The House Ethics Committee has recommended a censure for a House GOP lawmaker after an extensive probe found that he repeatedly engaged in unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.
According to the report, the lawmaker provided the staffers with lavish and recurrent gifts, made comments regarding their appearance and dress, and invited them to intimate dinners and vacations.
The committee found that the lawmaker's pattern of behavior would lead a reasonable observer to interpret it as a sexual or romantic advance, despite his claims that it was not intended as such.
The report details several incidents of alleged harassment, including the lawmaker writing poems for one of the staffers and reading them at her going-away party, accompanied by a slideshow, and arranging for a singer to sing at her birthday party.
The staffer confided in a friend after the ordeal that it left her feeling scared and uncomfortable, and that she did not feel free to reject the lawmaker's attentions without fear of professional consequences.
The lawmaker also went to the staffer's home to perform chores, picked her up and dropped her off for events, and missed House votes to help her decorate her Christmas tree.
He also took the staffer to the casino, bought her drinks and paid for her to gamble, and printed a text message she sent him on paper and drew a heart next to it, hand-writing "Perhaps my proudest personal moment!"
The report notes that the lawmaker's behavior was not limited to the two staffers in question, but that others in his office also felt uncomfortable with his actions.
The House Ethics Committee acts on a bipartisan basis to investigate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and its findings have sparked a renewed focus on sexual harassment allegations in Congress.
The explosive report comes after a string of high-profile sexual harassment allegations against House members, including now-former Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez, both of whom have since resigned amid the blowback.
