Mayor Han(d)cock is skating through the #metoo storm, escaping all liability for sexually harassing a member of his own security detail without repercussions.
Meanwhile, his supporters on the city council are squirming on the sidelines trying to escape their authority of holding the mayor responsible.
The council initially balked at investigating their own until the victim came forward and asked for it, publicly.
Now the council would have us believe that in the 114-year history of this elected body, no process was ever put in place to determine if one of their own did anything wrong, and they don’t even know if they have the power to put a stop to it or punish the offender.
What’s worse is, they don’t seem to care. As long as they don’t know what happened, they don’t think they can be held responsible.
Just look at what Councilman Kevin Flynn told Westword:
“People say city council’s covering up,” Flynn notes. “Well, if I’m covering up, I have no idea what I’m covering.”
That sounds a lot like the excuse offered by Han(d)cock, who says that if he sexually harassed Detective Leslie Branch-Wise when he texted her about how sexy she looked and asked if she was a stripper taking pole dance classes, he wasn’t aware of it.
Now that council claims it doesn’t have the power to do anything about it, Han(d)cock is suddenly open to an investigation and says he will cooperate.
Also squirming is state Democratic Party Chair Morgan Carroll, who says she only cares that the victims of workplace harassment “should have a process in place to air their concerns without fear of retaliation.”
Completely missing from the Democratic playbook of #metoo is any sort of punishment or even censure of the person responsible for the harassing.
Also known in some circles as a cover up.