TERESA FEDOR
NICKIE J. ANTONIO Ohio State Representative 13th House District 77 South High Street, 14th Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215
Ohio State Representative 45th House District 77 South High Street, 10th Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215
OHIO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Attorney General Michael DeWine 30 E. Broad Street Columbus, Ohio 43215 June 29, 2018 Dear Attorney General DeWine: We write to express our concern with the investigation by your office into offensive conduct by Rep. Bill Seitz at a Capital Square event in January. Your office appointed the Taft law firm to conduct the investigation. It was well-known that Rep Seitz had been a partner for many years at the firm and that should have been a red flag cautioning against this appointment. Making matters worse, the firm also contributed to Rep. Seitz’s campaign while the investigation was in progress. The report that the firm produced contained factual inaccuracies, spurious allegations, and misstatement and misapplication of the rules and laws on sexual harassment. The Toledo Blade editorialized on June 20 about the need for this investigation and report to be re-done and we agree. The problems with the investigation and report are as follows: 1. The complainant did not decline to be interviewed as has now been reported by many media outlets. In fact, the complainant expressed multiple times to majority caucus staff her agreement to be interviewed. Instead, the report was written unusually quickly without the benefit of an interview with complainant. 2. After writing the report that has now been released as a public record by the House, outside counsel offered to complainant the opportunity to talk about the complaint and to update the report as needed. That conversation took place June 18 but we do not know if the report has been updated. 3. The report by outside counsel does not appear to consider or apply the sexual harassment training that the Attorney General’s office presented to all House members and staff during the week before the roast. (See attached training materials from your office.) The training presented the material as a supplement to the existing House policy on sexual harassment that was adopted in 2011, but the report does not apply the rules presented in that training to the facts at hand. 4. The report alleges that the complaint may have been made for political reasons but also states there was no evidence to support this allegation. Complainant reported behavior that no one disputes happened and that clearly merited review based on the rules on sexual harassment laid out by your office one week earlier. These issues raise many questions for your office. How are law firms selected for lucrative outside counsel work? What standards are in place to ensure outside counsel effectively communicates with their clients to ensure factual accuracy in their work? Is it typical or a best practice to include in investigative reports statements that impugn
77 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215
TERESA FEDOR
NICKIE J. ANTONIO Ohio State Representative 13th House District 77 South High Street, 14th Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215
Ohio State Representative 45th House District 77 South High Street, 10th Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215
the credibility of the person who came forward in matters of sexual harassment? Was the work performed by your appointed outside counsel to the Speaker supervised and approved by your office? We question the need for outside counsel in the first place. The House should be equipped to handle routine matters of bad behavior by members and staff and should only be bringing in costly outside counsel to the Speaker on complex matters. But no matter who was handling it, this matter was cut and dried. One week, we were trained by your office that offensive comments made at work-related events outside the formal workplace could be prohibited sexual harassment. The next week, a member tested those rules. Months later, outside counsel appointed by your office concluded that the conduct did not contribute to a culture of sexual harassment because it did not take place in the formal workplace. Anyone can see the disconnect between the rules and the misapplication of the rules in this instance. Because of the myriad problems with the investigation into and report on Rep. Seitz’s conduct, we urge you to advise the Speaker’s office that the investigation should be re-done. The taxpayers of Ohio deserve professionalism in the halls of the legislature and effective accountability when conduct does not meet that standard. Sincerely,
Teresa Fedor State Representative House District 45
Nickie J. Antonio State Representative House District 13
77 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215