{"id":30181,"date":"2017-11-24T05:45:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T10:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=30181"},"modified":"2017-11-24T09:21:54","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T14:21:54","slug":"taxpayers-have-been-paying-congressmens-sex-settlements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/11\/taxpayers-have-been-paying-congressmens-sex-settlements\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayers Have Been Paying Congressmen’s Sex Settlements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"disgrace-230907_1280\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now that the sexual harassment and abuse of women\u00a0is coming out of the closet, we are learning that elected officials are among the prime offenders<\/a>.\u00a0 And\u00a0it turns out that taxpayers have been paying the settlement money to cover up the offenses!<\/p>\n

Since 1997, taxpayers have paid $17 million to settle workplace disputes.\u00a0 How much of this money is for sexual harassment complaints is not known, since some of\u00a0the payments\u00a0would\u00a0have been for discrimination\u00a0charges\u00a0and other issues.<\/p>\n

\n

But we do know that some of the money has gone to pay women to drop charges and to sign a non-disclosure agreement, promising not to go public with her complaints.<\/p>\n

Now Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has proposed legislation that would require public disclosure of previous settlements and forbid taxpayer funding in the future.<\/p>\n

Read this article by Rachael Bade and Elana Schor,\u00a0 Pressure mounts to unmask Hill harassers \u2013 POLITICO<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

Pressure is mounting on congressional leaders to release the names of lawmakers who have secretly settled sexual harassment claims at taxpayer expense \u2014 a move that some members of Congress are loath to make.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump told reporters this week that he believes Congress should disclose the settlements. A handful of House members from both parties are calling on Republican leadership to do the same.<\/p>\n

And Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) proposed legislation Wednesday that would mandate public disclosure of sexual harassment settlements \u2014 and ban Congress from footing the bill for such deals in the future. Within a few hours of introducing his bill, DeSantis had been contacted by several Republican and Democratic lawmakers asking to sign on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taxpayer dollars at issue; taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent,\u201d DeSantis said in an interview, adding that he doesn\u2019t understand \u201cwhy the taxpayer should ever be on the hook for private misconduct of a member. \u2026 That should not be something the taxpayers are funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With women on Capitol Hill compiling \u201ccreep lists<\/a>\u201d of the worst offenders and as more and more politicians are being exposed for sexual misconduct\u2013most recently, Sen. John Conyers (D-Michigan)\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas)<\/a>, this sounds like legislation whose time has come.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see if it attracts enough votes.<\/p>\n

In any event, taxpayers should not be paying for politicians\u2019 settlements of any kind, even discrimination accusations.\u00a0 If\u00a0a\u00a0 lawmaker has done something improper, taxpayers should not pay for the cover up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration by geralt, via Pixabay, CC0, Creative Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that the sexual harassment and abuse of women\u00a0is coming out of the closet, we are learning that elected officials are among the prime offenders.\u00a0 And\u00a0it turns out that taxpayers have been paying the settlement money to cover up the offenses! Since 1997, taxpayers have paid $17 million to settle workplace disputes.\u00a0 How much of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":30186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,19,26,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","category-government","category-law","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTaxpayers Have Been Paying Congressmen's Sex Settlements<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Taxpayers have been paying the settlement money for Congressmen to cover up sexual harassment complaints. 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