#HeToo: Lawsuit Alleges That California (Obviously) Lawmaker and Big #MeToo Booster Pressured Male Staffer to Play Spin the Bottle on Her Hotel Room Floor, Then, After He Complained, Fired Him For Insubordination

I ilke the detail about her having a beer tap in her office.

California state assembly member Cristina Garcia tried to ride the #MeToo bandwagon to a national spotlight -- until a former aide and an anonymous lobbyist came forward to accuse her of alcohol-driven sexual harassment. Garcia took a "voluntary" unpaid leave of absence after those allegations emerged, but a new report from Politico suggests that Garcia's problems with harassment and alcohol go deeper than first thought.

For instance, what’s up with the beer tap in her office?

The industry lobbyist said he was surprised last year when, during a late-morning policy meeting in Garcia’s Capitol office, the assemblywoman poured beer from a kegerator -- a refrigerator with a beer tap on top --located in her office.

She offered the brew in red Solo cups to the group of lobbyists, even though it was "sometime between 11 a.m. and noon... a little early," the lobbyist said.

...

However, the beer tap is the least of the problems. Marinucci's new report makes it clear that alcohol-soaked socializing and listening to her sexual conquests were part of the job requirements in her office. When one aide had the temerity to question whether that was appropriate for an elected official, the self-proclaimed #MeToo leader and chair of the Assembly Women’s Caucus fired him for insubordination...

Ricky Gervais, who originated the "David Brent" character of the office, spoke about bosses somewhat like this. He actually had a boss like David Brent, and, asked if working for him was a nightmare, said no, not at all: With a guy like that, you can do pretty much get away with murder. Maybe because they realize their own jobs are in peril, so they don't want to make waves with the staff. A boss who wastes all day at work is in precious little position to discipline employees, who may have a Blackmail File a foot thick on the boss.

So I guess what I'm saying is: Yeah, this guy shouldn't have been put in an awkward position, but maybe he played it wrong -- maybe play ball with this beer-soaked floozie a little and enjoy your three hour lunches and routine three day weekends.

On the other hand, maybe she was the worst of all possible worlds: an absolute trainwreck of a human being and a hypercritical martinet at the same time. Given that she seems like an entitled hypocritical archfeminist, yah, that seems likely.

(I realize using "hypercritical" and "hypocritical" so close on top of one another is a bit awkward but eh, it's Presidents Day. It's Thunderdome, baby.)

posted by Ace at 07:50 PM

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