Senate President Peter Courtney stripped state Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, of all his committee assignments Friday, a drastic move taken because of "ongoing workplace issues which Sen. Kruse has failed to resolve," Courtney said.

Because lawmakers can only amend and otherwise shape bills in committees, the move effectively takes away Kruse's power to influence legislation. Courtney described the discipline as "unprecedented."

When The Oregonian/OregonLive asked Courtney whether Kruse was disciplined for inappropriate touching, Courtney said "the personnel issues have been identified in this conversation." He also confirmed that Kruse's previously known violation of smoking in his Capitol office was a factor.

The sanctions come days after Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, posted on Twitter that she had been subject to inappropriate touching by at least one Senate Republican. She did not identify anyone by name. Gelser was not available for comment Friday afternoon.

"The inappropriate behavior I completely categorically deny," Kruse, 66, said in an email. "The smoking still is an issue that I will not deny."

Kruse denied having inappropriately touched Gelser and said that, to the best of his knowledge, the sanctions he is facing and Gelser's accusations of inappropriate touching are "not connected."

Lore Christopher, head of human resources for the Legislature, said no formal or informal complaints have been filed against Kruse.

Kruse, a farmer who was first elected to the Oregon House in 1996 and the Senate in 2004, faced fines last year for smoking cigarettes in his fourth floor office, despite being told not to do so by state regulators.

Gelser posted her tweets Monday after former Senate Republicans spokesman Jonathan Lockwood accused her of taking campaign donations from disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who many women have accused of sexual harassment and even rape (he denies unwanted sexual contact).

Weinstein donated gave $5,000 to the Democratic Party of Oregon during the 1995-1996 election cycle, a decade before Gelser was elected to the Legislature.

On Twitter, Gelser shot back that she had taken no such donations. She asked Lockwood if he would make sure no member of the Senate Republican Caucus "inappropriately touches or gropes" female lawmakers and staffers.

I have no $ from HW. Will u ensure no member of ur caucus inappropriately touches or gropes female members and staff in Cap? — Sara Gelser (@SenSaraGelser) October 16, 2017

Gelser later tweeted that sexual harassment occurs in the Capitol "despite formal complaints." She declined to name who she was accusing.

"I've been a good 'team player.' Enough. I'm not naming names, but naming the reality," Gelser tweeted.

I've followed the appropriate process under the rule. I've been a good "team player." Enough. I'm not naming names, but naming the reality. https://t.co/2nHEt60Yrz — Sara Gelser (@SenSaraGelser) October 19, 2017

-- Gordon R. Friedman

503-221-8209; @GordonRFriedman