Gov. Reynolds was too vague, too late on sexual harassment

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Gov. Kim Reynolds says sexual harassment is not a partisan issue during her Condition of the State address at the Iowa Capitol. Brian Powers/The Register

It was appropriate that Iowa’s first female governor highlighted sexual harassment in her first Condition of the State speech Tuesday. Though she was addressing a scourge that dominated national and local headlines last year, it’s doubtful Gov. Kim Reynolds' male predecessor, Terry Branstad, would have done so.

 “Throughout history, sexual harassment has been a stain on our culture, a destructive force — in politics, media and entertainment, in workplaces large and small — in all facets of life," Reynolds said. "And it must stop.”

Indeed it must. So it was surprising that Reynolds didn't go farther, with Iowa-specific references – including to a legal settlement last year between the state and a former Senate staffer over allegations of sexual-harassment in Iowa's Senate. Iowa taxpayers paid $1.75 million to settle it.

The irony was not lost on Kirsten Anderson, the plaintiff, who alleged her complaint of harassment and a toxic work environment led to her firing in 2013. 

In her speech, Reynolds commended "the number of women who have found the courage to speak out."  But Anderson says she never heard from Reynolds, for whom she had worked directly while there. Almost all the Senate's Democratic women, however, called her to show their support, Anderson said.

"It is a humongous mental drain and strain," she said Thursday of fighting workplace harassment. "You go home every night crying. It's miserable. You don't know who you can talk to."

Sexual harassment, or assault, ruins victims' lives, educations and careers. It has festered in the boardrooms of corporations but also in the athletic departments of small-town Iowa schools, and the examining rooms of small-town Iowa doctors and dentists. Now finally, we’re seeing a wave of powerful men pay some consequences over it. But only after women have had to take great risks to call it out. 

After Reynolds' speech, Anderson, linking to an early version of this column,  tweeted of the governor, "Without proactive solutions, it’s simply political pandering. Now is the time for accountability on #harassment. She should’ve acted swiftly 4.5 yrs ago."

Calling attention to sexual harassment is an important first step. The question is where Iowa goes from there. Although the governor proposed specific solutions to other issues facing the state, in trade apprenticeships and short-term mental health crisis centers, for example, she said sexual harassment is not something that can be “fixed by legislation or rule-making alone. You cannot legislate kindness or respect or morality."

So then what? 

More: Terry who? Gov. Kim Reynolds forges her identity in Condition of the State speech

Reynolds was right to say this isn't a partisan issue. But according to Anderson, she stood behind Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix as he continued to blame Anderson's firing on poor work performance, even after the verdict. Was that partisanship?

"Loyalty is the currency," observed Anderson.

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Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds addressed sexual harassment in her Condition of the State speech Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Here are some comments from state legislative leaders in response.

To her credit, Reynolds called on Dix to release the findings of an investigation he had commissioned on allegations raised in Anderson's suit when he was refusing to. Who was he protecting? The report he did finally release said several staffers felt fearful of retaliation, leading them not to report harassment. It also found anti-harassment training was ineffective, and that the “zero tolerance" policy in Senate personnel guidelines was not properly framed or understood.  

Reynolds sidestepped those findings in Tuesday’s speech, offering a more generic observation about everyone needing to model proper behavior. She might have shown she meant business by saying, “Anyone who perpetrates sexual harassment in the workplace or tries to silence complaints of it will be subject to job loss.”

Instead of a vague reference to “culture,” she might have talked about the male and female power differential in the workplace that reflects the power and pay differentials in society. This isn't simply an issue of being nice to co-workers. It's one of entitlement, which often comes with one sex having greater authority in the workplace and believing female co-workers are fair game and there will be few consequences.

Any politician would do well to condemn sexual harassment these days. Not only did accused pedophile Republican Roy Moore suffer a stunning defeat to Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate race, but 87 percent of Iowans agree workplace sexual harassment is a problem, according to an Iowa Poll taken last month. And in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, three in four people surveyed in both parties and of both sexes called it a major issue that needs real solutions. Also, 41 percent of Iowa women who have worked outside the home told the Iowa Poll they'd experienced unwanted sexual attention at some point.

Dix said of Reynolds' comments, "I couldn't agree more." But it also would have been nice to hear him share some lessons learned, some steps that might have been taken or still should be. 

And though Reynolds said this is not a partisan issue, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Janet Petersen, who has criticized the Senate's handling of it, told a reporter that Republicans hadn't included Democrats in their plan to hire a human resources person to oversee solutions. Petersen also said she had reached out with suggestions  to ambassador and former Republican lawmaker Mary Kramer, whom Dix commissioned to make recommendations. That report has evidently been completed but not publicly released. Dix quipped he was grateful that Petersen "has now come on board and recognized that we need to take this very seriously."  

If both parties are serious about tackling sexual harassment, they need to address it honestly and holistically, beginning with an understanding of the broader dynamics of inequality between men and women in society. We need strict guidelines, penalties and training, including for bystanders, tailored for schools, workplaces, businesses and government. And let's not rule out new laws or tweaks to ones that already exist. No more making excuses, looking the other way or denying what we all now know exists. 

Rekha Basu is an opinion columnist for The Des Moines Register. Contact: rbasu@dmreg.com Follow her on Twitter @RekhaBasu and at Facebook.com/ColumnistRekha. Her book, "Finding Her Voice: A collection of Des Moines Register columns about women's struggles and triumphs in the Midwest," is available at ShopDMRegister.com/FindingHerVoice