Sexual Harassment

This whole scandal over Herman Cain's alleged sexual harassment of women during the 1990s is driving me crazy because the media is insisting on covering this story instead of properly vetting the candidates. Mr. Cain recently was on C-span to debate Gingrich, and it was clear he doesn't know much about government. The guy had to let Newt go first on every question because it was clear he had no clue what they were talking about. Yet the media puts a spotlight on Mr. Cain's alleged sexual misconduct instead.

Machele Fredericks had to face her attacker every day. She was in the Air Force. He was a fellow service member on the base. And he said that if she told anyone what he'd done, he'd kill her. "You didn't hear much of people getting raped in the military back then," Fredericks said. "At least I didn't. So, you know, it was like fear every day: 'I hope he's not at the gate today.' "I wouldn't dare tell no one. I didn't think anybody was going to believe me anyway. " She drank instead.

The report by Politico over the weekend revealing that GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain was accused by two women of sexual harassment while he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association in the mid-1990s has led to swift condemnation -- not of anything Mr. Cain may have done but of the media's appetite for such stories. Some conservative defenders of Mr. Cain, who is at or near the top in most polls of Republican voters, have compared the story to what Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas referred to as the “high-tech lynching” he received at his confirmation hearings when he was confronted with allegations of sexual harassment.

Among those who offered testimony in opposition to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Maryland was Peter Sprigg, senior fellow with the conservative Family Research Council, resident of Montgomery County and the "Sprigg" in this exchange with Chris Matthews onMSNBC's "Hardball" in 2010: Matthews: Do you think we should outlaw gay behavior? Sprigg: Well, I think certainly - Matthews: I'm just asking you, should we outlaw gay behavior? Sprigg: I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned the sodomy laws in this country, was wrongly decided.

As he prepares for a re-election fight this fall, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold finds himself beset with a $300,000 sexual harassment, discrimination and workplace retaliation lawsuit from a former employee. This is not the first time the unmarried 67-year-old Leopold has been accused of inappropriate conduct. Last year, he was accused of sexually harassing a state employee at the county headquarters, and an anonymous 911 caller also reported possible sexual activity in what turned out to be Leopold's government-issued car. He was not charged with a crime in either case.

I'M glad, I suppose, that sexual harassment is being condemned in the national press. The most recent example is a study commissioned by the American Association of University Women showing that the behavior is widespread among junior high and high school students nationwide.But there is a distressing lack of clarity in the discussion of the issue, and I fear that a facile and superficial understanding of the problem will lead to simplistic and formulaic solutions -- like consciousness-raising classes -- that will skirt the true problem.

Former Harford County Sheriff Joseph P. Meadows, who resigned last year under the cloud of a criminal investigation by the state prosecutor, was named in a $14 million civil lawsuit filed yesterday on behalf of a former female co-worker who says he sexually harassed her. Jeanette Gamble of Bel Air, a deputy in the sheriff's office since 1986, alleges in the federal suit that she was subjected to an abusive work environment for more than two years as...

The Naval Academy is investigating sexual harassment charges brought by two female midshipmen who complained of attempted blackmail, threats and intimidation by their classmates, academy spokesman Capt. Tom Jurkowsky confirmed yesterday.In letters to top academy officials, the two women said male midshipmen tried to use threats for sexual favors, showed pornographic movies in the company ward room and used demeaning names to a witness in a fellow midshipman's sexual assault trial, Captain Jurkowsky said.

Two women who work for a State Farm insurance agent in Randallstown sued him and his corporate employer Tuesday, saying he repeatedly subjected them to sexual harassment, vile insults and a hostile work environment. Kristi Mitchell and Veronica Cobb are seeking at least $4 million in punitive damages from the agent, Obie Sorrell, and State Farm Annuity and Life Insurance Co., a Fortune 500 company based in Bloomington, Ill., that has 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees. Mitchell has been an office manager for State Farm since February 2002, and Cobb was hired in May as a customer-service manager.

Claiming that a state police supervisor exposed himself and repeatedly asked for sexual favors, a female trooper filed a sexual harassment and discrimination suit yesterday -- the third such suit filed against the agency this year.Trooper Susan Smith, 28, once an undercover narcotics officer, said the sexual advances became intolerable and she complained to her superiors. In response, she received a string of poor evaluations, was denied a promotion and was transferred to a desk job, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

Annapolis Area Christian School officials said Monday that they are looking for a new superintendent after George J.W. Lawrence Jr. stepped down amid a lawsuit brought by three former employees accusing him of sexual harassment and retaliation. In December, former employees Sharon Finecey, Lynne George and Anthony Masevice sued Annapolis Area Christian School's association, accusing Lawrence of making sexual remarks. They allege that school officials were aware of such incidents but did not protect the three against them.

In reading your article regarding sexual assaults at the U.S. Naval Academy ("Sexual assaults are up at Naval Academy - or are they?" Jan. 8), I can't help but respond. I went into the U.S. Army in August of 1969 when there was no co-ed training in any of the military branches. If there was sexual harassment, it was an off-duty situation. I strongly believe that women should have every opportunity that the men do but with certain exceptions. I don't think they should train together or share the same barracks or foxhole.

Reports of sexual assaults at the Naval Academy doubled last year, the fourth straight year the number has increased, according to the Defense Department. But do the findings of the Pentagon report on sexual harassment and assaults mean that such incidents are on the rise in Annapolis? Or do they show that midshipmen have grown more aware of sexual assault and are more likely to report it to authorities? Academy officials and critics alike hope it's the latter — but say it is impossible to know for certain.

Blockbuster Inc. has agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle a lawsuit in which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused the retailer of subjecting female employees to sexual harassment, the agency's Baltimore office said Wednesday. The EEOC had charged the Dallas-based entertainment retailer with subjecting the temporary workers to harassment, retaliating against them for resisting sexual advances and discriminating against Hispanic temporary workers. The events occurred in 2004 and 2005 in a Gaithersburg distribution center, the lawsuit said.

Shame on The Sun for publishing Susan Reimer 's column lumping Joe Paterno's failure to report child abuse together with Herman Cain's alleged sexual harassment of women ("Cain and Paterno's magical thinking," Nov. 14). The audacity of Ms. Reimer's equating the two allegations as equally serious smacks of cynicism and partisan politics. Mr. Cain was not "caught in the act" of anything. At best, his was a "he said, she said" debacle. I believe Ms. Reimer owes Mr. Cain and his supporters an apology.

It was a week of magical thinking. Author Joan Didion used that phrase to describe the time after the death of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne: a state of mind more complex and encompassing than simple denial. And it is the only way I can think to describe the way Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and Penn State football coach Joe Paterno seem to see the world - through a prism of pride and privilege that bends reality and their place in it. Magically.

The Maryland General Assembly took one more step away from its fraternity house past yesterday as members began "sensitivity training" to help them avoid charges of sexual harassment. The program marks the first time the Assembly has launched a comprehensive effort to educate members on the pitfalls of improper sexual behavior in the workplace -- especially when it concerns legislative staff. "This is important because you are considered employers," Erroll D. Brown, an instructor at Anne Arundel Community College, told the Senate Judicial Proceedings and House Judiciary committees.

Blockbuster Inc. has agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle a lawsuit in which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused the retailer of subjecting female employees to sexual harassment, the agency's Baltimore office said Wednesday. The EEOC had charged the Dallas-based entertainment retailer with subjecting the temporary workers to harassment, retaliating against them for resisting sexual advances and discriminating against Hispanic temporary workers. The events occurred in 2004 and 2005 in a Gaithersburg distribution center, the lawsuit said.

This whole scandal over Herman Cain's alleged sexual harassment of women during the 1990s is driving me crazy because the media is insisting on covering this story instead of properly vetting the candidates. Mr. Cain recently was on C-span to debate Gingrich, and it was clear he doesn't know much about government. The guy had to let Newt go first on every question because it was clear he had no clue what they were talking about. Yet the media puts a spotlight on Mr. Cain's alleged sexual misconduct instead.

Once again, temporarily at least, scandal has mesmerized American politics. This time the target is Herman Cain, the up-from-nowhere restaurant executive who is battling back against the latest sexual harassment or misconduct allegations that have frequently intruded on presidential campaigns in recent memory. They often die hard, as in the case of another present (and past) presidential hopeful, Newt Gingrich, whose earlier infidelity with his current wife haunts his attempted political resurrection as she campaigns cheerfully at his side.