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| Home Front: Politix |
| Baucus ethics flap over girlfriend not his first personal controversy |
| 2009-12-09 |
| By: SUSAN FERRECHIO When a throng of reporters approached Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. after a closed-door meeting with Democrats, only one person asked him about his recent decision to recommend girlfriend and former aide Melodee Hanes for the job of U.S. attorney for his home state of Montana. Baucus, 67, brushed off the query, saying he had already explained himself a day earlier. But the potential conflict of interest is just the latest chapter of Baucus' complicated love life on Capitol Hill. In 1999, Baucus fired then-Chief of Staff Christine Niedermeier, who in turn accused Baucus of sexual harassment. Baucus, who has served in Congress since 1975, said at the time that Niedermeier drove his staff too hard. Niedermeier, now a lawyer in Fairfield, Conn., told The Examiner that Baucus pursued her relentlessly, asking her jealously about other boyfriends and suggesting the two vacation together. She said he even proposed marriage. Niedermeier said his unwelcome overtures, which were seen by the rest of the staff, made it impossible for her to run the office. Niedermeier said she sought help from staff in the office of then-Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., a close friend of Baucus, shortly before she was fired. Baucus denies Niedermeier's allegations. At the time, he was married to second wife Wanda Minge, who he began dating when she was a staffer in the office of Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark. Baucus divorced Minge, who made headlines in 2004 after her arrest for assaulting another female patron at a Northern Virginia garden center, in April of this year. Baucus said he was separated from Minge when he began his relationship with Hanes, 53, who at the time was serving as his state director. Baucus divorced his first wife, Ann Geracimos, in 1982. The couple has one son, Zeno, a Washington lawyer. "I don't think it's a very good idea for members of Congress to date staffers," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. "But he's not alone." As for Niedermeier, she said she was promised a five-figure settlement from Baucus 10 years ago, but he failed to deliver it. Her subsequent court case against him was tossed out because it exceeded a special 90-day filing deadline for suits against members of Congress. Niedermeier said senators are protected in ways that workers in the private sector are not. For instance, Niedermeier had to take her complaint to a special Senate panel made up of staffers, but none of the information was ever released publicly, including e-mails from Baucus that she said would have backed her claim. "If you make it transparent and you mirror it against the process that is in effect in the private sector in America, I think it would significantly deter this kind of conduct," Niedermeier said. And Sloan said to forget about the ethics panel ever looking into senators dating staffers. "No member of Congress is going to call for an ethics inquiry into something like that," Sloan said. "Because people on both sides of the aisle do it." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "Because people on both sides of the aisle do it." AND THIS MAKES IT RIGHT???? SLOAN....YOU ARE AN ASSH@!* !! |
| Posted by: armyguy 2009-12-09 13:11 |