— from Cascadia Weekly —

Progressives of the 40th Legislative District were rocked to their foundations last week with news that one of the architects of revised policy on workplace conduct in Olympia may be the first felled by it.

As Associated Press and the Seattle Times reported, the state Senate is conducting an outside investigation into Sen. Kevin Ranker after allegations of improper conduct, the first test of the chamber’s new workplace policies adopted in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

In July, a Senate committee approved revised workplace policies based on recommendations by a bipartisan task force after the rise of the #MeToo movement. Under the new policy, once an investigation and any subsequent appeal is completed, a report will be released publicly if there is a finding of a violation of prohibited conduct.

Through a public-records request enabled by the new policy, Associated Press learned of a complaint filed in November by a former legislative assistant of Ranker related to sexual-harassment and hostile-workplace issues. The woman, who served as Ranker’s legislative assistant for a year nearly a decade ago, claimed she was subjected to hostile encounters involving the Orcas Island Democrat once she left to work as a legislative liaison for the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Ranker told AP as soon as he learned of the report, he told the secretary of the Senate he would cooperate with the investigation.

“I believed an investigation was absolutely critical to ensure fairness for all involved,” he wrote in an email to the AP. He said he would not comment further while the investigation was underway, but he said he believes he will be exonerated.

[Editor’s Note: Orcas Issues reached out to Senator Ranker’s office with no response.)

SOURCE: Cascadia Weekly. READ FULL STORY.

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