More members of Congress hit with sexual misconduct allegations — and they’re still not resigning

Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor, and Russell Simmons all lost their jobs this week as a result of sexual misconduct allegations against them. John Conyers, Blake Farenthold, and Ruben Kihuen kept theirs. Donald Trump still has his. And Roy Moore might be about to get a new one.

The list of high-powered men hit by sexual harassment allegations continued to grow this week both in corporate America and on Capitol Hill. While the private sector has generally dealt swiftly with such allegations, Congress has been much slower to act, even as more of its members come under the microscope.

Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-NV) is the latest member of Congress to be hit with allegations of sexual misconduct. BuzzFeed News reported on Friday that the Nevada Democrat made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward a 25-year-old woman named Samantha during his 2016 campaign. The woman became so uncomfortable with the situation that she quit her job.

She told BuzzFeed she spoke with a contact at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) about her decision to leave, telling a midlevel staffer who no longer works there that Kihuen had made her uncomfortable. That staffer confirmed to BuzzFeed that a conversation took place but said she did not tell him specifics. The staffer then informed Kihuen’s campaign manager at the time, who confronted the congressman. Kihuen denied anything improper had happened.

“I didn’t know what they could do, but I felt like I had to let someone know,” the woman told BuzzFeed.

In a pair of statements to BuzzFeed News, the Nevada Democrat apologized “for anything that I may have said or done that made her feel uncomfortable,” but added he wanted to “make it clear that I don’t recall any of the circumstances” described by the woman.

Democratic leaders, including DCCC Chair Rep. Ben Luján (D-NM) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), have called on Kihuen to resign. “In Congress, no one should face sexual harassment in order to work in an office or in a campaign. The young woman’s documented account is convincing, and I commend her for the courage it took to come forward,” Pelosi said in a statement released overnight Friday. “In light of these upsetting allegations, Congressman Kihuen should resign.”

Kihuen’s office did not immediately return request for comment on calls for his resignation.

Pelosi also called on Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) to resign this week, amid multiple claims that the congressman had made sexual advances toward his female staffers. (She initially offered a much more equivocal response to the allegations, raising eyebrows in an appearance on Meet the Press last weekend when she told NBC’s Chuck Todd that Conyers is an “icon” who has “done a great deal to protect women.” She also called into question his accusers: “I do not know who they are. Do you?”

An attorney for Conyers said on Friday that the representative would decide what to do in the coming days. But he has not yet decided to resign. Neither has Kihuen. Or Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), who faces allegations of sexual misconduct from several women and is under a preliminary inquiry by the Senate Ethics Committee. He returned to work in the Senate this week.

On Friday, Politico reported that Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) in 2014 used $84,000 in taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit with a former aide. He is the only known sitting member of Congress to make use of the little-known congressional account used to cover workplace settlements involving lawmakers — everything from sexual harassment and racial discrimination to violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Farenthold is the first member of Congress confirmed to have benefited from a Treasury Department fund created under the Congressional Review Act of 1995. Since 1997, the fund has paid at least $15 million to settle complaints — but it has made only one sexual harassment payment over the last five years, the congressional Office of Compliance (OOC) disclosed on Friday. That appears to be Farenthold’s, although he’s refused to confirm or deny the settlement.

Lauren Greene, Farenthold’s former communications director, sued the Texas Republican in 2014 over allegations of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and creating a hostile work environment. She said Farenthold had told another aide that he had fantasized about Greene and that both he and his top aide, Bob Haueter, had sexually harassed her. When she complained directly to Farenthold in June 2014, she said in a court complaint she was marginalized and undermined at work and several weeks later was fired. Greene filed a lawsuit but dropped the case after a settlement was reached.

In light of heightened scrutiny on the Office of Compliance and Congress’s secret settlement fund, the House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation into the OOC. Last week, Vox’s Jane Coaston explained the significance of the move:

This means that some details on Congress’s sexual harassment problem, which the settlements have largely kept under wraps, could end up becoming public — though the names of those accused or paid will remain secret.

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) office told Politico on Friday he would not call for Farenthold’s resignation. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) said through a spokesman Farenthold should resign. He has not done so.

On Thursday, another Texas Republican, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) announced he wouldn’t seek reelection in 2018 after a nude photo and salacious text messages surfaced online.

Sexual harassment in Congress is pervasive, and crosses party lines. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have recently passed bipartisan resolutions requiring sexual harassment training for members and staffers.

With the exception of Barton, who at least in the case of the nude photo may have been the victim of “revenge porn,” the lawmakers accused of sexual misdeeds thus far have resisted calls to step aside. In Alabama, Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has bounced back in the polls despite multiple sexual misconduct allegations. And President Trump has reportedly started to suggest in conversation that the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which he brags about sexually assaulting women is not real. (It is.)

Major figures accused of sexual misconduct in the private sector in recent months and weeks, on the other hand, haven’t fared so well. Journalists Charlie Rose, Mark Halperin, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Thrush have all lost their jobs or been suspended following allegations. In Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor and John Lasseter have been ousted, taken leaves of absence, lost projects, or otherwise faced consequences after accusations of sexual harassment, misconduct, or abuse came to light.

In general, the private sector appears to respond better to allegations than government bureaucracy. Prominent men in Hollywood, in the media and in corporate America all have to answer to someone — the C-suite, the board of directors, shareholders. And companies ultimately have to contend with their customers as well. O’Reilly’s ouster was, in part, the result of public pressure on advertisers to drop his show.

Congressional lawmakers have no such forces to contend with and, if anything, have a system and bureaucracy that protects them instead.