The California State Senate announced that they will be hiring an external law firm to investigate all claims of sexual harassment. This comes on the heels of sexual misconduct allegations against Senator Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia).
In the past, the Senate managed its harassment complaints internally, by way of their Human Resources team. The problem with this is that their HR staff reports to the Senate Rules Committee - a committee which is made up of five state senators.
Needless to say, a reporting cycle which gives 5 senators the final say on allegations made against their friends and colleagues could be easily manipulated.
However, the recent accusations against Tony Mendoza in the Capitol have forced the Senate to hire an outside legal team to investigate all claims of sexual misconduct.
The most glaring flag has to do with attorney/client privileges. Political analyst and Senior Correspondent for Flash Report Katy Grimes explains:
"...hiring an outside law firm to investigate sexual misconduct is really sneaky. The outside law firm would immediately establish attorney/client privilege and maintain confidentiality to work to shield key facts from the public and independent law enforcement evaluation..."
Katy joined us to talk about the problem of hiring outside legal teams in the Capitol:
Read more from Katy Grimes at FlashReport.org.