In a text message to a Bridge Magazine reporter, Lucido “categorically” denied the allegation.

McMorrow, a 33-year-old lawmaker, said her orientation experience with Lucido was “deflating” and made her feel like “meat,” but she did not go public until this week in a Crain’s Detroit interview.

McMorrow said she was inspired to tell her story after reading last week’s first-person account by 22-year-old Michigan Advance journalist Allison Donahue, who was trying to interview Lucido last week when he reportedly told her she could “have a lot of fun” with a group of schoolboys visiting the Michigan Capitol.

“Or they could have a lot of fun with you,” the 59-year-old lawmaker told Donahue, according to an account she published on the progressive political news site. The post made national news and has prompted several current and former legislative staffers to describe similar experiences in Lansing.

“I felt a little bit of responsibility for not having said something sooner,” McMorrow said Tuesday. “I made the calculus for my own reasons and for my career, and it just made me think… how many other women make the same calculus and don’t say something.”

Lucido last week apologized “for offending Allison Donahue” and called it a “misunderstanding,” but he later claimed he was misquoted. Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, and Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, asked the Senate Business Office to launch a sexual harassment investigation.

Lucido said Tuesday morning he believes McMorrow's allegation is "completely untrue and politically motivated.”

But a second lawmaker, Democratic Sen. Rosemary Bayer of Beverly Hills, said she saw Lucido put his hand on McMorrow’s back during the November 2018 orientation. And McMorrow’s husband confirmed to Crain’s that she told him about it at the time.

“I couldn’t tell how far down [his hand] went,” Bayer told Bridge Magazine. “I wasn’t looking for problems in that way. But it did occur to me when all of this happened that I should have gone over there and rescued her.”

The daylong Senate orientation included sexual harassment training, and Bayer also accused Lucido of “behaving badly” during that session. He started “strutting around the room” during the harassment training and suggested the culture in Lansing is “just the way it is” and wasn’t going to change any time soon, she recalled.

Bayer said she hopes the complaints against Lucido will be a “wake-up” call at the Michigan Capitol.

“There’s still that old boys' club feel, and it’s time to change it,” she said. “I’m really in awe of both Allison and Mallory for speaking out like that, because it is so hard when you’re young… and facing potential damage to your career.”

Speaking out

Donahue’s post last week prompted several other women to speak out about their experiences at the male-dominated Michigan Capitol.

“Sen. Lucido’s comments to [Donahue] are a prime example of the sexism and harassment my female colleagues and I face on a daily basis,” state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, wrote on Twitter. “It isn’t a joke and it isn’t funny. It’s toxic. I applaud Allison for having the courage to call out his indefensible comments.”

Emily Schwarzkopf, a former staffer for House Democrats who now works for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, posted a response thread on Twitter and said there were “multiple times when comments were made to me or about me in the same vein” as Lucido’s reported comments to Donahue.

“As a staffer, you face a choice,” Schwarzkopf wrote. “Do I tell someone about the comments made by legislators, lobbyists, & fellow staffers? At the risk of being alienated, being a snitch, or having your career stifled. No, you put your head down, do your work, & suck it up."