Sen. Elizabeth Steiner-Hayward, D-Portland.

Sen. Elizabeth Steiner-Hayward filed a formal sexual harassment complaint against Sen. Jeff Kruse on Tuesday, becoming the second sitting state senator to do so.

In her complaint, Steiner-Hayward, a Democrat who represents parts of Portland and Beaverton, said Kruse subjected her to "unprofessional and inappropriate" touching, including "very close hugs," putting his hand on her thigh and sitting close enough to her that their legs touched while at the Oregon Capitol. She said Kruse's conduct escalated to the point that she would no longer meet with Kruse alone.

"I have never felt the need to take such precautions with any other man," Steiner-Hayward wrote.

She said she confronted Kruse, a Roseburg Republican, last month during a conversation in her legislative office, telling him the touching bothered her. But Kruse rebuffed her protests, she wrote, saying he did not want to have sex with her and could not understand why people viewed his conduct as "a big deal." According to the complaint, Kruse said he is "just a hugger" and "a lot of women cry wolf."

Steiner-Hayward's complaint is the latest accusation of sexual harassment against the embattled and defiant Kruse, who has maintained his innocence.

She registered her complaint during a time when Hollywood, the news media and the nation's state capitols are being rocked by revelations that sexual harassment is widespread and has gone nearly unchecked.

Last week, Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, filed the first formal complaint against Kruse, alleging repeated harassment. Gelser said he groped her breasts multiple times, placed his hand on her thigh inappropriately and subjected her to unwanted kissing on the cheek.

That formal complaint triggered a requirement that a legislative committee arrange for an outside investigation of her claims and consider the findings of that investigation in public. The investigation is supposed to conclude early next year.

That committee can recommend discipline to the full Senate. Discipline such as censure or expulsion requires a two-thirds vote.

Gelser had previously filed two informal complaints against Kruse. After the first, in 2016, Kruse was told by legislative legal and human resources staff not to touch women at the Capitol. After the second, Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, relieved Kruse of his committee assignments and removed the lawmaker's office door.

Courtney called the discipline "unprecedented." It effectively keeps Kruse from shaping legislation. "Women in the Capitol do NOT want you to touch them," Courtney said in a letter to Kruse.

Kruse has not returned requests for comment from The Oregonian/OregonLive since October. He has said previously that he believes the allegations against him are politically motivated and that he will not resign. He is not up for re-election until 2020.

Democratic Senate leaders Courtney and Majority Leader Ginny Burdick also did not return requests for comment Tuesday. Neither did Bill Currier, chairman of the Oregon Republican Party.

The Senate's top Republican, Minority Leader Jackie Winters, R-Salem, declined to comment Tuesday on the allegations against Kruse. Winters stopped short of saying Kruse should resign and deferred to the Legislature's process for handling sexual harassment complaints.

In her complaint, Gelser said Kruse may have sexually harassed as many as 15 other women at the Oregon Capitol, though she did not name them. Burdick previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she witnessed Kruse sexually harass Gelser and one other female staffer, who she declined to name.

Former Sen. Jackie Dingfelder told The Oregonian/OregonLive Kruse inappropriately put his hand on her back during a committee years ago, but did not do it again after she confronted him. Other women have also told The Oregonian/OregonLive about unwanted touching by Kruse, but declined to give an on-record account because they work in politics and do not wish to bruise relationships.

Steiner-Hayward, who is also a physician and instructor at Oregon Health & Science University, said in her complaint that she decided to put her concerns in writing "simply to get him to stop touching me inappropriately" and protect other women at the Capitol. Like Gelser, she said she has heard that Kruse sexually harassed still more women.

"My ultimate goal in filing this complaint is to protect myself and others from Senator Kruse's unwanted physical interactions," Steiner-Hayward wrote. She said she's "doubtful" Kruse will change his behavior, given his denials and repeated infractions.

In a text message, Steiner-Hayward declined to elaborate on her complaint. "I think it's important for the process to go forward as it's supposed to," she said.

In her complaint, Gelser called on the Senate to expel Kruse -- the most serious discipline lawmakers can impose on each other.

Other politicians have said he should resign: House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson; State Treasurer Tobias Read; Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend; Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer; Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn; and, conditionally, Secretary of State Dennis Richardson.

The editorial boards of The Oregonian/OregonLive, Eugene Register-Guard and the Roseburg News Review, Kruse's hometown newspaper, also called on him to resign.

If Kruse does quit the Legislature, it would not be the first time. He resigned his House seat under pressure in 2004 because for months he lived outside his legislative district. Kruse had moved out of the district to run for election in his current Senate district, but the move violated the Oregon constitution, which says lawmakers must live in the district they represent.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

503-221-8209; @GordonRFriedman