The New York Times is reporting that Joe Biden will nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as the next head of Health and Human Services:
SCOOP — Joe Biden will nominate Xavier Becerra, the attorney general in California, to be the next HHS secretary, a victory for the Cong. Hispanic Caucus, which he used to lead, and had pressed for more high-profile Latinos in the cabinet. w/@SherylNYT https://t.co/UyWU9lAdDI
— Michael D. Shear (@shearm) December 6, 2020
This would be the same Xavier Becerra who settled a sexual harassment claim involving a “top staffer” to Kamala Harris for $400,000:
Top staffer to @KamalaHarris quits after settling harassment lawsuit by female victim for $400,000, while they worked for Harris' CADOJ.
NOTE: Victim's co-workers would shame her by saying, "Are you walking the walk of shame?"
Awesome work environment ?https://t.co/57csUAuv3t
— Steven Cheung (@CaliforniaPanda) December 6, 2018
In summary:
From @CapitolAlert story last night:
-Harris AG aide accused of sexual harassment in late 2016
-went to work for Senate office
-suit settled in 2017, but he remained on staff
-resigned yesterday after Bee asked qs
-Harris office says "we were unaware of this issue"— Scott Detrow (@scottdetrow) December 6, 2018
From the Sacramento Bee article above:
Larry Wallace, who served as the director of the Division of Law Enforcement under then-Attorney General Harris, was accused by his former executive assistant in December 2016 of “gender harassment” and other demeaning behavior, including frequently asking her to crawl under his desk to change the paper in his printer.
The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 30, 2016, when Harris was still attorney general but preparing to be sworn in as California’s newly elected Democratic senator. It was settled less than five months later, in May 2017, by Xavier Becerra, who was appointed to replace her as attorney general.
Sen. Harris’ office said she was unaware of the settlement until this article came out in 2018:
Kamala Harris accepted the resignation of a longtime aide today, after a harassment settlement emerged in a Sacramento Bee inquiry.
Harris’ office says they were “unaware” of the issue and “take accusations of harassment extremely seriously.” https://t.co/7iQex5IUJt
— Lissandra Villa (@LissandraVilla) December 6, 2018
We look forward to the #MeToo portion of his Senate hearing:
Top staffer to @KamalaHarris quits after settling harassment lawsuit by female victim for $400,000, while they worked for Harris' CADOJ.
NOTE: Victim's co-workers would shame her by saying, "Are you walking the walk of shame?"
Awesome work environment ?https://t.co/57csUAuv3t
— Steven Cheung (@CaliforniaPanda) December 6, 2018
Because $400,000 is not a nuisance amount:
$400k settlement? That is not a nuisance amount. It beggars belief that the Senator didn't know about this allegation. Hiring a supervisor with this track record is astounding. Kamala Harris aide leaves after harassment settlement surfaces https://t.co/0w9wxKUX4v
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) December 6, 2018
And we still don’t know anything about the case:
For years, one of Democrat Kamala Harris’s top advisers kept his job despite allegations of sexual harassment and a $400K settlement.
Harris, who claims to fight for women, only fired him yesterday after it was about to be exposed.https://t.co/gbURHWPW9C
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) December 6, 2018
Don’t feel sorry for Wallace, however, as it looks like he landed on his feet:
Larry Wallace has a new job. He was a longtime adviser to Kamala Harris who resigned about a year ago after I asked about a $400,000 harassment and retaliation settlement that resulted from his time working for her at the California Department of Justice: https://t.co/FLvNjguQy3 https://t.co/EFsyfCnA3o
— Alexei Koseff (@akoseff) December 17, 2019
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Editor’s note: We’ve corrected a typo.
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