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OKLAHOMA CITY — When Carol Johnson landed a position as a legislative assistant in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, she saw it as an exciting step toward her goal of serving in elected office herself someday.

But the experience soon soured, Johnson says, when the member she worked for began remarking on her figure and her attire, and later asked her to send him nude photos of herself.

“He regarded me as if my education, experience, hard work and career aspirations meant nothing,” said Johnson, 37, about her time in Republican Dan Kirby’s office beginning in 2012. “And that’s heartbreaking and disgusting.”

Kirby, 58, resigned last week in the face of likely expulsion after Johnson testified before an investigating panel. But this outcome isn’t the rule in such cases. Only last year, officials confirmed, the speaker of the House opted to quietly dispose of another complaint against Kirby with no formal inquiry or discipline, instead secretly paying $44,500 to a 28-year-old female aide and her attorneys.

Kirby’s case produced weeks of chaotic scrambling after news of the secret settlement was reported in The Oklahoman newspaper.