LEGAL/POLITICS/WOMEN: “After six women accused Florida Senate budget chairman Jack Latvala of sexual harassment, his allies launched a counteroffensive over the weekend targeting the accusers as well as a congressman who had faulted his fellow Republican for being ‘a hound.’…
Latvala is facing pressure publicly from the Florida House and privately from within the Senate to be removed — at least temporarily — as chairman of the Senate’s budget committee pending the outcome of an independent investigation. The Senate’s general counsel Saturday stepped down from the case due to her closeness with the senator.
Latvala has been on the defensive since POLITICO reported on Friday that six women who work in the Florida Capitol say he has inappropriately touched them or made derogatory comments about their appearance. Since then, a former Latvala aide reported publicly that her one-time boss had made degrading comments, bringing the total number of accusers to seven. Five say he inappropriately touched them. The six women who did not want to be identified said they feared retribution from the powerful senator.”
-Marc Caputo and Matt Dixon, “Florida congressman blasts ‘predator’ Latvala amid counteroffensive against sexual harassment accusers,” Politico, Nov. 6, 2017 06:38am