Alaska governor candidate faces sexual harassment lawsuit
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is facing a lawsuit alleging that he is partly to blame for a sexual harassment that led to a subordinate employee’s resignation.
In an amended complaint, the woman claims the former Alaska governor was negligent in creating a hostile work environment at his office and in failing to keep her safe, according to a court filing. A trial court has to decide the merit of the lawsuit.
Dunleavy said he has not seen the complaint and is not commenting on the lawsuit.
“The Alaska Constitution gives me and the people of Alaska the right to run our government — like everybody else in the nation,” Dunleavy said in a statement. “The government we have is not perfect, but we are an imperfect representative of the people in all aspects and that includes the ability to hire people who work for the people as opposed to the other way around.”
In October, the woman filed a lawsuit in Alaska Superior Court alleging Dunleavy was partly to blame for her resignation, which came after a year of sexual harassment by Dunleavy’s then-deputy chief of staff, Jason McWilliams.
McWilliams then was fired after he was identified as the person who sent photos of the woman, who was 27 at the time, to Dunleavy in October 2016.
The woman, who is a former teacher in Kenai, said McWilliams, whom she met while she was a student, started groping her twice after the first time in the car. She said he called her “babe,” called her on the phone after she said her cell phone’s battery was dead and forced her to sleep in an abandoned house. She said McWilliams threatened her that he was keeping her for a reason, telling her, “We’re going to take care of you and you can take care of yourself.”
The woman said that after she told a superior she thought McWilliams was threatening her and that he had been trying to pressure her to give him sex, McWilliams was not reprimanded in any way about his behavior as she said he “made threats and made jokes. I even wrote down
