Grijalva Can’t Grope: Sunday’s Comic

Grijalva Once Praised Accuser, Denies Debauchery, Wants Apology

“One of my volunteers was at a location downtown and Grijalva grabbed her butt.”

Congressman Raul Grijalva is calling for an apology from the Washington Times for article about monies paid to settle a claim against him for allegedly creating a hostile work environment due to his consumption of alcohol.

The Congressman wrote of his demand in an opinion piece that appeared in the Arizona Daily Star. The article reads in part:

For those wondering what the hoopla is about, here’s as much of the story as I’m able to tell. Back on Nov. 21, a reporter at the conservative Washington Times reached out to my staff seeking comment on what he described as a settlement for a sexual harassment accusation. No such claim has ever been filed against me, and my office explained as much. Several days passed with no further contact.

Then, on Monday, the Times ran a story based on a completely different narrative: a former employee had left my office after receiving a “settlement” based on claims of a hostile work environment due to my alleged on-the-job drunkenness. The article put these allegations in the context of several unrelated sexual harassment investigations, with no journalistic reason to do so, in what I believe was an attempt to tarnish my reputation through hearsay and insinuation. The article did not name any sources for the claims it printed, and I have issued a standing request for an apology.

As I have now had to make clear to multiple news outlets, I do not work while drunk and have never had a hostile workplace environment. While I have no wish to drag current or former employees into this, I invite reporters to find any corroboration for these claims. They will be hard pressed. I am proud of the welcoming and professional environment I have always worked hard to create.

Almost immediately after the Washington Times piece was published, the Tucson Sentinel set to sleuthing. The article has been described as an attempt to shame the victim. In the piece, the Sentinel speculated that the complainant is Meghan Conklin. Neither Ms. Conklin nor Rep. Grijalva confirmed the Sentinel’s suspicions. In fact, “staffers also declined to comment specifically about Conklin, again stressing that they were bound by an NDA and could neither confirm nor deny the identity of the woman who received the severance deal,” according to the Sentinel.

According to the Sentinel, Conklin filed a complaint about Grijalva that included the allegation that he is frequently drunk on the job.

According to a December 10, 2014 article in the Arizona Daily Independent, in which Grijalva announced the appointment of Conklin as Democratic Staff Director for the 114th Congress….

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