the country. That bill passed the House overwhelmingly, 429-0 on Jan. 4, 1995, the opening day of the 104th Congress. Among the public sector laws applied to Congress by that act were those prohibiting workplace discrimination, harassment and sexual abuse.

On June 30 of this year, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) offered a privileged resolution directing the Ethics Committee and Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of those members investigated for sexual harassment or sexual abuse, any related settlements and payments of taxpayer funds, and reimbursements. The Massie resolution was adopted, 420-0, with eight Republicans and two Democrats not voting, and one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) voting “present.”

Congress had ended the practice in 2018 of the government picking up the tab on members’ behalf for misconduct settlements. The House Ethics Committee says it has “not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment by a member” since then. Mace characterized the Massie move as “political theater,” since the information it sought had already been supplied pursuant to a subpoena by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In its response to the subpoena, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights revealed that the government has paid more than $300,000 to settle claims against members and their offices.

Meanwhile, both the Congressional Progressive Staff Association and a group of Republican women are leading campaigns to hold accountable those members accused of sexual misconduct, calling for further rules and statutory changes aimed at greater transparency and stronger enforcement.

Because current sexual misconduct cases involve members of both parties, they will not likely affect midterm election results. Pin the scandal on the donkey (or elephant) may be a fun parlor game, but in the present instance it is more personal than partisan. Yet Congress must still address the challenge of improving the ethics process in both houses.

Don Wolfensberger is a 28-year congressional staff veteran, culminating as chief of staff of the House Rules Committee in 1995. He is author of, “Congress and the People: Deliberative Democracy on Trial” (2000), and, “Changing Cultures in Congress: From Fair Play to Power Plays” (2018).

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Chuck Edwards

Cory Mills

Eric Swalwell

Eric Swalwell

House Ethics Committee

Jeffrey Epstein

Jeffrey Epstein

Nancy Mace

Newt Gingrich

Thomas Massie

Tony Gonzalez

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