In Iowa, a lawsuit involving Joni Ernst is conveniently filed at the last minute.
October is always full of political revelations. Take, for instance, Kirsten Anderson, who was fired from her position as communications director for the Iowa Senate Republican Caucus in May 2013. So it’s curious that she waited until three weeks before November’s midterm elections to file a sexual-harassment lawsuit against her former employer — a suit that just happens to include a passing accusation against Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst.
You know, the kind of passing accusation that makes a good news hook, for instance, in The Hill, which does deign to mention that “Ernst is not named as a party to the suit” and “is only mentioned once in the lawsuit” — but not until the article’s third paragraph.
According to Anderson, Ernst was one of two state senators who “witnessed sexual innuendo and inappropriate behavior exhibited by their male colleagues and did and said nothing.” Predictably, the Daily Kos manages to retail that story as “Ex-Staffer Files Lawsuit Against Joni Ernst (R) Over Alleged Sexual Harassment.”
But news stories that are light on the facts are what Democrats count on. Neither The Hill, the Kos, nor the Des Moines Register, for example, bother to mention that Anderson’s attorney, Michael J. Carroll, has expressed his distaste for Ernst on Twitter, where he retweets posts from Jeff Link, senior campaign adviser for Ernst’s Democratic opponent, Bruce Braley. Carroll has also donated to Democratic candidates. Politico alone mentions that minor detail.
Not a single source observes that Anderson’s original complaint, sent to Senate Republican Caucus staff director Eric Johansen in May 2013, makes no mention of Ernst.
Perhaps Anderson has a legitimate complaint against Iowa’s GOP Caucus. Perhaps it is a boys’ club that made Anderson uncomfortable when members “would make comments that Anderson’s shoes were not ‘classy enough’” (hardly Don Draper types, from the sound of it). But it is hard to understand why Anderson felt compelled to include two female state senators as examples of those who contributed to “an environment that permitted, if not encouraged, inappropriate and sexually discriminatory behavior”; she is suing neither of them.
Unless, of course, Anderson’s lawsuit provides an opportunity to make a politically damaging not-quite-accusation against a high-profile Republican Senate candidate — something that Anderson, as a former communications director, undoubtedly knows would garner plenty of media attention.
Such performances on the left are familiar. Consider the grand-jury indictment of Texas governor Rick Perry earlier this year — effectively for issuing a routine gubernatorial veto. Despite the indefensible charge, Democrats still scored the headlines. “Texas Gov. Rick Perry Indicted” (CNN.com) and “Texas Gov. Perry Turns Himself in on Felony Charges” (USA Today) are the articles that will reappear endlessly if Perry throws his hat into the ring in 2016.
Similarly, Chris Christie’s “Bridgegate,” or the “John Doe investigation” that has haunted Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Despite being cleared of any accusations, both governors continue to suffer groundless accusations — the speculations of political operatives taken up by press functionaries who are lazy at best and unscrupulous at worst.
Politicized accusations, though they may often be couched as legal complaints, are rarely intended for the courts. Rick Perry is not going to be convicted, and every politico knows it. But now the accusation is “out there,” circulating in the political bloodstream, becoming “common wisdom.” And it has the added benefit of a vague legal imprimatur. “Indictment” sounds scary.
The same thing is now happening in Iowa. A passing allegation in a lawsuit, a Democrat coordinating the legal logistics, and a press willing to relay the information without due (or any) care in the final weeks of a tight campaign with national consequences — the Left has perfected the recipe.
Oh, and the last ingredient: Anderson said in an interview this week that she considers herself an independent.
Naturally.
— Ian Tuttle is a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow at the National Review Institute.