Ex-leaders of California Dems fostered culture of booze, sex talk and discrimination, staffers allege in lawsuit

Former California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman is named in a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and discrimination. (Facebook)

Current and former California Democratic Party staffers have filed a lawsuit against the party and its former chairman, Eric Bauman, alleging a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination.
The suit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court describes an atmosphere of workplace drinking, inappropriate comments and retaliation by top officials against those who reported allegations of harassment, reports said.
Bauman, who had been engulfed in sexual harassment allegations, stepped down from his post in November in the "best interest" of everyone.
He declined to comment on the lawsuit through his attorney.
"Mr. Bauman has not been served with any lawsuit and has no further comment at this time,” his lawyer Neal Zaslavsky told the Los Angeles Times.
The three staff members who filed the suit are: Kate Earley, 21, the party’s digital director; Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, 31; and Alton Wang, 24. All were hired in September to help run a voter outreach effort.
Wang was let go in December. He was hired only on a temporary basis, a party spokesperson said.
“There’s no question we all must do more to eliminate harassment in the workplace. Everyone deserves a safe and positive work environment,” acting party Chairwoman Alexandra “Alex” Gallardo-Rooker said in a statement. “Our officers and senior staff are committed to creating a better culture for our staff. As I’ve said before, we must do better and we will.”
Among the allegations against Bauman, the suit claims he asked Rodriguez-Kennedy – who is president of the California Young Democrats -- about his boyfriend and openly speculated about their sex life, and engaged in unwanted touching.
“I do not know how I can champion these causes if I do not oppose sexual harassment directed at me and other young members in my own party," Rodriguez-Kennedy told the paper.
In a statement provided through their attorney, Wang said: “This behavior is not new. Harassment and abuse of power were tolerated in our Party for such a long time because so many were complicit."
Other allegations include that the party paid for additional insurance coverage to allow alcohol consumption on a campaign bus tour to support Democratic candidates in the state ahead of the midterm elections. The suit said Bauman was drinking heavily as early as 9:30 a.m. the lawsuit said.
As the only woman on the bus tour at one point, Earley said the atmosphere felt unsafe and it “felt like a men’s club," the lawsuit claims.
“Their conduct demonstrates a disturbing pattern of senior staff being powerless or unwilling to stop inappropriate behavior,” the lawsuit alleges.
After hearing of multiple complaints, Christine Pelosi, daughter of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and chair of the party’s women’s caucus, disinvited Bauman’s bus tour from a San Francisco rally that featured her mother, the Los Angeles Times reported.
As many as 10 party staff members have said Bauman made sexual comments and engaged in unwanted physical contact with them. Pelosi said she told party officials not to have the tour stop in San Francisco and spoke to Democratic officials in an attempt to "navigate an informal solution."
"I wanted them to be heard," Christine Pelosi said. "I wanted Eric to get help."
Aside from harassment allegations, Bauman once called for a boycott of California's iconic In-N-Out burger chain over Twitter after it donated money to the Republican Party. He retracted the boycott days later.

Trump’s immigration offer brings sharp reactions from Dems and GOP

President Trump’s immigration compromise package to end the partial government shutdown drew sharp reactions from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike.
In a televised White House address on Saturday afternoon, Trump offered Democrats a three-year extension of protections for 700,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, in exchange for the $5.7 billion he has been seeking for a barrier along the nation's southern border with Mexico.
“Our immigration system should be a source of pride ... not a source of shame as it is all over the world,” Trump said in his plea.
The president’s proposal was met with disdain from an array of top Democratic lawmakers. Many used the same language in their critiques, accusing Trump of holding the government and federal workers "hostage."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tweeted, “What we didn’t hear from the President was any sympathy for the federal workers who face so much uncertainty because of the chaos of the #TrumpShutdown.”
Before Trump made his announcement, Pelosi had called his anticipated proposal “a non-starter.”
TRUMP OFFERS IMMIGRATION COMPROMISE
“For one thing, this proposal does not include the permanent solution for the Dreamers and TPS recipients that our country needs and supports.”
For his part, Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, called Trump's proposal "one-sided and ineffective."
"It's clear the President realizes that by closing the government and hurting so many American workers and their families, he has put himself and the country in an untenable position. Unfortunately, he keeps putting forward one-sided and ineffective remedies. There's only one way out: open the government, Mr. President, and then Democrats and Republicans can have a civil discussion and come up with bipartisan solutions."
Schumer, D-N.Y., concluded, "It was the President who single-handedly took away DACA and TPS protections in the first place – offering some protections back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but more hostage taking."
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer shared a similar sentiment, urging Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell to "stop holding government hostage and end the shutdown" immediately.
“The president must stop holding government hostage and end the shutdown so federal employees can get back to work serving the American people. There is no reason for Americans to be shut out of work and without a paycheck while negotiations take place on the best way to secure our borders,” he said.
Hoyer said negotiation can progress after the government reopens.
“With the government open, we can negotiate an agreement to strengthen border security that both sides can support and that is in the best interests of the American people.”
Another leading Dem, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand of New York, who announced her White House bid on Jan. 15 in an episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," said Trump's offer was a "bad deal."
Gillibrand tweeted: "Trump ordered the end of DACA and TPS. Then he shut down the government. Now he's holding federal workers hostage, saying he'll temporarily give back what he took away -- only if we give him a pointless, ineffective wall he falsely promised Mexico would pay for. This is a bad deal."
Then there was New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez's response. He bluntly accused Trump of forcing "a pointless shutdown" to pay for the border wall.
"This is about more than 800,000 Americans who are being held hostage by a President who has forced a pointless shutdown to pay for an expensive, ineffective wall. This is not about immigration. Dreamers and TPS recipients are not bargaining chips. It's unacceptable that after taking away DACA protections, eliminating the TPS program for thousands of immigrants and creating a humanitarian crisis at the border, President Trump is offering temporary solutions in exchange for a permanent wall."
The Democratic senator also said "a legitimate negotiation" can proceed after the government is reopened.
Fellow Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware slammed McConnell for refusing "to meaningfully negotiate with Senate Democrats," but also called Trump's offer "a first step toward comprehensive immigration reform."
"This senseless government shutdown is hurting millions of Americans, and its impacts are only getting worse. The President should re-open the government so that Republicans and Democrats in Congress can work with the White House to find a sensible solution on border security and immigration. I am confident that a reasonable compromise can be reached, but not while President Trump continues to keep significant parts of the government shut down and Leader McConnell refuses to meaningfully negotiate with Senate Democrats," he said.
"Some relief for Dreamers and an extension of Temporary Protected Status represent a first step toward comprehensive immigration reform, but more ideas from members of both parties should be taken up and debated. Republicans and Democrats stand ready to work toward a solution, but the fact remains that there is no reason to have large parts of the federal government shut down while we debate appropriate border security and immigration policies."
Republican lawmakers, at the opposite end of the reaction spectrum, praised the president for his willingness to negotiate.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell, for instance, commended the president "for taking bipartisan steps toward addressing current immigration issues."
In his statement, he said; “Compromise in divided government means that everyone can’t get everything they want every time. The president’s proposal reflects that. It strikes a fair compromise by incorporating priorities from both sides of the aisle."
“This bill takes a bipartisan approach to re-opening the closed portions of the federal government. It pairs the border security investment that our nation needs with additional immigration measures that both Democrat and Republican members of Congress believe are necessary. Unlike the bills that have come from the House over the past few weeks, this proposal could actually resolve this impasse. It has the full support of the President and could be signed into law to quickly reopen the government."
Republican Whip Steve Scalise called on Democrats to match Trump's willingness to negotiate.
"The time for political games has long passed. Democrats must put their personal dislike of the president aside, end their obstruction, and finally come to the negotiating table. It's time Democrats do what is right for the functioning and security of our nation and agree to a deal that opens our government, and includes funding for a border wall and other measures to solve this serious immigration crisis at our southern border," he said in a statement.
Also on the Republican side, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she was "hopeful" for a "constructive debate" with Democrats.
“Compromise is not a sign of weakness — it’s a sign of strength, particularly when hundreds of thousands of families are being harmed. The Administration, Senate Republicans, and Democrats must now resolve this stalemate before 800,000 federal workers and their families miss yet another paycheck, and our economy is further damaged,” she said.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, whose views on the president and his policies have fluctuated, said Trump "put forth a reasonable, good faith proposal that will reopen the government and help secure the border."
He tweeted, "I look forward to voting for it and will work to encourage my Republican and Democratic colleagues to do the same.
Earlier, while speaking in Ogden, Utah, Romney said he did not understand Pelosi's position on border security.
"You (Pelosi) and your fellow Democrats have voted for over 600 miles of border fence in the past, why won't you vote for another few miles now? I don't understand their position, I really don't," the Republican senator said.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took a positive view of Trump's proposed deal, like his fellow Republicans. He said Trump made "a very reasonable offer" and urged Democrats to work with him.
“The way to end this shutdown is for both sides to make mutual concessions in order to reach an agreement. The president has made a very reasonable offer to extend DACA and TPS protections in exchange for the border security measures he supports. I hope that instead of choosing the road of endless obstruction, Democrats will decide to work with him to reach an agreement and end the shutdown,” he said.
Likewise, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy called the president's immigration offer "reasonable."
McCarthy tweeted: "President Trump has put forward a serious and reasonable offer to reform parts of our broken immigration system and reopen government. The moment now turns to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. The country is watching."

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Trump calls release of BuzzFeed report 'a sad day for journalism'; Giuliani urges DOJ pursuit of leakers

President Trump on Friday night slammed a BuzzFeed News report, which alleges the president has been implicated in a crime, saying its release marked a “very sad day for journalism” after Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team released a rare statement claiming the outlet got its facts wrong.
Trump went to Twitter to remind his 57.5 million followers that BuzzFeed, an outlet he once called a “failing pile of garbage,” once also published the unverified and salacious dossier by former British spy Christopher Steele that was used to justify the FISA surveillance warrant against Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to then-candidate Trump.
BUZZFEED ROCKS MEDIA INDUSTRY AFTER MUELLER TEAM DISPUTES REPORT: ‘MEDIA ERRORS ARE ALWAYS ANTI-TRUMP’
“Remember it was Buzzfeed that released the totally discredited ‘Dossier,’ paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democrats (as opposition research), on which the entire Russian probe is based!” he tweeted. “A very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country!”
Trump’s comments came after Mueller’s team detoured from its “no comment” media strategy and released a statement refuting the BuzzFeed story, which alleged that Trump instructed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about real estate deals in Russia.
“BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not accurate,” special counsel spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement Friday.
But while the language of the denial was tepid, Mueller’s rare statement suggested that none of the assertions in the BuzzFeed story are correct, the Washington Post reported.
The BuzzFeed report, based on two anonymous sources, claims that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Moscow during the 2016 presidential election.
BuzzFeed also claims Mueller learned of the instructions to lie to Congress from “interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents.”
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, also issued a rare statement of praise of the Mueller team for refuting the story and suggested the Department of Justice should go after the leakers of the false information.
“Now the DOJ must reveal the leakers of this false BuzzFeed story which the press and Democrats gleefully embraced. And maybe House Dems should wait to investigate until the Mueller report is filed. 4 have started already. There may be nothing to legitimately investigate,” he wrote in a tweet.
“I commend Bob Mueller’s office for correcting the BuzzFeed false story that Pres. Trump encouraged Cohen to lie,” Giuliani added. “I ask the press to take heed that their hysterical desire to destroy this President has gone too far. They pursued this without critical analysis all day.”
BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief, Ben Smith, issued a statement reiterating that the outlet stands “by our reporting and the sources who informed it” and urged the special counsel “to make clear what he’s disputing.”

Mueller's BuzzFeed smackdown prompts press, pundits to pile on

Special counsel Robert Mueller released a statement late Friday disputing a report by media outlet BuzzFeed and promptly sending the media - which had been trying all day to match the bombshell report claiming President Trump had told his lawyer to lie to Congress -  into a frenzy.
BuzzFeed’s initial report this morning cited anonymous sources who accused  Trump of directing attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about when the Trump Organization stopped pursuing construction of an office tower in Moscow and how the timetable related to the 2016 presidential campaign. This prompted  Mueller’s office to react, something Mueller and his investigative team had declined to do since they began the investigation.
GREGG JARRETT: BUZZFEED'S FALSE MUELLER REPORT IS MEDIA MALPRACTICE
Pundits, reporters and politicians reacted immediately including BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith.
“We’re really confident in these specific sources and in the story the reporters told,” Smith told Anderson Cooper on CNN.
“The critics of the president should wake up,” Ed Henry said on Tucker Carlson Tonight. “ My broader point is CNN and everyone else, who, when you wake up this morning [say] the president’s about to be impeached....that’s just as bad as the original story, because you’re supposed to have credibility.”
“We called it. FAKE NEWS!” former Secret Service agent and current Fox News political commentator Dan Bongino tweeted.
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin told Anderson Cooper, “This is a bad day for the news media. Let’s not kid ourselves.”
ALAN DERSHOWITZ: BUZZFEED REPORT SHOWS MEDIA'S 'GET TRUMP' MENTALITY
Radio and Fox News Channel host Mark Levin appeared on “Hannity,” where he defended President Trump and admonished his detractors.
“They’re dragging down our republic by dragging down our president,” Levin told Sean Hannity.  “You want to try and take him out, wait for the next election.”
Trump’s attorney and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani chastised members of the media who wanted to “destroy the president.”
“I commend Bob Mueller’s office for correcting the BuzzFeed false story that Pres. Trump encouraged Cohen to lie. I ask the press to take heed that their hysterical desire to destroy this President has gone too far. They pursued this without critical analysis all day,” Giuliani tweeted.
New Yorker magazine investigative reporter Ronan Farrow tweeted that he had declined to report a story with a similar source.
“I can’t speak to BuzzFeed’s sourcing, but, for what it’s worth, I declined to run with parts of the narrative they conveyed based on a source central to the story repeatedly disputing the idea that Trump directly issued orders of that kind.” Farrow tweeted.
“BUZZBLEED!” was the headline on DrudgeReport.com.
As he often does, President Trump weighed on the story.
“Remember it was Buzzfeed that released the totally discredited “Dossier,” paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democrats (as opposition research), on which the entire Russian probe is based! A very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country!” Trump tweeted.

Dems' $600G media campaign suggests Trump right about his foes using shutdown for 2020 strategy

A Democratic group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is launching a $600,000 media campaign attacking Republican senators up for reelection in 2020 over a government shutdown that entered its 28th day Saturday.
The massive media buy by Majority Forward, a nonprofit group that isn’t required to disclose its funding, appeared to confirm President Trump’s accusation that Democrats were already “looking to 2020” and using the government shutdown to score political points.
TRUMP SAYS HE’LL MAKE ‘MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT’ SATURDAY ABOUT PARTIAL SHUTDOWN, BORDER ‘CRISIS’
The group has produced 30-second ads attacking Republican senators who are likely to face tough challenges from Democrats, according to the Washington Post. It’s planning to spend a total of around $600,000 on the media campaign effort.
The political ads target Sens. Martha McSally of Arizona, Cory Gardner of Colorado, David Perdue of Georgia, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Susan Collins of Maine, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
The alarmist ads decry “the longest government shutdown in history” and warn of the threats to air travel safety and other issues due to the shutdown.
In an effort to sway Republican and independent voters, some ads point to issues prevalent in the respective states that are or could be affected by the shutdown. In North Carolina, for instance, the ad emphasizes how the shutdown is damaging hurricane recovery efforts.
“It's the longest government shutdown in history … and here in North Carolina, the shutdown's forced a slowdown for hurricane recovery,” the narrator says. “Instead of being independent, he sides with his party's leaders, who refuse to even allow a vote to reopen the government.”
The ads are unlikely to convince the Republican senators to cave to congressional Democrats and vote to approve a government funding package that doesn’t feature Trump’s requested $5 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
But the ads are likely intended to help lay the groundwork for the 2020 Senate elections and pin the blame for the shutdown on Republican senators who didn’t push their leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to bring the bill approved by House Democrats to the Senate floor for a vote.
President Trump on Friday wrote in a tweet that he’ll make “a major announcement” Saturday afternoon concerning the ongoing partial government shutdown and the “humanitarian crisis” on the southern border.
Earlier this week, the confrontation between the White House and congressional Democrats reached its peak after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested Trump to delay the State of the Union address amid the partial shutdown, prompting Trump to retaliate by denying military aircraft to her scheduled overseas trip just minutes before the congressional delegation was set to depart.
Pelosi's office later accused the Trump administration of leaking plans for the congressional delegation to fly commercial to Afghanistan, saying the related security risks forced them to postpone the trip.
The White House adamantly denied the leak accusation, calling it a “flat out lie.”

Kamala Harris' record as 'progressive prosecutor' facing new scrutiny as she eyes 2020 run

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to reporters following an event at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa. (Associated Press)

As speculation grows over U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris’s presidential aspirations, the California Democrat's record as a prosecutor and state attorney general are attracting new scrutiny.
The perception that Harris, 54, acted as a “progressive prosecutor” during her tenure as the district attorney of San Francisco and then California’s attorney general contradict her actions, a University of San Francisco associate law professor argues in an op-ed piece.
"Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent,” Lara Bazelon writes in the New York Times.
KAMALA HARRIS DEFENDS RASHIDA TLAIB'S IMPEACHMENT OUTBURST
“Most troubling, Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors.”
Bazelon then lists multiple instances where the Democratic senator failed to embrace criminal justice reforms – either opposing them or declining to state an opinion.
She cites Harris’ reluctance to take a position in 2014 on opposition to Proposition 47, a voter-approved ballot measure that reduced certain low-level felonies to misdemeanors. Bazelon also takes issue with Harris for not supporting standards on body-worn cameras for police officers.
According to Bazelon, Harris also opposed a 2015 bill requiring her office to investigate officer-involved shootings. Bazelon's Times piece criticizes Harris's decision to continue to prosecute death penalty cases as state attorney general even while supposedly opposing capital punishment.
Deemed worse, according to Bazelon, was Harris’ record in wrongful conviction cases. The writer cites the case of George Gage, who is serving a 70-year prison sentence for allegedly sexually abusing his stepdaughter. The case was largely built on the stepdaughter’s testimony, which some have called into question.
Harris' prosecution of Daniel Larsen – serving a 28-year sentence for possession of a concealed weapon – also raised questions. She also defended the murder conviction of Johnny Baca, in which judges found a prosecutor lied at the trial and relented after video of an oral argument received national attention, Bazelon writes.
“It is true that politicians must make concessions to get the support of key interest groups. The fierce, collective opposition of law enforcement and local district attorney associations can be hard to overcome at the ballot box. But in her career, Ms. Harris did not barter or trade to get the support of more conservative law-and-order types; she gave it all away,” Bazelon writes.
Harris has also advocated for civil asset forfeiture, according to the National Review, much to the chagrin of criminal justice advocates.
"All too often, she was on the wrong side of that history,” Bazelon writes in the Times.
But even with her criminal justice record coming under a microscope, some see Harris as a prime contender to win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Republican strategist Colin Reed recently picked Harris as his early favorite to stun what is expected to become an increasingly packed field. But her greatest vulnerability lies in her professional record, he said.
“Harris will be forced to explain past positions that are anathema to liberals, such as defending the death penalty, laughing at the idea of marijuana legalization, and threatening parents with jail time for truancy,” Reed wrote in a Fox News opinion piece. “In politics, when you’re explaining, you’re losing.”

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