Rep. Elizabeth Esty Won’t Seek Re-Election Amid Harassment Queries

HARTFORD, Conn. — U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty announced Monday she will not seek re-election this year amid calls for her resignation over her handling of the firing of a former chief of staff accused of harassment, threats and violence against female staffers in her congressional office.

Esty, a Democrat from Connecticut and an outspoken #MeToo advocate, was accused of not protecting female staffers from the ex-chief of staff. Esty has said she regrets not moving along an internal investigation into the allegations, which revealed more widespread allegations of abuse, and regrets providing “even the slightest assistance to this individual as he sought a new job.”

Esty said she determined “that it is in the best interest of my constituents and my family to end my time in Congress at the end of this year and not seek re-election.”

Her announcement came hours after she asked the House Ethics Committee to review her actions.

“Although we worked with the House Employment Counsel to investigate and ultimately dismiss this employee for his outrageous behavior with a former staffer, I believe it is important for the House Ethics Committee to conduct its own inquiry into this matter,” Esty said in a written statement, acknowledging “it certainly was far from a perfect process.”

Esty said she wants the committee to “clarify whether there was any wrongdoing” on her part.

A lawyer for the committee said he could not comment on Esty’s request for an investigation. It’s unclear whether an investigative subcommittee will be created or how long the process might take.

The request for an expedited probe from Esty came amid calls for her resignation from a growing number of state politicians in Connecticut, including fellow Democrats. Bob Duff, the Democratic state Senate’s majority leader, was among those to urge Esty to step down in the midst of her third-term.

Duff said several points led him to call for Esty’s resignation, including her reluctance to speak out publicly about the situation and using taxpayer money to pay her former chief of staff, Tony Baker, about $5,000 in severance. Staffers said Esty repaid the federal government last week with her personal funds.

A spokesman for Baker, the former chief of staff, told Hearst Connecticut Media and the Washington Post that he denies some of the allegations. A phone number listed for a Tony Baker in Columbus, Ohio, where the spokesman said the former chief of staff was living, was disconnected.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi commended Esty’s former employee Anna Kain for coming forward and telling her story. Pelosi stopped short of calling on the congresswoman to resign.

“As Congresswoman Esty has acknowledged, her actions did not protect Ms. Kain and should have,” Pelosi said in a written statement. “Congresswoman Esty has now appropriately requested an expedited review by the Ethics Committee.”

In her letter to committee members, Esty said she learned through a third party in 2016 about possible misconduct by Baker involving a former staffer, who worked in her office from January 2013 to March 2015. Esty said she fired Baker three months later after receiving an internal investigation report that revealed improper behavior by Baker that affected multiple female staffers.

Before news of the controversy broke, Esty had issued press releases calling for tougher harassment protections for congressional staffers and was among those demanding that then-U.S. Rep. John Conyers, of Michigan, resign amid allegations of misconduct.