In a different era \u2014 say, three months ago \u2014 Senator Al Franken could have denied the accusations of sexual misconduct against him, relied on the notoriously plodding Senate Ethics Committee to investigate him and, in the end, probably kept his job.<\/p>\n
But we are in the middle of a stunning and welcome cultural shift, and so charges of groping and lewd behavior against Mr. Franken prompted female Democratic senators \u2014 a distinct minority in the chamber \u2014 to start a campaign that swiftly brought about the announcement on Thursday that he would resign<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is some irony in the fact that I am leaving, while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office,\u201d Mr. Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, said on the Senate floor<\/a>. \u201cBut this decision is not about me. And it\u2019s about the people of Minnesota. It\u2019s become clear that I can\u2019t both pursue the Ethics Committee process and at the same time remain an effective senator for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Just weeks after dozens of women detailed decades of sexual harassment and assault allegations<\/a> against the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, it would seem we are witnessing a long-overdue moral reckoning that \u2014 dare we hope? \u2014 could drive real change. There is reason for optimism: For the first time in the age-old history of workplace harassment, scores of women are identifying themselves and their harassers and providing proof. They\u2019re telling their stories at great risk and in huge numbers, and nearly every day a powerful man is fired or resigns as a result.<\/p>\n At the same time, though, America\u2019s history of neglecting this abuse of power leaves institutions clumsily trying to catch up, adapting faulty systems for vetting and addressing these claims. A prime example is Congress, reluctant to shed archaic procedures that force victims into counseling and a weekslong \u201ccooling off period,\u201d while protecting accused lawmakers with secret, taxpayer-funded settlements and nondisclosure agreements.<\/p>\n In demanding Mr. Franken\u2019s resignation, the Democratic Party seized an opportunity to atone for its own bad history, including President Bill Clinton\u2019s sexual misconduct and, just last month, foot-dragging by leadership on the fate of Representative John Conyers Jr., the longest-serving member of the House, who retired on Tuesday<\/a> after multiple allegations emerged, including news that he paid a $27,000 settlement<\/a>to a woman who alleged he fired her after she refused his sexual advances.<\/p>\n Democrats are also drawing a bright moral contrast with the Republican Party and President Trump, who boasted on tape<\/a> of using his power as \u201ca star\u201d to sexually assault women, repeatedly bragging, \u201cYou can do anything.\u201d In Alabama, the Republican National Committee is bankrolling the Senate campaign of Roy Moore, despite on-the-record charges from at least a half-dozen women that he sexually harassed or assaulted them as teenagers<\/a>. Having failed to push Mr. Moore from the race, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has gone from saying, \u201cI believe the women,\u201d<\/a> to weasel-worded statements about how he\u2019s going to \u201clet the people of Alabama make the call.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In the House, Representative Trent Franks, Republican of Arizona, under pressure from leadership, said late Thursday he will resign<\/a> after two women, both former staff members, said he discussed his efforts to find a surrogate mother with them. Representative Blake Farenthold, Republican of Texas, continues to serve after taxpayers footed the $84,000 bill for a settlement<\/a> paid to his former communications director, Lauren Greene, who accused him of sexual harassment and related charges<\/a> in 2014. He recently agreed to pay back the public money. Paul Ryan, speaker of the House, displayed his usual partisan courage<\/a> by demanding that Mr. Conyers resign, while demurring on Mr. Farenthold, who faces an ethics investigation<\/a>. Meanwhile Ms. Greene has applied for nearly 100 jobs inside and outside Washington with no success. She now babysits for extra cash.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a boys\u2019 club \u2026 you\u2019ve got to play by the rules and keep quiet about it,\u201d she said of Congress. \u201cThe feedback that was given to me was, if I wouldn\u2019t stay quiet and fall in line, then my career was over.\u201d<\/p>\n The Democratic Party deserves credit for its newfound determination to eject powerful men who think they can treat women however they want. But the tougher, more important task for both parties is rejecting the mechanisms and mind-set that keeps predators in power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The New York Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Editorial Board, Editorial, December 8, 2017 In a different era \u2014 say, three months ago \u2014 Senator Al Franken could have denied the accusations of sexual misconduct against him, relied on the notoriously plodding Senate Ethics Committee to investigate him and, in the end, probably kept his job. But we are in the middle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2288"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2289,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions\/2289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}