The BulleTin • Sunday, May 2, 2021 A5
With Idaho case, AP counts 109
statehouse #MeToo allegations
4 lawmakers in 4
states pushed out of
office in 2 months
amid allegations
State Rep. Aaron von
Ehlinger, R-Lewiston,
listens Wednesday
as an accuser offers
testimony during
a hearing before
the Idaho Ethics
and House Policy
Committee in the
Lincoln Auditorium at
the Idaho Statehouse
in Boise.
BY DAVID A. LIEB
AND KEITH RIDLER
The Associated Press
An Idaho lawmaker was ac-
cused of raping an intern; a
Missouri lawmaker of abusing
his children. In North Dakota
and Oregon, a pair of lawmak-
ers faced claims of a pattern of
sexual harassment.
All are now out of office —
resigning under pressure or
getting expelled by colleagues
within the past two months.
Three other lawmakers accused
this year remain in their jobs.
The flurry of sexual mis-
conduct claims in state capi-
tols comes 3½ years after the
#MeToo movement sparked
a public reckoning for peo-
ple in power accused of sexual
wrongdoing and an overhaul
of many state policies. The
continued incidents highlight
both that problems persist and
that some legislatures are re-
sponding more assertively.
“These institutions don’t
change overnight,” said Kelly
Dittmar, research director at the
Center for American Women
and Politics at Rutgers Univer-
sity. “Part of what the #MeToo
movement did was shed a spot-
light on the problem, but fixing
that problem that has been so
deep-seeded is going to take
longer.”
Since 2017, at least 109 state
lawmakers in 40 states have
faced public allegations of sexual
misconduct or harassment, ac-
cording to an Associated Press
tally. Of those, 43 have resigned
or been expelled and 42 have
faced other repercussions such
as the loss of committee chair or
party leadership positions.
Idaho Rep. Aaron von Eh-
linger was the most recent to
resign. The 38-year-old Repub-
Darin Oswald/Idaho
Statesman
lican stepped down Thursday
after a legislative ethics com-
mittee recommended he be
suspended without pay over
allegations that he raped a
19-year-old intern in his apart-
ment after the two had dinner
at a Boise restaurant.
Von Ehlinger denied wrong-
doing, insisted the sexual con-
tact was consensual and wrote
that he was quitting because he
could not effectively represent
his constituents.
The decision came the day
after the committee heard tes-
timony, including from the
young woman who brought
the allegations. She was
shielded from public view by
a black screen and used the
name Jane Doe during the pro-
ceedings. But a TV reporter
attempted to film her as she
left, and at least one lawmaker
revealed her identify on social
media. The Associated Press
generally does not identify
people who say they have been
sexually assaulted.
Republican Senate President
Pro Tem Chuck Winder on
Friday praised the woman for
“the courage to come forward.”
Von Ehlinger’s resignation
came just a week after the Mis-
souri House expelled Repub-
lican Rep. Rick Roeber after
a bipartisan ethics committee
investigation concluded there
were credible allegations he
had physically and sexually
abused his children years ago.
Roeber attempted to resign
shortly before the panel’s report
was publicly released, citing his
plans to move out of state to be
closer to family. But the House
refused to accept his resigna-
tion. House Ethics Committee
Vice Chairman Richard Brown,
a Democrat, said it wouldn’t be
right to let him “escape with-
out us giving full recognition to
what has taken place.”
The House instead voted
overwhelmingly to kick Roeber
out of office, marking the first
time since the Civil War era that
a Missouri House member had
been expelled.
In March, the North Dakota
House expelled Republican Rep.
Luke Simons for allegedly threat-
ening and sexually harassing
women at the Capitol in a pat-
tern of behavior that lawmakers
said stretched back to soon after
Simons took office in 2017.
In Oregon, state Rep. Diego
Hernandez, a Democrat, re-
signed in March after a judge
rejected his attempt to stop a
planned expulsion vote follow-
ing an investigation into claims
that he had sexually harassed
or created a hostile workplace
for several women. He said
he stepped down “so my col-
leagues may focus on serving
Oregonians and so I can move
forward with my life and focus
on my health and family.”
In February 2018, then-Sen.
Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, re-
signed his position in the Ore-
gon Legislature after an inves-
tigation revealed that he had a
pattern of unwanted touching
and harassment.
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