cheka.
19th October 2017, 07:05 AM
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http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/us/california-legislature-sexual-harassment-allegations/index.html?sr=twCNN101917california-legislature-sexual-harassment-allegations1245PMVODtop
The man Lopez accuses of assault, she says, is a current California state legislator. She's one of nearly 150 women who have signed a public letter decrying a culture of sexual harassment in California's state politics, which takes root when lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists descend on Sacramento each year for the legislative session.
"It becomes a summer camp-like atmosphere," said Adama Iwu, a lobbyist for Visa who started the campaign to expose harassment. "It's difficult to create boundaries when these men are basically your co-workers, having breakfast, lunch and dinner with you."
In Lopez's case, she attended a 2016 party at a Sacramento bar in hopes of making connections that would pay off later. She briefly greeted the legislator, whom she won't identify publicly, but had no other contact with him until she says he forced her into the bathroom.
"Years before, I was the victim of rape, and I thought, 'Oh here we go again,'" she said.
Lopez says she firmly told the man, "No, I'm not going to touch you," causing him to plead that she at least touch another part of his body as he gratified himself.
Lopez refused, and says that after he finished she insisted they "walk out that door" and return to the party.
"He said, 'OK, don't tell anybody this happened.'" Lopez recalls. "I felt like he'd done this before; he wasn't shy."
Lopez says she's not afraid to speak up now because she is a high-level partner at the K Street Consulting firm, and has the support of her colleagues.
But others don't have that power, Iwu said, which is why she decided it was time to go public.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/us/california-legislature-sexual-harassment-allegations/index.html?sr=twCNN101917california-legislature-sexual-harassment-allegations1245PMVODtop
The man Lopez accuses of assault, she says, is a current California state legislator. She's one of nearly 150 women who have signed a public letter decrying a culture of sexual harassment in California's state politics, which takes root when lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists descend on Sacramento each year for the legislative session.
"It becomes a summer camp-like atmosphere," said Adama Iwu, a lobbyist for Visa who started the campaign to expose harassment. "It's difficult to create boundaries when these men are basically your co-workers, having breakfast, lunch and dinner with you."
In Lopez's case, she attended a 2016 party at a Sacramento bar in hopes of making connections that would pay off later. She briefly greeted the legislator, whom she won't identify publicly, but had no other contact with him until she says he forced her into the bathroom.
"Years before, I was the victim of rape, and I thought, 'Oh here we go again,'" she said.
Lopez says she firmly told the man, "No, I'm not going to touch you," causing him to plead that she at least touch another part of his body as he gratified himself.
Lopez refused, and says that after he finished she insisted they "walk out that door" and return to the party.
"He said, 'OK, don't tell anybody this happened.'" Lopez recalls. "I felt like he'd done this before; he wasn't shy."
Lopez says she's not afraid to speak up now because she is a high-level partner at the K Street Consulting firm, and has the support of her colleagues.
But others don't have that power, Iwu said, which is why she decided it was time to go public.