The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Opinion
Best of Right Opinion
- Rich Lowry: Don’t Fire, Don’t Pardon
- Cal Thomas: Sexual Harassment: Shocking but Not Surprising
- Tony Perkins: Judge Okays Lethal Injunction for Troops
- Stephen Moore: Five Biggest Reasons to Hate the IRS Tax Code
- James Shott: Should We Sanitize America’s History, or Not? That Is the Question
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.
Opinion in Brief
Cal Thomas: “It should surprise no one that when it comes to sexual harassment, members of Congress and their staffs are treated differently from the rest of us. The Washington Post notes a law in place since 1995 under which anyone accusing a lawmaker of sexual harassment can file a lawsuit, but only if they first agree to go through counseling and mediation, possibly lasting several months. If you think that’s a double standard and outrageous, it gets worse. Should a settlement occur — and many don’t for the same reason women are fearful of accusing bosses in every profession — the member doesn’t pay. You and I do. The money comes from a special U.S. Treasury fund, and the payments are confidential. In other words, taxpayers are subsidizing boorish, even criminal behavior to protect the reputations of our great leaders, who can’t be bothered with the standards they set for the little people they are supposed to serve. The Post found that while most settlements are small — compared with the tens of millions paid by Fox News — the amount still totaled $15.2 million paid to 235 claimants from 1997 to 2014. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) had it right when she told the newspaper, ‘It is not a victim-friendly process. It is an institution-protection process.’ Is there any member of Congress who can defend this? If so, they should be voted out of office. If not, the members should be subject to the same laws as everyone else and forced to pay settlements out of their own pockets, and then voted out of office.”