First Feminine Politician Introduced Down By Harassment Allegation

One of the primary outstanding feminine politicians accused of sexual harassment is dropping her bid for Congress because of the accusations.

Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House from Kansas, is ending her marketing campaign Friday because of allegations she sexually harassed a male subordinate greater than a decade in the past.

The Kansas City Star first reported Ramsey’s determination, referencing a 2006 settlement made between LabOne – the place Ramsey was govt vp of human sources – and Gary Funkhouser, the employee who filed a lawsuit. Funkhouser alleged Ramsey sexually harassed and retaliated towards him when he rejected her advances.

“After I informed her I used to be not all for having a sexual relationship along with her, she stopped speaking to me,” Funkhouser wrote within the grievance, obtained by the Star. “In the workplace she utterly ignored me and prevented having any contact with me.”

Ramsey vehemently denied his claims and described Funkhouser’s termination as “non-discriminatory and non-retaliatory.” She stated she was unaware of the settlement.

“Had these allegations, these false allegations, been introduced towards me straight as an alternative of the corporate I might have fought to exonerate my title. I by no means would’ve settled,” Ramsey informed the Star. “And I might have sued the disgruntled, vindictive worker for defamation.”

But given the present surroundings, during which numerous tales of sexual harassment and abuse have been dropped at gentle within the media, leisure and political industries, her scenario was untenable.

Backed by outstanding abortion rights Democratic group Emily’s List, Ramsey was among the many high recruits within the nation to tackle a Republican incumbent. But each Emily’s List and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee agreed with Ramsey’s determination to step apart.

“In its rush to assert the excessive floor in our roiling nationwide dialog about harassment, the Democratic Party has applied a zero tolerance normal,” Ramsey wrote in an open letter Friday. “For me, which means a vindictive, terminated worker’s false allegations are sufficient for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to resolve to not help our promising marketing campaign. We are in a nationwide second the place tough justice stands rather than cautious evaluation, nuance and due course of.