A new day may be dawning at Pa. Capitol when it comes to allegations of sexual misconduct

"I’m totally disgusted with the behavior, at a minimum.”

• Jan Murphy/PennLive
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  I cover state government and basic and higher education policy. Reach me at JMurphy@pennlive.com or at 717-255-4106 or 717-255-4106.

(Harrisburg) — It appears a new day is dawning at the state Capitol when it comes to how allegations of sexual misconduct involving lawmakers are handled.

While allegations in the past were swept under the rug or led to a quiet monetary settlement, legislative leaders now launch investigations and seek resignations, analysts say.

“There isn’t any doubt that this period in our lives is very much different from 20 and 30 years ago in terms of how sexual assault, unfriendly work environment, hostile work environment claims get treated,” said longtime Capitol observer G. Terry Madonna. “It’s just been a dramatic shift. In the past when I heard rumors almost never did anything come to light.”

Over the past week, reports surfaced about two lawmakers – Rep.Brian Ellis, R-Butler County, and Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery County – who are accused of sexual misconduct. Neither have been charged with a crime. But Gov. Tom Wolf has called on both lawmakers to step down, a spokesman said Friday.

The Dauphin County District Attorney’s office is investigating Ellis regarding a woman’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2015. The state Senate Democratic leadership has hired a law firm to investigate a Lehigh County woman’s 1991 allegation of sexual misconduct involving Leach.

Sources have told PennLive that both women stepped forward after seeing the House GOP seriously address allegations against former Rep. Nick Miccarelli last year. State Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne County, and a Harrisburg political consultant accused Miccarelli of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Miccarelli, who proclaimed his innocence, was not charged with a crime following a months-long investigation by the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office. However, a House Republican investigation into the women’s claims found them to be credible.

“There was some mishandling of that situation. It was not handled as swiftly and as aggressively as what we’re seeing with Ellis,” said the state’s Victim Advocate Jennifer Storm. “So I think there have been lessons learned.”

Storm and others said it’s no secret that inappropriate behavior has been going on at the state Capitol for years. “It’s just that now we are finally openly acknowledging it,” Storm said.

House Republican leaders on Friday issued a statement pressuring Ellis to step down while the Dauphin County DA’s office investigates the sexual assault allegations, just as GOP leaders did with Miccarelli last year. House GOP leaders have also ousted Ellis from his post as chairman of the House Commerce Committee and his other committee assignments. Several attempts to contact Ellis have been unsuccessful.

A woman who works at the Capitol alleges she was sexually assaulted by Ellis after he encountered her at a Harrisburg bar in 2015. The woman has told Storm she was not voluntarily intoxicated at the time of the assault and believes she was drugged. PennLive is not identifying the woman in keeping with policy against naming victims of alleged sexual assaults without their consent.

House GOP leaders have directed Capitol police and House security to provide additional safety and security measures, including putting them at the disposal of the woman making the allegations, Storm said.

Separate from that, the Senate Democratic Caucus launched an internal investigation into a sexual misconduct allegation against Leach. It was sparked by a complaint Lehigh County resident Cara Taylor delivered to dozens of lawmakers’ offices.

Taylor, who agreed to be publicly identified, alleges Leach coerced her to perform oral sex in 1991 when she was 17 and he was a 30-year-old attorney defending her mother in a criminal case. Leach strenuously denies the claim.

But this isn’t the first time Leach has been accused of inappropriate conduct. In December 2017, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported campaign and legislative staffers said the senator crossed the line with them through unwanted physical contact and sexually suggestive humor. Leach subsequently offered a public apology, saying he didn’t intend to make anyone uncomfortable or distressed. He vowed to improve his conduct.

Also in December 2017, the Inquirer reported that the state House Democratic Caucus paid out $248,000 to settle a sexual harassment complaint against longtime Berks County Rep. Thomas Caltagirone by a legislative staffer in 2015. Caltagirone denied any wrongdoing.

In all instances where these allegations were raised, Wolf swiftly called for the lawmakers’ resignations. None of the lawmakers heeded calls to resign, although Miccarelli did not seek re-election last year and Leach withdrew his candidacy from a congressional race.

Former state Rep. Mauree Gingrich from Lebanon County said she is disgusted by the stories she has read about the alleged actions of these lawmakers. But Gingrich, a Republican who served in the House for 14 years, noted this kind of “college boys with money” behavior at the Capitol has existed for a long time.

Gingrich said she is especially aggravated taxpayers have spent money investigating the claims, defending the accused, and in some instances, settling claims against lawmakers. She said the individuals at the center of those cases should have to pay.

“That’s unacceptable,” she said. “We don’t need to defend an individual against something like that. They need to pay their own attorneys. I’m totally disgusted with the behavior, at a minimum.”

Former state Sen. Pat Vance, a Cumberland County Republican who served in the General Assembly for more than a quarter-century, said, “there are good people in the Legislature and they are all tarred by this and shouldn’t be.”

People inside and outside the Capitol are fed up with this behavior and the former lawmakers applaud the fact that caucus leaders are taking complaints and rumors about sexual misconduct seriously.

“I just don’t think people are willing to tolerate it anymore,” Vance said.

Gingrich is hopeful that the influx of more women in the General Assembly this year will help to change the environment inside the state House. She said she hopes the bigger contingent of women lawmakers will help other women feel safer and more comfortable, so they don’t feel so encircled by men in power.

Just seeing how the complaints against Ellis and Leach drew swift and aggressive responses from leadership points to a change, Madonna said.

Storm, too, sees that as forward progress and reason for hope.

“I think there are many women known to me and unknown to me that are sitting back and watching how these things are being handled. That will indicate how comfortable they are to come forward,” she said.

Madonna doesn’t doubt that more victims of incidents involving lawmakers might step forward now that some leaders have shown they have zero tolerance for misconduct.

“Given the past, the Legislature is taking it far more serious than they have historically,” Madonna said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Does that mean that this behavior will completely disappear? I’d be surprised if it did.”

Lawmakers will return to Harrisburg on Monday for their first full three-day session week of the 2019-20 legislative term.