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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 23, 2018
State senator who was harassed gives
ideas on how to improve policies
Candidates Wanted
By LAUREN DAKE
Oregon Public Broadcasting
In the midst of an investiga-
tion into sexual misconduct in
the Salem statehouse, state Sen.
Sara Gelser learned two law
students had reported being the
target of harassment.
She panicked that the man
accused of unwanted touching
— Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Rose-
burg — was still in the building
and in contact with one of the
young interns who had reported
his harassment.
That can’t happen, Gelser
told a task force charged with
creating recommendations for
the rules governing harassment
in the Legislature.
Gelser told the task force
this week she never anticipated
how difficult it would be to go
public with allegations against
Kruse.
Gelser accused Kruse of
touching her breasts and plac-
ing his hand on her thigh under
a dais last year. Her accusations
prompted a high-profile sexual
misconduct investigation that
revealed Kruse had a pattern of
“engaging in unwelcome phys-
ical contact toward females in
the workplace.”
Kruse
resigned
amid
pressure.
“I did not anticipate what it
would feel like to turn on the
radio to hear my name associ-
ated with the word ‘breast,’”
Gelser said.
Gelser,
a
Democrat,
described physical threats left
on her voicemail and people
who talked to her about the
incident while she was shop-
ping for groceries. People
openly commented she was,
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Anna Reed/Statesman Journal
State Sen. Sara Gelser reported that a colleague sexually
harassed her.
“too fat or too ugly or too what-
ever to have experienced this
behavior.”
“And I was a person in priv-
ilege to do that and I can’t imag-
ine being a 23-year-old intern
in that process, going through
that process. That is why peo-
ple don’t come forward and talk
about these things,” Gelser said.
The state senator from Cor-
vallis urged the task force to
consider a handful of changes:
• Create a pathway to put
an elected member of the Leg-
islature on temporary leave or
remove them from the building
while under investigation for
sexual harassment.
• Expedite the sexual mis-
conduct investigative and hear-
ing process, ensuring it isn’t
drawn out.
• Create a third, outside
party, not affiliated with any
political entity, where people
can feel comfortable making
reports of misconduct.
And perhaps the most dif-
ficult task remains: addressing
the need for a cultural shift in
the statehouse where politics
and power dynamics are in con-
stant play between lobbyists,
the public and elected officials.
Even in the midst of the
investigation into Kruse, Gelser
said one male lawmaker asked
her why she was complaining
and said he would love it if he
was harassed by an attractive
female.
Former Republican state
lawmaker Vicki Berger, who
sits on the task force, com-
mended Gelser for coming
forward.
“I know what it’s been like
for you. It’s been hell. The cul-
ture won’t change, the back-
ground comments won’t
change until this kind of thing
forces it out,” Berger said.
Legislative leaders have
asked the commission to fin-
ish its work in time to intro-
duce legislation and new poli-
cies during the 2019 legislative
session.
The commission will meet
again next month and is seek-
ing input from the public.
Photos by Hannah Sievert/The Daily Astorian
Campers practice popping up off of their boards.
Surfers: ‘As a woman, you
really have to prove yourself’
Continued from Page 1A
“You have to go out there and catch
a wave and surf it well, the first wave, or
sometimes they’ll think you can’t surf,”
said Brianna Ortega, a surfer in Seaside. “If
you’re just sitting out there, they’ll assume
you can’t surf. As a woman, not just for me
but for everyone, you really have to prove
yourself.”
Aiden Herth, a surfing coach at Hal-
lahan’s camps, grew up surfing on Long
Island, New York, where she said she rarely
saw a woman with her in the water. She has
noticed more women in the water on the
West Coast, but still sees some difficulties.
“I’ve had tons of guys cut my line off,”
she said.
Ortega is doing her part to change the
way women surfers are portrayed in the
media. The women stars of the World Surf
League are recognized as elite athletes, and
advertisers have long seen the potential of
marketing surf apparel to women, but there
are still stereotypes of women in biki-
nis posing with surfboards on the beach
instead of out on the waves.
Ortega’s new magazine, Sea Together,
aims to bring the global community of
women surfers together and present their
experiences through creative writing and
interviews.
“I’m putting all of my frustrations into
this, and doing a positive thing,” she said.
She raised over $10,000 through Kick-
starter for the magazine’s production and
received donated writing, photography and
interviews from world-class surfers like
Carissa Moore of Hawaii. Emi Koch, a
surfer from California who founded a non-
profit that uses surfing to teach ecologi-
cal awareness, sent Ortega seashells from
Indonesia as a sign of appreciation.
Sea Together’s first 100-page issue will
be released at a launch party on Aug. 6 at
Leeward Surf in Portland.
“We want to take the negative and turn
it into something positive,” Ortega said.
“Otherwise we’re not going to move for-
ward or make any progress.”
The surf spots on the North Coast,
where the water is cold and rugged, can be
challenging. Hallahan remembers the days
when there were no cold-water wetsuits
made for women because manufactur-
ers thought there were not enough women
who wanted to paddle out.
When Hallahan first launched her surf
camps, she hoped to create a women’s surf
community that would stick.
“I can confidently say that it’s at a point
now where it will continue to grow and
there will always be women surfing on the
Oregon Coast,” she said.
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