Democrats find sexual misconduct a tricky campaign issue

DES MOINES - For months, six Democratic candidates for Iowa governor hammered Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds over her handling of sexual harassment incidents in state government.

But then, last week, one of those Democrats seeking her job was accused of sexual misconduct - and withdrew from the race.

Three women, including two who allowed their names to be used, told the Des Moines Register they had been subject in the past to sexual misconduct by Nate Boulton. The labor lawyer and state senator from Des Moines suspended his campaign the next day. He told KCCI-TV he has not yet decided if he will resign from the Iowa Senate.

The scandal shook the run up to the June 5 Democratic primary, as well as Boulton's campaign supporters, of which there were many.

Now Boulton's supporters - at least those who had not already cast early ballots and can't change their votes - are deciding on one of the remaining five candidates.

But suddenly Democrats are dealing with an issue that, until now in Iowa, mostly had been a problem putting elected Republicans on the defensive. Just this year, then-Iowa Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, who is married, was caught on video kissing a lobbyist in a Des Moines bar. Dix resigned. And Reynolds, initially giving little explanation, fired friend and Iowa Finance Authority Director David Jamison on sexual harassment allegations.

Iowa Democrats said that while their candidates have been critical of Reynolds' handling of the Jamison firing in particular, they acknowledge sexual harassment is not a partisan issue.

'This is a moment for us, as a party, to make sure we are doing what we can to make sure to support those who have been a victim of sexual harassment,” said Troy Price, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party. 'Sexual harassment has not been a partisan issue. Our position on this as a party has been very clear from the beginning, that sexual harassment is unacceptable, period. And that is something that we have said repeatedly.”

Said Thom Hart, chairman of the Scott County Democratic Party, 'I think we'd all be foolish to say this is a Republican issue or this is a Democratic issue or this is a political issue. This is a societal issue.”

Hart and Price said they think Democrats will continue to talk about addressing sexual harassment in state government and the role the governor plays in ensuring a safe workplace.

'What has happened over the last 48 hours (the allegations made against Boulton) has not changed what we have seen in terms of what has happened in the Reynolds administration and other parts of the Republican Party. I don't think it takes that (issue) away,” Price said.

Democrats said many still are in shock over the allegations against Boulton, which predate his election to the Senate, and his withdrawal from the gubernatorial race. But they also insist the episode will not deter the party from its goals for the 2018 elections.

'You never like to have it happen in your own family, and this is a Democratic family,” Hart said. 'So I think there is some element of, ‘Wow, I am surprised at this.'”

Five candidates remain in the Democrats' gubernatorial primary: Fred Hubbell, Cathy Glasson, John Norris, Andy McGuire and Ross Wilburn. One has to secure more than 35 percent of the vote to win it outright; otherwise the nominee to face Reynolds will be picked later at a state convention.

'We're forging ahead. We've had some very, very great candidates and we still do, and we're going to continue to rally behind and support whoever our nominee is,” said Vikki Brown, chairwoman of the Black Hawk County Democrats. 'We've gotten through a lot of things and we will get through this. But it's going to be positive, and we're going to have a great November election, I believe.”

Price said while Boulton supporters may be taking the news hard, the mood of Iowa Democrats in general remains largely unfazed.

'Obviously this has been a tough few days for some members of our party, those who were supporting Nate Boulton's campaign,” Price said. 'But I was just up in Decorah last night at a central committee meeting, and folks there weren't talking about this. They were talking about what they were going to do to defeat Republicans in November.

'Some folks are going to take some time to absorb the news and what has happened the last few days, but it doesn't change Democrats' commitment to seeing change in Terrace Hill (where Iowa's governor lives while in office), in the Iowa Legislature and in Washington, D.C.”

Now that both Republicans and Democrats have been forced to deal with high-profile incidents of sexual harassment this year, the issue may be more likely to receive bipartisan focus next year when lawmakers convene for the 2019 session of the Iowa Legislature, one Iowa political scientist said.

'Maybe this makes both parties able to address it more, and both know that they can't cast stones, so to speak, only at the other party,” said Donna Hoffman, a political-science professor at the University of Northern Iowa. 'Maybe that means the issue is taken really seriously and there is a bipartisan effort to craft rules at the Statehouse.

'That would be much more effective, quite frankly, than if you had this party of partisan arrows being flung.”

A bipartisan approach and more details from the candidates for governor as to how they would change the culture in state government are needed, said Kirsten Anderson, a former Iowa Senate Republican staff member who said in 2013 that she was fired after reporting incidents of sexual harassment. The state settled the claims for $1.75 million in 2017.

'Let's be clear: sexual harassment has no party affiliation, period. And this is about power and control, and power and control is not a universal thing. It's not a Democrat or a Republican or a Libertarian thing,” Anderson said. 'So yes, sexual harassment is nonpartisan.”

Anderson said she would like to hear more specific ideas from the gubernatorial candidates as to how they would address sexual harassment.

'What I want to hear from the candidates is how they're going to make change, what legislation are they going to put forth, how are they going to make every workplace safer for Iowans. ... I don't hear anybody talking about the specifics of it,” Anderson said. 'They talk about having zero-tolerance policies, but just having a policy or enacting a policy doesn't make change. So I want to hear more substance behind what they want to do and how they're going to do it.”