William Petroski

bpetrosk@dmreg.com

A lawsuit filed Thursday by a former Iowa Republican Senate Caucus employee says she was fired last year after she repeatedly complained of sexual harassment by her male colleagues against female Senate staff members.

The suit was filed in Polk County District Court by Kirsten Anderson, 35, of Des Moines, who was communications director for the Iowa Senate Republican Caucus until she was dismissed in May 2013. Republican caucus officials said at the time that Anderson was terminated only after her substandard work performance had been documented.

The lawsuit includes an allegation that Republican state Sens. Joni Ernst of Red Oak and Sandra Greiner of Keota witnessed sexual innuendo and inappropriate behavior exhibited by their male colleagues but did nothing about it.

Ernst is now a candidate for the U.S. Senate in a tight race against Democrat Bruce Braley. Ernst, who was elected to the Iowa Senate in a special election in 2011, was not personally named as a defendant.

Ernst released a statement Thursday in response to the lawsuit: "As a mother of three daughters and someone who has been sexually harassed myself, I take sexual harassment allegations very seriously. Sexual harassment should never be tolerated. If I had witnessed any sexual harassment in the state legislature, I certainly would have put a stop to it. If anyone had brought accusations like this to my attention at the time, of course I would have acted immediately. Frankly, I am shocked to learn that I'm even referred to in this suit, and as a former colleague I hope she is not being exploited ahead of the election."

Anderson issued a statement saying she is standing up against discriminatory conduct, and suggested any talk of political motives is an effort to avoid the real issue of sexual harassment. She remains a registered Republican, voting records show. She had joined the Iowa Senate GOP Caucus staff in 2008, and had previously worked as an aide to former U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo.

The defendants include the state of Iowa, the Iowa Senate, the Senate Republican Caucus, Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix, Senate Republican Staff Director Eric Johansen and Ed Failor, a top aide to Dix.

Failor said Thursday he had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment. Dix declined to comment on any details but said he looked forward to the case moving through the process.

The suit seeks a ruling that Anderson's firing was unfair and discriminatory and to award her back pay and benefits, plus compensatory damages. It also asks the court to require the defendants to provide training to stop sexual discrimination and require monitoring for three years to ensure employees are not treated unfairly based on sexual orientation or gender.

Many of the allegations were reported previously in a May 2013 Register story. In documents and interviews with Anderson at the time, Ernst was not mentioned.

Anderson's lawsuit alleges that the Senate, and particularly the Republican Caucus, had an environment that permitted, if not encouraged, inappropriate and sexually discriminatory behavior.

"By way of just one example, Sen. Joni Ernst of Red Oak and Sen. Sandra Greiner of Keota witnessed sexual innuendo and inappropriate behavior exhibited by their male colleagues and did and said nothing while female staffers stood by unable to say anything," the lawsuit says. It contains no other reference to Ernst or Greiner.

The lawsuit says that beginning in 2010, Anderson's work environment became more toxic when one senior analyst in the Republican staff office talked openly and negatively about women, referring to them often in derogatory and vile terms. The lawsuit does not identify the employee.

In 2011, the suit alleges, state Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck, R-De Witt, who was defeated for re-election in 2012, told Anderson she was "one of the boys" many times during the year. "Hamerlinck often talked about women's breasts, and also often discussed which lobbyists were bigger flirts with House members in front of Anderson on the Senate floor."

During the 2012 session, state Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, who also lost a re-election bid that year, would make comments that Anderson's shoes were not "classy enough," and also commented on which way he liked Anderson's hair, the lawsuit says.

The unidentified senior analyst once called Anderson to his desk and asked her to look at something on his computer, which turned out to be a picture of a naked woman, the suit says. "That analyst's behavior became so problematic that Anderson and a female colleague went to the staff director at the time, Peter Matthes, and asked him to put a stop to the behavior of the senior analyst."

In early 2012, Sen. Tim Kapucian, R-Keystone, came into the Republican staff office where staffers, including Anderson, were chatting about newly elected senators, the lawsuit says. "During the discussion and in front of Sen. Kapucian, the senior analyst mentioned that he had heard that a female Democratic senator was "loose," the suit says. "Sen. Kapucian asked what he meant and the analyst replied that the senator got around with the entire college baseball team back when she was in college and they laughed."

Later that day, Anderson said she went to her supervisor, John Hodges, to complain about the incident. Hodges responded by giving Anderson the option of either having him talk with the analyst and asking him to stop the sex talk in the office, or he would file a formal complaint, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also discusses a Senate Republican staff meeting held on Dec. 30, 2012, where Failor asked about potential clerks that Dix could hire for the upcoming legislative session. Several names came up, but when one woman's name was mentioned, the senior analyst commented about her preference in sexual partners, the suit alleges.

The suit says Anderson and another female GOP staffer objected to the comment and told the analyst to stop. Failor said he didn't need to know that information and left the room, the suit says.

Days later, the suit says Anderson and her female colleague were called into Failor's office and were told what the senior analyst had said was unacceptable and that it would not continue.

In January 2013, Anderson says the senior analyst had a meeting with Failor and came back into the office upset, handing Anderson's female co-worker a document stating that the two women had made a complaint about the inappropriate comments he had made. The same month, Anderson said she received a salary increase, which she viewed as demonstrating her positive work performance.

But about the same time, Anderson said Failor began correcting her grammar. She also said Failor suggested her relationship with the Capitol press corps should be as though she was "trying to get them to go to the prom with (her)."

A week later, Anderson said she was called into a meeting with Failor and Johansen and was told her work needed "fewer mistakes."

In February 2013, Anderson said she talked with Johansen about implementing a sexual harassment policy. She said he told her he would check.

About a month later, Anderson said she met privately with Secretary of the Senate Michael Marshall, who told her he crafted a new policy regarding sexual harassment and took it to Republican and Democratic leaders, who were reviewing it. But he said leadership had decided they could not force any senators to attend training and it would be best to act after the 2013 session was over, the suit says.

Anderson said she sent a memo to Johansen that May discussing her work and her efforts to make improvements, suggesting she had been treated in a condescending and patronizing manner in a hostile workplace.

Anderson says in her suit that she handed Johansen the memo at 8:30 a.m. May 17, 2013. It says she was told at 3:30 p.m. to attend a meeting at 4 p.m. the same day with Johansen and Dix. She said Johansen told her she could resign with a letter of recommendation as well as vacation and sick pay or be fired.

Anderson said she refused to resign, and Johansen told Anderson that Sen. Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, authorized him to terminate her immediately, and that she should turn in her badge and collect her things, the lawsuit says.

Decisions involving hiring and firing of Senate caucus staff members are typically decided within each party's caucus. Gronstal, through a spokesman, declined to comment Thursday because the case involves ongoing litigation and because the suit names the Senate as a defendant.

Sens. Kapucian and Greiner and former Sens. Hamerlinck and Bartz could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Timing of lawsuit questioned

Republicans supporting state Sen. Joni Ernst's campaign for the U.S. Senate raised questions Thursday about the timing of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Kirsten Anderson, a former Iowa GOP Senate Caucus staff member.

The suit says Ernst and another Republican female senator witnessed sexual innuendo and inappropriate behavior exhibited by male colleagues, but said and did nothing.

Gretchen Hamel, an Ernst campaign spokeswoman, said it's no coincidence the allegations are being raised barely two weeks before the Nov. 4 general election. Any reporting on this matter should consider the timing and political motives behind this lawsuit, she said.

Michael Carroll, a Des Moines lawyer who represents Anderson, denied any political motivation behind the timing of the lawsuit. He said that before a lawsuit could be filed, his client had to file a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. The complaint was filed last year. The commission issued a letter in July giving Anderson 90 days to file a lawsuit, and the filing deadline was set to expire Oct. 29, he said.

Carroll is a registered Democrat who specializes in employment law. He said he has not worked for or donated to the campaign of Bruce Braley, a Democrat who opposes Ernst in the U.S. Senate race.

Anderson issued a statement Thursday saying her lawsuit is intended to eliminate workplace sexual harassment. The statement said in part: "As to the suggestions that I am a pawn in a political drama, that is not the case. I am standing up for my rights as an employee; a right to work in a place without inappropriate and discriminatory conduct."