Investigations of harassment at state capitol should be public

Lots of employers are reviewing and revising their policies against sexual harassment in the workplace, and how to respond if there are allegations. In light of the outpouring of allegations of bad behavior, that is probably a good idea. But it seems the Wisconsin legislature is going about it the wrong way. Leaders of both the Assembly and Senate say the best way to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct among its members and their staffs is to sweep it under the rug. They say any investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct should be kept secret. We disagree. If our politicians whose salaries we pay behave badly, the taxpayers should be able to know about it. Those who support burying these investigations from the public’s eye claim that is because they want to protect the identity of the victims. But there are ways to do that, by blacking out names of accusers, and still releasing the investigation’s findings. It seems clear that the public interest outweighs privacy concerns, especially if names are redacted. What we are seeing now with this wave of accusations, is that women gain courage to come forward when others have done so before them. Pretending harassment didn’t happen won’t encourage other victims to come forward. And taxpayers and voters certainly deserve to know whether the person they helped elected to office isn’t respectful to women before they head to the voting booth again.